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Standard for Chartered Teachers

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The Context

A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century, the formal agreement between the Scottish Executive, education authorities and teachers, introduced the qualification-based Chartered Teacher grade as a means of rewarding teachers who wished to pursue a challenging career without having to leave the classroom. The Standard for Chartered Teacher would comprise part of the national framework for teachers' continuing professional development. It would denote the level of professional accomplishment teachers might seek to achieve, after completing the Standard for Full Registration and once established in the profession.

In defining the Standard for Chartered Teacher, it was necessary to draw on two complementary bases of evidence. One source was the views of Scottish teachers and the wider educational community. The second was the literature on professional accomplishment in teaching and other professions, in this country and elsewhere. Finally, it was necessary to ensure that the Standard did not simply relate to the status quo but took account of anticipated changes in teachers' professional circumstances. The evidence from the consultation process is that the Standard for Chartered Teacher is strongly supported by the teaching profession in Scotland.

Preamble

The quality of the educational service depends pre-eminently on the quality of our teachers. If higher standards are to be achieved and all pupils are to be effectively supported in achieving their best potential, it is essential that teachers are well prepared for their work and that they have opportunities to extend and revitalise their skills throughout their careers.

The Standard has four key components:

a. professional values and personal commitments;

b. professional knowledge and understanding;

c. professional and personal

attributes; and

d. professional action.

The basic assumption is that the Chartered Teacher is characterised by four central professional values and personal commitments:

a. effectiveness in promoting learning in the classroom;

b. critical self-evaluation and development;

c. collaboration and influence; and

d. educational and social values.

These issue in nine types of professional action which, in their different ways, draw on professional knowledge and understanding of various kinds and a wide range of professional and personal attributes. The relationship between the components is demonstrated in the diagram below:

Accomplished teaching of the kind reflected in the Standard for Chartered Teacher is teaching in which the four central values and commitments permeate the work of the teacher in the classroom, the school, and beyond. The Chartered Teacher will be effective in promoting learning and committed to the development of all forms of professional action.

In every sphere of his or her work the Chartered Teacher should be reviewing practice, searching for improvements, turning to reading and research for fresh insights and relating these to the classroom and the school. These should be informed by those moral and social values which give point to education, bringing to the task of educating others the resourcefulness which characterises all professional work, and undertaking all these actions collaboratively with colleagues and others in a shared and collegial undertaking. Approached in this way, the capabilities of the accomplished teacher become sustained and embedded in an integrated professional life. And it is because these central values and commitments are so pervasive that a generic standard has been adopted: that is, a standard that will apply at all stages of education, across all subjects and specialisms, covering all aspects of teachers' work throughout the country.

The four professional values and personal commitments, the knowledge and understanding, the professional and personal attributes, and the modes of professional action are all judged to be essential and inter-dependent. Thus, for example, having strong professional commitments or being able to articulate a rationale for action, are both limited unless they can lead to effective action; the possession of relevant knowledge is no guarantee that such knowledge will be used appropriately to promote learning. Similarly, professional action may be judged to be effective, but could stagnate if there is a lack of self-criticism.

These four components should underpin the Chartered Teacher's development, permeating every aspect of his or her work. Indeed, they should constitute the four major quality indicators of Chartered Teacher status and candidates should be expected to relate their own professional development to them. Moreover, these four components should together provide the criteria against which evidence supporting a case for the final award of Chartered Teacher status should be judged; they should provide the framework for accrediting prior learning and CPD activities; and they should constitute the basis for academically validating and professionally accrediting modules and programmes of work leading to Chartered Teacher status.

The Standard for Chartered Teacher is related to, and builds on, the Standard for Full Registration (SFR). Like that Standard, it consists of professional knowledge and understanding; it draws on a wide range of professional attributes and abilities; and issues in appropriate forms of professional action. The SFR, achievable after one year's experience as a teacher, may be said to represent a consolidation of the Standard for Initial Teacher Education. However, the Standard for Chartered Teacher, marking, as it does, substantial experience as a teacher, represents a significant enhancement of professional skill and understanding beyond the SFR. That professional enhancement is marked in the following ways:

a. whereas the SFR expects teachers to produce evidence of certain capabilities and capacities, the Chartered Teacher should demonstrate these capabilities and capacities consistently and pervasively throughout his or her work;

b. in every sphere of his or her work the Chartered Teacher will be reviewing practice, searching for improvements, turning to reading and research for fresh insights, and relating these to the classroom and the school. He or she will bring to his or her work more sophisticated forms of critical scrutiny, demonstrate a heightened capacity for self-evaluation, and a marked disposition to be innovative and to improvise;

c. the Chartered Teacher should regularly and systematically demonstrate and evaluate his or her effectiveness as a teacher;

d. the Chartered Teacher should demonstrate the capacity to contribute to the professional development of colleagues and to make a fuller contribution to the educational effectiveness of the school and the wider professional community than could be expected of teachers near the outset of their career;

e. while the newly registered teacher is dependent on the support that comes from being a member of a team, the Chartered Teacher has acquired and displays the qualities of a team leader and is acknowledged as such by colleagues;

f. the Chartered Teacher will require and expect to be less closely supervised than the Fully Registered teacher: he or she will have a more marked capacity for exercising initiative, independent judgement and other features of professional autonomy;

g. the Chartered Teacher's work should be informed by reading and research; he or she should therefore be capable of developing a rationale for his or her work that acknowledges the diversity of educational practices and philosophy.

One of the key features of the Standard for Chartered Teacher is the emphasis it places on critical self-evaluation and a commitment to improved practice. Other key documents in Scottish education have a similar emphasis. For example, How good is our school? is widely used as a means of school self-evaluation. The Standard for Chartered Teacher may be seen, therefore, as part of a culture of self-evaluation that has developed in Scotland, and to represent for the individual teacher the same standard of critical self-evaluation and reflection that How good is our school? does for schools.

The Standard

The Standard consists of four key components:

• Professional values and personal commitments;
• Professional knowledge and understanding;
• Professional and personal attributes; and
• Professional action.

These are set out below.

Professional Values and Personal Commitments

The Chartered Teacher, having developed beyond the basic requirements of the Standard for Full Registration, should demonstrate four central professional values and personal commitments:

Effectiveness in promoting learning in the classroom

Since teaching is about promoting learning, the Chartered Teacher must be strongly motivated to be effective in securing the well-being and educational progress of learners.

Critical self-evaluation and development

No matter how effective the Chartered Teacher may be, there is a commitment to enhanced performance. Practice is subject to regular review and there is a continuing search for new and improved ways of supporting pupils' learning through discussion with others and by reading and research.

Collaboration and influence

The Chartered Teacher will be committed to influencing and having a leading impact in team and school development, and to contributing to the professional development of colleagues and new entrants to the profession. As a member of a wider professional community, he or she will be committed to influencing the development of teaching and learning, and to strengthening partnerships with other professional groups, parents and other agencies.

Educational and social values

The Chartered Teacher is committed to core educational and social values, such as concern for truth, personal responsibility, equality, social justice and inclusion, and to pupils' personal, social, moral and cultural development.

Professional Knowledge and Understanding

The Chartered Teacher should demonstrate through his or her work a critical understanding of:

current approaches to teaching and learning

current research on teaching and learning

changing social and cultural contexts of education

the school curriculum, its knowledge base, and how the curriculum relates to life in the community, including citizenship and the world of work

educational assessment and its interpretation

responses to pupil differences and to pupils experiencing barriers to learning

principles and practices of social justice, inclusion, equality and democracy, and strategies to counter discrimination

education and the promotion of personal well-being, and community and environmental development

teachers as co-educators with parents and other professionals

the nature of professionalism

current policy debates

ICT and its importance in teaching and learning

Professional and Personal Attributes

The Chartered Teacher should be able to demonstrate a range of skills and attributes that are characteristics of all forms of professional work:

having enthusiasm and the capacity to motivate

communicating effectively

being resourceful and positive, and adopting a problem-solving approach

being creative and imaginative, and having an open attitude to change

being systematic and well organised, focused, determined and hardworking

demonstrating empathy and fairness, being caring and approachable

showing consistent performance across all professional areas

Professional Action

As noted earlier, these professional values and personal commitments, knowledge and understanding, and professional and personal attributes must interact and result in professional action of various kinds.

The consultation process confirms support for identifying nine forms of professional action. These can be categorised to correspond to the four professional values and personal commitments, namely, Effectiveness in promoting learning in the classroom; Critical reflection, self-evaluation and development; Collaboration and influence; and Educational and social values.

Note

Illustrative examples in non-italicised text below serve to indicate the standard that is required for Chartered Teacher status. They are not exhaustive nor are they necessarily appropriate to all teachers in all situations so they should not be used as a checklist. Other examples could be used to show attainment. The illustrations indicate the level of the Standard and alternative examples, if offered in evidence, would need to be at this level.

Effectiveness in promoting learning in the classroom

The Chartered Teacher should demonstrate the capacity to:

effect further progress in pupils' learning and development

For example, in relation to:

• the key skills involved in literacy in the widest sense, numeracy, ICT, problem-solving, critical thinking, being an autonomous learner, the ability to empathise, and collaborative working
• a variety of abilities, backgrounds and needs (such as learning difficulties, disabilities, talented learners, bilingual pupils)
• the nurturing of self-understanding, personal effectiveness and social competence in a multi-ethnic and fast-changing society
• pupil performance in his or her area(s) of the curriculum
• offering an enhanced and challenging curriculum

create and sustain a positive climate for learning

For example, in which:

• all pupils feel valued, supported and encouraged, and their ideas and suggestions are welcomed and used
• diligence and progress are explicitly rewarded and learning is a satisfying experience
• the classroom is conducive to maintaining learning, while fairness to all, consideration for others, good behaviour, and personal integrity are reinforced
• the cognitive and affective development and cultures of young people are understood

use strategies which increase pupils' learning

For example, by:

• having high expectations of pupils, and empowering and supporting them in setting challenging but achievable targets for themselves
• being able to relate to and motivate learners
• providing high quality formative feedback, tailored to individual pupils
• inspiring pupils and celebrating their achievements
• relating tasks to pupils' prior learning and existing ways of understanding
• being able to select, modify and generate curriculum materials
• helping pupils to identify their most effective learning styles in class and out of school
• managing effectively class, group and individual activities, and the transitions between them, where appropriate in co-operation with others
• dealing effectively with disruptive behaviour

Critical self-evaluation and development

The Chartered Teacher should demonstrate the capacity to:

evaluate practice and reflect critically on it

For example, by:

• generating evidence on pupils' learning, the impact of teaching and the relationship between these
• working with colleagues and observing and discussing each other's teaching
• using a range of methods for evaluation, comparing their effectiveness and developing a repertoire of approaches

improve professional performance

For example, by:

• being committed to Continuing Professional Development
• setting and achieving challenging targets
• successfully adopting innovative, creative and imaginative solutions to problems
• being an initiator and advocate of change in the light of social, technological and other developments

ensure that teaching is informed by reading and research

For example, by:

• engaging in professional enquiry and action research, and applying findings
• reflecting critically on research evidence and modifying practice as appropriate
• testing whether a particular theoretical perspective actually applies in practice
• interpreting changes to education policy and practice and contributing and responding to such changes

Collaboration with, and influence on, colleagues

The Chartered Teacher should demonstrate the capacity to:

contribute to enhancing the quality of the educational experience provided by the school and to the wider professional context of teaching

For example, by:

• acting as a source of advice to colleagues on particular aspects of teaching and learning
• contributing to school development and to strengthening its capacity for self-evaluation through analysis, sharing and dialogue with colleagues, and modelling good practice
• contributing to the school's in-service and CPD activities
• working as a leading member of a team, inside and outside the classroom, to share good practice, improve teaching and learning and develop resources for use in the school
• taking the initiative in enhancing the work of the school and leading its effective implementation
• contributing to extra-curricular provision, study support and other forms of out-of-hours learning
• identifying and challenging any negative features of school culture, such as low expectations, poor relationships or discriminatory practices, and stimulating colleagues to bring about improvement
• supporting students on initial teacher education programmes and co-operating with Higher Education staff on Initial Teacher Education
• building positive relationships and partnerships in the community, for example, with parents and community-based professionals
• contributing to the literature on, and public discussion of, teaching and learning and education

Educational and social values

The Chartered Teacher should demonstrate the capacity to justify his or her practice by:

relating teaching to wider school aims and social values

For example, by:

• evaluating his or her teaching and pupils' learning in relation to pupils' personal, social, moral and cultural development
• assessing how the school culture and practices promote, or could promote more effectively, citizenship, personal responsibility, social competence, social justice and life in a multi-ethnic society
• working to enhance pupils' development and their understanding of social values in a pluralist society

articulating a personal, independent and critical stance in relation to contrasting perspectives on educational issues, policies and developments

For example, by:

• undertaking critical evaluations of official educational documents, research reports, articles or books in relation to the current debates in the educational and wider community
• engaging with others in the critical discussion of educational policy and practice