Targeting Excellence - Modernising Scotland's Schools

An Approach To Moderisation

To achieve a modern world class system of schools we need to ensure that the framework within which schools and teachers operate empowers them to take responsibility for their own improvement. This section reviews an approach to modernising the teaching profession and organisation of schools to ensure that they are fully consistent with those requirements. Many of the proposals require further detailed consideration and consultation.

Chapter 6 - Targeting Excellence in Teaching

"Teachers are at the heart of the school. Their professionalism is the key to improvement."

Teachers are at the heart of the school. Their professionalism is the key to improvement. Scotland has a highly qualified, all graduate profession. Despite this, over the last decade or so, the image of the profession has suffered and the morale of many teachers has dipped. This issue must be addressed and the professional expertise of our teachers must be supported and strengthened. The Government has taken some key steps towards enhancing the status and effectiveness of the teaching profession. Significant progress has been made but more needs to be done. The Government's aim is to make progress through consultation. Our objective is to ensure that our teachers receive the support and recognition they require to deliver an effective education service.

1. Modernising the teaching profession means looking at the needs of the school system as a whole and all aspects of how teachers are trained, recruited, managed and paid. It means building a partnership with local authorities, parents, and teachers that will take the modernisation process forward. The main features of our programme for teachers are Improved arrangements for initial teacher education and probation Smaller classes in the first three years of primary school and the employment of nearly 600 more teachers to raise standards in the early years of schooling Huge expansion in support for teachers involving up to 5000 new classroom assistants to ease the administrative burden on primary teachers and to help support improved teaching and learning The development of a coherent framework of continuing training and development for the profession which underpins the progress of teachers throughout their careers and is supported by effective arrangements to assess teachers' development needs in the school context The development of more flexible pay arrangements and management structures which recognise the needs of the profession and of school management, which ensure teachers are appropriately rewarded and which encourage excellent teachers to stay in the classroom.

Improving Initial Teacher Education

2. Initial teacher education (teacher training) is the foundation for high quality teaching and the first step in continuing professional development. All new teachers must be able to play their part in raising attainment in literacy, numeracy and the application of information and communications technology. They must also be able to consider the needs of their pupils beyond the classroom and help pupils prepare for the next stage of their education, the world of work and the wider responsibilities of citizenship. New guidelines for initial teacher education courses have been issued which identify the competences which all student teachers must attain and demonstrate if they are to complete their course successfully and gain a teaching qualification A working group comprising representatives from SOEID, teacher education institutions, schools, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and other interested parties has recently reported on two important issues: quality assurance in initial teacher education, and managing the balance of courses and places available across Scotland. We are consulting on the report's recommendations which offer the potential for A streamlined and innovative system of quality assurance which ensures that there is a high standard of professional preparation of new teachers while reducing the burden of external scrutiny on the Universities and Colleges which provide teacher education Arrangements which allow for more flexible approaches to training teachers, while ensuring that an adequate supply of newly trained teachers is maintained.

3. New teachers need to be able to work with members of other professions such as social workers, doctors, dentists and other health professionals and others concerned with pupils' learning, welfare and career development. In line with our proposals for New Community Schools, we will work with providers of teacher education to ensure that new teachers have an effective introduction to the challenges and opportunities involved in providing integrated, community-oriented services. Training in working with other services will be an essential element of new community schools in the pilot programme.

4. There is a healthy demand for places on courses of initial teacher education in Scotland, especially for the primary sector. Around 7,000 applications were received for approximately 800 places on primary courses in 1998-99. For secondary courses, sector, 3,900 applications were received for around 1,260 places. (It should be noted that the figures include multiple applications for undergraduate courses by individual applicants). There have been reductions in the numbers of applications for some of the secondary subjects, for example, mathematics, modern languages and business studies, and we will be considering how best we can target publicity about teaching as a career to ensure that we continue to attract good graduates into teaching.

A Good Start

5. Newly qualified teachers are provisionally registered by the General Teaching Council (GTC). They must then satisfactorily complete two years of employment before the GTC will grant them full registration. This period is often called probation and gives new entrants time to consolidate and develop their competence and confidence. It also allows the GTC to refuse entry to the profession to the small number of graduates who do not manage to become fully effective teachers. Probation can be an unsatisfactory experience where too much of it is spent going from supply post to supply post although a recent survey funded by the GTC suggested that about half of all new teachers completed their probation in one school. The Government is committed to strengthening the probationary period to help encourage a coherent introduction to the profession for all newly qualified teachers. The Government and the GTC have agreed to joint funding of a project to take forward two important initiatives: development of a standard for full registration; and consideration of ways of improving new teachers' introduction to the profession. We shall involve local authorities, as employers of probationer teachers, in this project from an early stage Education authorities have been invited to submit bids to the Excellence Fund to fund innovative and practical measures to support probationer teachers (including those on supply lists) through the provision of training to meet identified development needs, the development of appropriate resources, and access to the National Grid for Learning The Planning Group on Teacher Supply, chaired by The Scottish Office, is considering the scale of the problem of teachers being unable to find permanent jobs, and the extent to which authorities' supply lists depend on them.

Improving Training and Development for Teachers Throughout their Careers

6. Teachers value opportunities for continuing training and development as a means of improving their professionalism. Continuing professional development helps schools achieve their targets and improves pupils' experience at school and is the hallmark of a mature profession. For teachers continuing professional development is both an entitlement and a responsibility.

7. Through continuing professional development, teaching can become a better qualified, more effective profession attracting higher status. The fundamental purpose of professional development is to extend teachers' capacity to improve the performance of pupils. The foundations laid by initial teacher education and probation are good and will be improved. But they are not enough. They must be built upon throughout a teacher's career through a regular process of development based on systematic review of the teacher's needs. Continuing professional development for teachers must reflect each individual's aspirations but also meet the needs of school development plans and the standards of the profession.

8. Defined standards for teachers are high on our agenda. Competences and standards for full registration as a teacher and for Headship will soon be in place, building on our experience with initial teacher education and on the innovative work undertaken to develop the Scottish Qualification for Headship. But teachers do not have access to a framework which informs them of the competences and standards they should be aiming for to progress in their careers or to guide them on the training required to achieve them.

9. Last year we invited responses to our proposals for the introduction of a continuing professional development framework for teachers in Scotland. The main principles set out in the consultation paper were that There should be a national framework to help inform, but not restrict, teachers' training and development activity. At appropriate stages in a teacher's career, from full registration to Headship, there would be clear standards to aim for Progression in the profession should be linked to the undertaking of agreed training and development and the attainment of specified competences and standards, which in some cases would lead to additional qualifications Continuing professional development will be an important means of enhancing the profession's ability to cope with change and meeting the need for additional skills in specific areas, such as science or modern languages.

10. We received many positive and helpful comments on the paper Most people strongly supported the need for continuing professional development There was general support for a coherent framework but a number of views about what it might mean in practice There was a large measure of support for a role for the General Teaching Council (GTC) but no great clarity or agreement about what that role should be There was support for, but also a measure of caution about, the development of competences, standards and linked qualifications There was thought to be scope for the development of new post-graduate qualifications for teachers including qualifications at advanced teaching, and initial, middle and senior management levels including established headteachers.

11. There is a strong case for the development of defined standards, linked to qualifications, which will serve as a guide to teachers on the development activity they should undertake in order to progress in the profession as managers or teachers. We propose to develop and implement through further consultation a framework which can be endorsed by the profession and other interested parties, including parents' groups.

Training and Development Review for Teachers

12. Teachers generally do not have well-established systems for reviewing their performance in order to identify their development needs. They are in this respect in a minority, if not unique, amongst comparable professional groups. Performance review is central to the good management of the profession and in the best interests of teachers themselves.

13. Continuing professional development must be based on a sound understanding of how teachers' performance can be strengthened and how they themselves can build on their knowledge and skills. The best approach is for teachers to assess their own needs as part of a review process involving a more senior professional colleague, normally the teacher's line manager.

14. We have therefore asked all local authorities to set up a scheme of staff development and review which should allow every teacher to enjoy the benefits of a well-thought out and properly supported individual development plan. The schemes should emphasise the link between teachers' individual plans and school development plans. We have also issued new guidelines to authorities to assist them in this task.

15. Detailed discussions with teachers are required to ensure the success of these schemes. We hope teachers will welcome them as a valuable opportunity for professional self-reflection, assessment and development. We expect local authorities to ensure that schemes offer effective support for developing professional expertise. We shall disseminate examples of good practice to encourage authorities to refine and improve their schemes.

16. We expect to see rapid progress being made. We have set a target that all teachers should have undertaken at least one development review by June 1999. At that stage it will be for the Scottish Parliament to consider whether a new regulatory framework is required.

School Leadership

17. Headship is a demanding task. All the research evidence concurs with the common sense view that the leadership qualities of the head are central to school effectiveness. We owe it to teachers, pupils, parents and aspiring headteachers to ensure that new appointees are well prepared for the job. We have therefore developed for the first time a standard for Headship in Scotland which sets out the key competence which this vital position requires. The standard, which was derived through extensive consultation with the profession, forms the basis for the Scottish Qualification for Headship (SQH). An exciting new work-based training programme leading to the SQH is being devised to help aspiring headteachers prepare for the demands of the job. This major initiative will be of real benefit to Scottish schools. The Government has provided funding for the development of the programme and qualification and additional funds will be made available to local authorities over the next three years to enable them to pay for uptake by the next generation of headteachers. In the short term, new appointees to Headship will not be required to hold the qualification. The Government considers that, in the longer term, it may be appropriate to make the SQH mandatory. It would, however, be for Scottish Ministers to decide on this and make any appropriate regulations We want the SQH to be recognised as a prestigious qualification so we propose that initially it should be awarded by the first Minister of the Scottish Parliament. It will be for Scotish Ministers to determine the most appropriate long term arrangements. Academic qualifications gained as part of the SQH will be awarded by an appropriate higher education institution The needs of serving headteachers should also be addressed. Their need to develop and improve as teachers, leaders and managers will be recognised within the framework of continuing professional development. We will be working with education authorities to ensure that headteachers benefit as much as other teachers from the schemes of staff development and review The Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), which is responsible for education matters in England, recently announced the establishment of a National College for School Leadership. We are examining whether Scottish headteachers can benefit from the opportunities which the college can provide in spreading best practice, taking into account the distinctive nature of the Scottish education system; and will discuss with Universities and Business Schools in Scotland how best we might take further the issue of leadership and senior management training for serving Heads.