Exploring new heights for teaching

Christine Forde sets out some of the key questions GTC Scotland and the University of Glasgow are exploring with regard to accomplished teaching.

Over recent months GTC Scotland and the University of Glasgow, supported by the Scottish Government, have been working together on a project exploring accomplished teaching and teachers. The aim of the project is to share and extend current thinking on the recognition and sustaining of accomplished teaching and teachers in Scotland.

The recognition, enhancement and support of accomplished teaching is an area of policy and development in various education systems internationally. The interest in this area is evident in the range of terms used:

  • accomplished teacher
  • expert teacher
  • lead teacher
  • master teacher
  • excellent teacher
  • advanced skills teacher
  • exemplary teacher
  • chartered teacher
  • teacher leader
  • veteran teacher.

These terms demonstrate the diversity of strategies used to develop accomplished teaching and teachers but also point to the lack of clarity about exactly what we are dealing with. To explore this issue we have held two events, firstly an International Symposium and secondly, a National Seminar.

The International Symposium on accomplished teaching and teachers brought together academics from the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Wales, Glasgow and Stirling and from the Australian Council of Educational Research to consider the role and practices of accomplished teachers.

The National Seminar on accomplished teaching and teachers then brought together stakeholders to work as a 'think tank' where the focus was on identifying and exploring specific issues related to the development of accomplished teaching and teachers relevant to the Scottish context.

Why accomplished?

The idea of 'accomplished teaching' has been used in Australia and the USA in work on teacher development. Laurence Ingvarson in his work in Australia has highlighted the importance of the concepts of 'expertise' and 'accomplishment' both in professional development and in the recognition and status of the teaching profession in the wider society. However, this is a term we are not familiar with in Scottish education. Learner-centred education, high skills and interdisciplinary curricula are making demands on teachers. For us then, accomplished teaching has been a useful starting point to explore issues related to the nurturing and sustaining of pedagogic expertise.

Defining accomplished teaching

The unfamiliarity of the terms 'accomplished teaching' and 'accomplished teachers' usefully has provoked much debate as to their meaning and potential within Scottish education, and indeed if 'accomplished' was the most appropriate term. An important area of discussion is the definition of 'accomplishment' in teaching. From this we have to consider what we should include in an understanding of accomplishment: pedagogic expertise, subject knowledge, interdisciplinary understanding, practice, research, personal attributes, technical aspects of teaching, understandings of, and engagement with the wider political and philosophical issues of education. There was debate about the relative importance of these different aspects. However, on one point there was agreement: central to this idea of 'accomplishment' was the enhancement of the learning experiences of pupils.

Some of the features of accomplishment we identified were a mixture of skills, practices and attributes:

  • skill in systematic self-evaluation and reflection
  • ability to examine and critically analyse learning and practice
  • openness to professional scrutiny
  • exemplifying a readiness for change
  • leader of continuing professional development
  • demonstrating leadership in a collegiate context
  • adaptability.

A teacher's career

The discussion raised a number of questions about the scope of accomplishment, whether this term should describe all teachers or 'leading' teachers and about the point in a career when the idea of 'accomplishment' could apply. There is an implicit understanding that accomplishment would apply to experienced professionals. However, an alternative is to see accomplishment being displayed at different stages in a teacher's career. If it is a career-long process then we have to consider whether once a teacher has been recognised as accomplished, is this something we can anticipate being evident throughout their career? This issue points to the need for career-long sustaining of development and practice and that professional learning is an important dynamic in accomplished teaching.

School context

Accomplished teachers were seen as an important element in a continuum of 'leaders of learning' and this was partly related to the classroom and also to the learning of other teachers. Accomplished teachers were seen as having a responsibility for their own development and through collaborative practice, to support the development of accomplishment in other teachers.

There are many questions about accomplished teaching and teachers but our central focus is on the enhancement of the learning experiences of pupils. In this enterprise there is much potential in the development of accomplished teachers and teaching, particularly in a context where collegiate and distributive forms of leadership are emerging in schools. Therefore through this project we look forward to continuing to explore these ideas of accomplished teaching and teachers.

Christine Forde is Professor of Leadership and Professional Learning in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow.

ISSUE 39
March 2011