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In my view: Don’t arrest development
By David Drever, Convenor, GTC Scotland
What price professionalism? If you're the holder of the purse strings then the answer is -
as cheap as possible, please.
However, the question - and the answer - is never as simple as that for everyone else. In Scotland, good professional development is recognised as being central in delivering the changes to teacher education envisaged in the Donaldson Report, Teaching Scotland's Future. Similarly, it will be crucial to the process of Professional Update that is currently being developed by GTCS. However, at times of budget cuts and financial restraints, long-term investment in professional development is threatened.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the McCormac Review's proposal to axe the Chartered Teacher scheme. The Standard for Chartered Teaching has won plaudits and critical acclaim from educators in the UK and internationally for its development of the concept of 'accomplished teacher' in a Scottish context. Initially, the scheme answered the development need of those teachers who wanted to develop their expertise beyond the Standard for Full Registration, while remaining in the classroom. Delivered by Scotland's teaching universities, it quickly became the premier professional development programme for our teachers. It provided the opportunity of a classroom-based deepening of pedagogical skills, theoretical and practical, that was linked to a recognised career structure. In this it was ambitious and innovative.
The scheme has not remained static, and learning from earlier experience it was amended two years ago. The Revised Standard was positioned to allow Chartered Teachers to develop a key professional development role
in schools.
In addition to developing their own areas of professional expertise, they would provide advice to other teachers, mentor and support probationers and work to forge stronger links between the school and other groups.
In best practice, and in a spirit of collegiality, they have been helping to lead learning in their schools.
Abolition of the Charter Teacher scheme would be a squandering of valuable resources.