Chartered Teacher Status recognises the knowledge, skills and behaviours of excellent teachers, says Dame Alison Peacock
In 2017, a new professional body for teachers was launched, founded on the principles of collegiality, shared values and respect. I know that excellent teaching transforms the lives of children and young people and, at the Chartered College of Teaching, we believe the way to achieve excellent teaching is by supporting teachers to be the very best they can be.
Providing opportunities for professional development and access to research and evidence to enhance teaching practice is central to the Chartered College’s goals. Therefore, the development of a programme to support teachers to achieve Chartered Teacher Status has been a major focus for us.
Chartered Teacher Status recognises the knowledge, skills and behaviours of excellent teachers, highlighting the importance of their expertise in supporting the learning of children and young people. This represents the first step in the development of a career pathway focused on effective classroom practice, not just leadership. It will also bring teaching in line with other professions, where recognition of expertise and expectation of career-long professional learning are well-established.
“Teachers should be entrusted with responsibility for the future development of teaching.”
We are aiming high with this programme because we believe that teachers deserve greater recognition of their value to society and should be entrusted with responsibility for the future development of teaching. We want to create a professional development programme for teachers that is transformative, engaging, responsive and relevant to classroom practice. It also aims to raise the profile of the teaching profession and celebrate teachers’ professionalism, hard work and achievements.
The programme takes 14 months to complete and, to achieve Chartered Teacher Status, participants will undertake a range of different assessments. These assessments will allow them to showcase their knowledge and skills against the areas set out in the Chartered College’s professional principles. These principles highlight the importance of deep subject knowledge, understanding of pedagogy and assessment, excellent classroom practice, as well as critical evaluation, engagement with research evidence and a desire to contribute to the profession.
In developing our set of professional principles, we have drawn on a wide research base about what makes effective teaching, considering all of those things that really have an impact on the progress of children and young people in our schools, colleges and other settings. These principles have been further refined with input from our Professional Pathways Advisory Group and from surveys, focus groups and individual interviews with teachers, school leaders, teacher educators, sector experts and the wider teaching profession. The Chartered Teacher programme supports teachers’ personal, professional and career development and will acknowledge and celebrate the fantastic work that happens in classrooms across the country every day.
The assessments include rigorous written and oral assignments, completion of a professional development plan, participation in debate activities, a small-scale research or improvement project, and submission of a portfolio of videos of practice, work samples and reflections. During the course of the programme, participants will also attend face to face sessions, including a presentation and award event. Participants will be supported in developing their teaching practice throughout the programme. This support includes the allocation of an experienced mentor, workshops, training, reading lists and supporting materials to help develop practice in key areas; an interview with an expert in the field of their research-based improvement project; an online platform to collaborate with other participants; and formative feedback on assessments as they are completed.
“Our ultimate goal is to ensure that each and every child fulfils their potential.”
Alongside this programme, we are bringing together our many thousands of members and encouraging them to share practice and contribute to an ever expanding body of knowledge about teaching and learning. We believe that this will help to lay the foundation for a professional culture of effectiveness and continual improvement. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that each and every child fulfils their potential through having access to an excellent education.
Teachers need access to a broad range of skills and knowledge that can be adapted and fine-tuned to meet the needs of their widely varying education contexts and pupil needs. The value of evidence is not just in the rigour of the content and its potential impact, but also lies in its relevance and accessibility for educational practice. Membership of the Chartered College provides access to a database including more than 2,000 journals, articles and research.
High-quality, peer reviewed, research papers and articles from teachers, school leaders, researchers and academics, across a variety of settings, are also published in Impact, our termly journal. This journal connects research findings to classroom practice, with a focus on the interests and voices of teachers and educators. It supports the teaching community by promoting discussion around evidence within the classroom, and enabling teachers to share and reflect on their own use of research. Each issue is themed around a key topic for practitioners with a guest editor who is a specialist in the field. The last issue, published in September, focused on assessment and was guest edited by Dylan Wiliam. Our next issue, available in February, is edited by Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemo
