Department for Education: Teachers’ Standards

In this latest post Phil Waters is going to introduce a series of articles on changes being made by the Department for Education to Teachers’ Standards and the knock on effect they will have for our working lives and salaries.  My earlier post on Thursday 17^th May highlighted Michael Goves’ intentions to radically alter Teachers’ Pay and Conditions; particularly the national pay deal.  Michael Gove wants to introduce regional pay deals and if possible, it appears, he would like to go further by having schools determine their own conditions of pay. 

How does this link to Teacher’s Standards?  In short; I think the intention is to link pay to standards.  Instead of teachers moving up through the pay scale from M1 to M6 based on years of service, teachers would move up the scale by meeting their career stage expectations.  Therefore it is important that we know what is being planned and that we engage with the implementation of this so we can have some ownership of the process.

What is happening to…..?      Teachers’ Standards 2012

By Phil Waters

In this mini series of articles, I intend to write brief accounts about our current thinking on the latest policies that will affect the way we work.

Teachers’ Standards, published February 2012, come into effect in September 2012.  They are statutory and will provide a benchmark against which we are all judged.

There are just 10 standards and a preamble which replace 33 QTS, 41 Core (C) 10 Post Threshold  (P) 15 Excellent (E) and  3 AST(A) standards.  Each new standard is subdivided into several parts, and is considered as being the sum of its parts.  In other words, to meet a standard we have to fulfil all of its parts.

The standards comprise 3 areas – an all encompassing Preamble, Part One -eight standards dealing with our capacity as teachers, and Part Two- standards that focus on our professional conduct.  Not yet published, but on the horizon are “Master Teacher” standards.  These describe an extraordinary level of ability and will subsume all colleagues who would under the present system move beyond M6.

The Headteacher (or appraiser) will assess our performance against the standards.  For those in training, the judgement is based upon a level that can be “reasonably be expected”.  For all other teachers, the standards define a minimum level of practice that can be expected at the relevant stage of their career. (para 6)

It is the phrase “expected at the relevant stage of their career” which is the core of the standards.  What does it mean?  How does the Headteacher, or their appointed appraiser interpret what is expected from a colleague on M4, and differentiate that from someone at M6?  There is no national definition or interpretation, and guidance varies across the country. For example, Oxfordshire LA has not published any guidance, yet all 600 Hertfordshire schools have already agreed upon what are now regarded as “Career Stage Expectations”.

In the scramble to define our career stage expectations, and align Performance Management to the standards, leadership teams have been attending consultancy -run workshops.  It is the consultants at these briefings who are leading schools and determining our interpretation of the teacher’s Career Stage Expectations as well helping us to interpret the Performance Management process by which teachers will be appraised against the standards.

Cheney School teachers will be asked to determine for themselves the career stage expectations against which they will be appraised.  This process is being repeated across the country in readiness for the start of the new academic year and implementation of the standards in September 2012.

Why should teachers be qualified to teach?

A free school in Oldham is being set up; the intention is to staff it with ex-armed forces personnel.  I am not against members of the armed forces working in school.  This has been proven to work; look at Skill Force.  However, Skill Force works within a school setting and follows the policies of the school it works in.  Nor am  I against a school being set up and run by ex-armed forces that are trained and qualified teachers.  I am sure that their previous experience would enrich their careers as teachers; as is the case with many who enter the profession from a non-teaching background.  My issue is whether this free school will be staffed by people qualified to teach in schools.  This legislation yet again shows how we, as teachers, have lost control of our professional identity.  Should we not expect our children to be taught by people that are qualified to do just that; teach?  Why do we think that the skills that make people successful in one sphere of employment; in this case the armed forces, will make them qualified to be successful in another.  As a qualified teacher am I then up to conducting a wee bit of brain surgery?  Possibly not.  I am sure there are some ex-soldiers who have what it takes to make excellent teachers without formal training, but are we happy to leave it to chance?  I'm quite physically fit; but I'm sure the army don't want me messing up thier finely tuned strategy by turning up on the front line.

As a society we have lost sight of the fact that teaching is an extremely difficult job that takes lots of training and experience to do well.

Read the article from the BBC here and watch here.

Poor teachers face tougher system under shake-up

Click on this link to see the article from the BBC.  We all need to be aware of the actions being taken by government.  This simply adds to my belief that the teaching profession has never really taken control of its own professional standards or professional identity, and that the need to do so is still critical.