It is a pity that the Teacher Training Agency is being less than honest about its own work in the field. It has been engaged in an exemplification project for over 20.

The first year of the project involved taking videos of trainees from all over the country. The video team spent a couple of days with each student. The agency rejected this because they said it failed to exemplify the standards.

The students were then refilmed once they became newly-qualified teachers. Again the agency found it difficult to exemplify the standards, even when the films were cut and edited. In February all of these materials were abandoned.

This time teachers who had been successful in the classroom were filmed. They posed as students on teaching practice. I understand there are still problems showing standards for qualification.

The TTA is having problems demonstrating the standards with experienced teachers. They need to look again at the standards. Perhaps Colin Richards could help.

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