THE post-McCrone settlement introduced the concept of a chartered teacher to provide an alternative route for experienced professionals who wish to develop their expertise as a teacher rather than seek promotion to management posts. The intention was to encourage and reward teachers who achieved a high level of professional performance in the classroom and the school.

It therefore introduced the Standard for Chartered Teacher, one of a series of standards which, together, create a framework for professional development in Scotland. A separate enhanced salary scale was agreed, progression up the increments being by qualification. The standard was developed by a consortium led by Arthur Andersen in association with Edinburgh and Strathclyde universities. It involved extensive consultation based on two consultation papers, the first of which sought views on the qualities of the accomplished teacher. The second paper, modified after consultation, proposed a draft standard which has now gone for consideration to the project (steering) group, a subgroup of the ministerial steering committee on continuing professional development.

There were some 60 focus group meetings, interviews with 19 “accomplished” teachers, eight regional conferences and a host of other engagements with individuals and organisations. Copies of both consultation papers went to every teacher in Scotland. About 3,000 comments were received. The response to the second paper clearly demonstrated overwhelming support for the proposed standard.

Like the standards for initial teacher education and for full registration, the proposed standard for chartered teachers suggests that they should demonstrate the capacity to:

* Effect further progress in pupils’ learning and development.

* Create and sustain a positive climate for learning.

* Use strategies which increase pupils’ learning.

* Evaluate practice and to reflect critically on it.

* Improve professional performance.

* Ensure that teaching is informed by reading and research

* Contribute to enhancing the quality of the educational experience provided by the school and to the wider professional context of teaching.

* Relate teaching to wider school aims and social values.

* Articulate a personal, independent and critical stance in relation to contrasting perspectives on educational issues, policies and developments.

These qualities suggest that in every sphere of work the chartered teacher should be reviewing practice, searching for improvements, turning to reading and research for fresh insights and relating these to the classroom and the school. It is because the various professional commitments and forms of professional action are so pervasive that a generic standard has been adopted which will apply at all stages of education, across all subjects and specialisms, covering all aspects of teachers’ work throughout the country.

Whereas the Standard for Full Registration expects teachers to produce evidence of certain capabilities and capacities, the chartered teacher should demonstrate these consistently and pervasively. While the newly registered teacher is dependent on the support that comes from being a member of a team, the chartered teacher displays the qualities of the team leader and is acknowledged as such by colleagues.

The chartered teacher should demonstrate the capacity to contribute to the professional development of colleagues and to make a fuller contribution to the educational effectiveness of the school, as well as requiring to be less closely supervised than the newly registered teacher. The chartered teacher will be marked by a capacity to exercise initiative and be innovative, while evaluating their effectiveness in the process.

The chartered teacher will meet the nine criteria in a number of ways: by completing units of work which require the relating of theoretical perspectives and insights to the evaluation and development of ongoing professional work; by obtaining credit for work already undertaken; by obtaining credit for development work previously undertaken in a school, classroom or other appropriate setting; or by a combination of these.

learly, such a flexible system needs to be based on a common unit of currency across the country. The well established modular system of awards operated by the universities provides just such a basic unit: this familiar framework results in the award of a postgraduate certificate after four modules and a postgraduate diploma after eight modules, and culminates in the award of a master’s degree after 12 modules.

That framework provides a convenient and flexible way of enabling teachers to move through the chartered teacher scale by taking, for example, two units of work per year over a six-year period with a salary increment being gained for every two modules successfully completed. Faster or slower progress depending on the teacher’s circumstances will also be possible.

The route to chartered teacher status is not simply a matter of obtaining knowledge or academic credit for its own sake: it is a matter of using theoretical insights and perspectives to effect improvements in professional practice in the classroom and the school. That, surely, must be the most appropriate way of marking the professional development of teachers and, through that, of enriching the experience provided for pupils.

Professor Gordon Kirk is dean of the faculty of education at Edinburgh University.