Pembroke Teacher completes Chartered Teacher pilot programme

A primary teacher from Pembroke Dock Community School is one of only eight teachers in Wales to have undergone the first full trial of the accreditation route to Chartered Teacher status in Wales.

Ann Mears has been teaching for 11 years, and was part of the trial of The Chartered Teacher accreditation route  which is being developed by the General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW). This programme will give experienced teachers in the middle of their careers the chance to receive professional recognition for their teaching achievements if they successfully meet the designated standard.

Commenting on her experiences, Ms Mears said: “I enjoyed the opportunity to take part in the Chartered Teacher pilot.  It allowed me to reflect on my teaching experience to date and to enhance my teaching skills through guided activities.

“The Chartered Teacher Status would allow teachers in Wales to have professional, as well as peer recognition, for the high standards they achieve in terms of knowledge, understanding, skills and commitment.”

Ms Mears completed a year long trial of the accreditation route, which enabled her to build a portfolio of evidence of her teaching career and experience.  She had to demonstrate that she could fulfil more than 28 Chartered Teacher standards across three key areas; professional knowledge and understanding, professional skills in practice and professional commitment.Talking about the pilot, Hayden Llewellyn, deputy chief executive of the GTCW said:

“There are clear national professional development arrangements for teachers at the beginning of their careers and for those going on to train for headship. However, there is nothing in place nationally for the vast majority of teachers in the midst of their careers. We hope that in time, Chartered Teacher will bridge this gap.

“The programme will be aimed at teachers with more than five years’ experience, who wish to develop their teaching and leadership skills, widen their professional knowledge and skills, and who show a commitment to excellence in the classroom.”

Advising on the pilot was Phil Bassett, Dean of Learning and Teaching and head of the School of Education at Glyndwr University, and Professor Ken Jones, Dean of Humanities at Swansea Metropolitan University, both of whom were instrumental in the task group which advised on the development of the Chartered Teacher pilot programme.

Professor Ken Jones said: “The accreditation route pilot went very well and the teachers who participated were enthusiastic and worked extremely hard.  The teachers who fully engaged with the programme really did experience a positive change in terms of their focus on themselves as teachers, leaders and individuals.

“Although all were capable and experienced teachers, they were required to look more critically at their professional practice.  It is not until you are challenged as a teacher to look more deeply and widely at your work that you start to see what you do well and what you don’t do so well.“If you look at the way the profession is changing in other countries, it is evident that there needs to be clear recognition of the good quality work that classroom teachers are doing in Wales, and the Chartered Teacher initiative provides one way of doing this.

“It is important that the standards for Chartered Teacher status are set at a high level and some teachers have already shown that they operate at this level, often without recognition. “In terms of the many wider benefits of the programme, Chartered Teacher status will  enable headteachers and others to recognise formally the high quality of some of their staff, and to put this to good use in supporting the professional development of other staff in the school and beyond.”

The participating teachers were each assigned an adviser for the duration of the pilot, and a website was provided by Glyndwr University to allow teachers to network with each other by posting comments and queries, and by downloading resources to help them compile their portfolios. Hayden Llewellyn of the GTCW added: “We are currently reviewing all aspects of the Chartered Teacher pilot, Informal feedback on the accreditation route pilot has so far been extremely positive and we are looking forward to receiving the independent evaluation of the programme later this summer.”

Further pilot modules of the Chartered Teacher Taught programme are due to start in September. Modules in ‘Self Evaluation and Reflection’ will be run by jointly by UWIC and ESIS in South Wales, and jointly by the South West and Mid Wales Consortium and Trinity University College in West Wales.  The University of Bangor and the North Wales Association of Special School Headteachers will coordinate a module on ‘Education for All’ in North Wales. Teachers interested in taking part, will receive full funding support from GTCW. For more information, please visit www.gtcw.org.uk <http://www.gtcw.org.uk> or call 029 2046 0099