Evaluation of the Impact of the Implementation of Teaching Scotland's Future - Research Findings

Key findings: remaining challenges

Nonetheless, there was widespread acknowledgement - across the teaching profession and among LA and national stakeholders - that there is a considerable way to go before the vision set out in TSF is fully realised. As one participant put it 'the profession is on the path, but not there yet'.

The evaluation has identified the following areas where further improvement is required - or where progress would help facilitate improvements:

• At the Initial Teacher Education and early career stage, the development of teachers would be enhanced by: further clarification and agreement of the respective roles of the school and the university in relation to joint assessment; improved communication between the university and the school on aspects of student placements; and the provision of additional support for probationers to further develop key pedagogical skills.
• CLPL for class teachers could be improved by: increasing their awareness and involvement in LA/university partnerships; raising awareness of different options for Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework level 11 learning; better Professional Review and Development support for supply teachers; developing a shared understand of coaching and mentoring; increasing coaching and mentoring skills; and by encouraging teachers to reflect more on experiences of leading initiatives and more actively using the experiences to develop leadership skills.
• CLPL for all teachers could be enhanced by better signposting to high quality resources and by the development of more professional networks. With so much creativity happening at a school level, networks could help share good practice more effectively and they would be particularly beneficial for those with relatively specialist expertise, interests or needs.

There are also two system-wide challenges that should be addressed. Firstly, the difficulties in obtaining supply cover due to a lack of available supply teachers : this is one of the main barriers to CLPL.

Secondly, the number of national 'priorities'. One of the concerns most commonly raised was that there are currently too many priorities in education. This has a perceived impact on Initial Teacher Education (because of the need to cover all the different, emerging priorities which leaves less time for core pedagogical skills) and on CLPL more generally (because the impact on workloads reduced the time available for CLPL and some of the remaining CLPL time was spent 'getting to grips' with the priorities).

Some of these improvements will be easier to achieve than others and most will require the teaching profession, universities providing teacher education, LAs and national bodies to continue to work together. However, the significant progress that has already been made and the teaching profession's engagement with professional learning provides a strong base. With the continued commitment and support of all stakeholders, the next five years should see the teaching profession move further along the path and 'strengthen further its vital role in building Scotland's future.