Strategic Board for Teacher Education minutes: May 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Sam Anson, Scottish Government

• Scott Brand, Scottish Government

• Laurence Findlay, Aberdeenshire Council

• Michael Wood, ADES

• Stuart Bain, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)

• Lesley Whelan, Education Scotland

• David Burgess, Education Scotland

• Anne Keenan, Educational Institute for Scotland

• Pauline Stephen, General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)

• Tara Lillis, NASUWT

• Barrie Sheppard, National Parents Forum for Scotland

• Graham Hutton, School Leaders Scotland (SLS)

• Barbara Coupar, Scottish Catholic Education Service

• Zoe Robertson, Scottish Council of Deans Education (SCDE)

• Lorraine Davidson, Scottish Council for Independant Schools

• Dunan Lawrie, Teacher

• Khadija Mohammed, University of West Scotland

• Orland Hiejmer-mason, Scottish Government

• Stuart Robb, Scottish Government

• Stephanie Walsh, Scottish Government

• Aleksandra Jonca, Scottish Government 

Apologies

• Catorine Smith, Association of Heads and Depute in Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and Introductions

Sam Anson welcomed Orlando Heijmer-mason to the meeting and said that he will take over as Chair of the Board at the next meeting.

 

Minutes of 21 March 2024

Members had the opportunity to comment on these minutes and these have been incorporated into the revised version. There was no further comments on the latest version. Minutes and papers will be published on the SG website in due course.

 

Matters Arising

SBTE Workplan

The Chair said that the Workplan overarching aim had been amended following comments from Zoe Robertson and asked that members submit written comments to the Secretariat on the revised overarching aim. That would enable a discussion at the next meeting.

 

SBTE Remit

The Chair said that the Remit had been updated to reflect discussion at the previous meeting on ensuring a joined-up approach with Education Reform colleagues on governance of the development of the Centre for Teaching Excellence. The Board would review the Remit later in the year as the Workplan starts to deliver on workstreams.

 

Workstream 1 – Workforce Planning and Increasing Diversity of the Profession

The Secretariat updated on progress with this workstream. The following points were made:

• WS1 leads have held bi-laterals with three local authorities about their workforce planning processes as well as the ADES Personnel Network and will consider how consistent data collection across all local authorities can be effectively achieved

• WS1 leads had meet separately with Tara Lillis and Asif Chishti (GTCS) about the diversity element of this work and had revised the workstream outcome and actions to better embed the diversity work

• Further discussions with COSLA and ADES were pending.  COSLA indicated they were content for SG to take the lead in progressing this workstream

 

Workstream 2 – Improving the Promotion of Teaching as a Valued Career

The Secretariat gave an update on progress with this workstream. The following points were made:

• A media campaign for autumn was being developed

• Autumn was the time of year that prospective students started to make choices

Board members made the following points:

• GTCS conducted a survey of provisionally registered teachers which raises some important issues for partners to consider including some concerning elements such as the levels of bullying and harassment experienced. This will be shared at a later stage.

• UN High-Level Panel on the teaching profession report highlights issues on recruitment, workload, violence and permanent contracts

• Is data available on drop-out rates from ITE programmes and if so how does it compare with retention rates in the induction/early phase

GTCS undertake regular survey with teachers who have lapsed from the Register and will from this Autumn incorporate this information in annual teacher supply information.

The Chair welcomed progress and acknowledged that it was not an ‘either or’ in terms of promoting the teaching profession and addressing issues of retention. The differing views in the room were recognised.

 

Legal Position of Teaching in Scotland

Pauline Stephen gave a presentation on the legal position of teaching in scotland. She made the following points:

• GTCS was established in response to concerns that teachers required to be suitably qualified. A recognised teaching qualification is therefore at the foundation of what it means to be a teacher in Scotland.

• The requirement to hold a teaching qualification informs registration which in turn informs employment.

• GTCS is a statutory body which is required to assess the fitness to teach of all applicants to the register and refusal to register is appealable to the court of session

• The purpose of a teaching qualification is to achieve a professional standard.

Qualified outside of Scotland

• There is an established process for assessing individual applications from those wishing to be registered who have qualified outside of Scotland

• Currently approximately 1,400 applications are received each year with around 90% offered registration as they meet assessment criteria. The main reason for refusal is lack of  teaching qualification and/or lack of other academic requirements.

GTCS Public Services Order 2011

• This order gives the GTCS powers to determine what constitute a teaching. qualification. This applies to school teaching only and although GTCS register college lecturers it is Scottish Ministers who determine qualifications required in further education.

• The order does not allow GTCS to register student teachers

Initial Teacher Education Programmes

• GTCS set admissions criteria to ITE programmes and also accredit these. This includes setting programme content, duration and assessment arrangements

• Each programme must have professional, pedagogical and subject studies along with assessed teaching practice.

• There are currently 11 ITE providers offering a total of 43 different programmes

• HMIE have a legislative provision to inspect programmes of ITE, they undertake an annual self-evaluation workshop with providers focused on sharing best practice on a key theme 

• GTCS accredits the Into Headship programme as a route for teachers to attain the Standard for Headship

There was discission by members and the following points were raised:

• The need for an easy guide for those wishing to follow the qualified outside of Scotland route. GTCS have revised their website to better explain the process and are working on adding visuals. They also list qualifications that are accepted and the date they were assessed to be equivalent.

• The qualified outside of Scotland process is unique in that individual assessments are undertaken, which includes criminal records checks. Resources have been increased to reduced processing times.

• Disclosure Scotland PVG checks are part of the registration applications process.  Disclosure Scotland have recently shared plans to remove lifetime PVG membership which will have implications for all teachers

 

Workstream 3 – Continuum of Teacher Education

Pauline Stephen and Zoe Robertson introduced the draft paper “Developing a Framework for Teacher Education and Development in Scotland”. The aim of the discussion was to agree the principles of the framework and the requirements of teacher education and development. The following points were made:

• Teacher education is currently at a pivotal point and needs reviewed

• The framework aims to clarify roles of different organisations

• Critical understanding that teacher education and development has different requirements  at each stage of the framework

The draft Framework covers 4 phases of the teacher journey. Issues and structure of these phase were summarised in the paper and are commented on below:

Phase 1 – student

• the framework aligns well with the current model of ITE in terms of a foundation period including academic qualification covering critical knowledge and core principles together with relevant school placements

• expectations of higher education and school-based educators are highlighted

• placement of students could be more effective if a stronger link established between student and local authority with potential benefits to retaining teachers in the profession

Phase 2 – graduate

• It is considered more appropriate that the reference is to graduate rather than probationer

• Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) was originally intended as an extension to ITE but for many the experience is filling vacancies with varied levels of support

• Similar to phase one there is a need to target schools that graduates are allocated to ensure high-quality support

Phase 3 – early caree phase

• Considering level and access to support to ensure integration into the profession with access to qualified mentors

Phase 4 – career expansion

• Focuses on continued high-quality opportunities and enhanced pathways for expertise, accomplishment and developing accredited specialisms in areas such as ASN and mentoring

• Considers the area of growing and becoming leaders in formal positions

Board members made the following comments with the proviso that these were early individual opinions and further discussion would be needed within members organisations:

• The draft framework gives a positive direction and organisations will need to consider this further

• There is a need to highlight risks with implementation while accepting the current system needs improving

• Significant resource implications that need to be considered

• It is crucial that teachers are given the time and space to engage effectively with learning at each of the different phases.

• If the flexible route is not available, how will graduates who cannot engage in a full time placement be supported? The final framework needs to offer flexibility for teachers within each phase

• Reference is made to setting expectations of lecturers in HEIs. Further clarification is required on this point to ensure that the framework does not stray into contractual areas, which are outwith the remit of the board

• Clarity and consistency in terminology will be important, e.g. what is the difference between a mentor and a qualified school based teacher educator? What do we mean by ‘qualified’ in this context?

• Early career phase is currently the weakest area and mentorship would help strengthen this

• Revisions to placement arrangements could be problematic and placement in only one school is a risk

• Career progression into university-based teacher education will increase quality

• Resourcing is critical and thoughts on how funds currently in the system could be used differently is needed  

 

Next Steps

The paper aims to formally agree the principles of the proposed framework for teacher education and development and discuss and endorse the requirements  which the framework will enable. The intention being that over the summer the workstream 3 sub-group will consider how best to engage SBTE partners in developing the ‘how’ of the proposed framework.

The board was asked to consider and discuss the draft framework within their contexts with a view to feeding back to inform the next steps in development before considering task prioritisation. SBTE members agreed  to undertake some internal consultation within their organisations to share at the planned SBTE in June.