Strategic Board for Teacher Education: Meeting 28 Thursday 21 March 2024 2.00pm – 3.30pm

SBTE Workplan – 21 March 2024

Overarching Aim:

Ensure that we have the right numbers of high quality teachers, in the right places, with the right areas of expertise. The Board will also ensure that:-

• the teaching profession is representative of the diversity of Scottish society
• teaching is seen as an attractive and valued profession with a focus on professional learning
• teachers are empowered to lead and influence to allow them to deliver high quality learning and teaching
• teachers are equipped to support improved learning and societal outcomes for all children and young people
• teachers are involved in the preparation for planned education reform and other wider system changes

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

Lead Organisation: SG, GTCS, COSLA & Trade Unions

Outcome: Teachers are valued and teaching is recognised and better promoted as important, complex and impactful work, improving the attractiveness of teaching as a career

Action - Consider how to shift public attitudes and improve the perception of teaching as a rewarding career

Progress - SG met with Edinburgh University marketing who are looking at marketing across ITE providers. 7 March first meeting of short life working group involving key stakeholders to try and tease out ideas for promoting teaching as a career. Gap identified that we do little to target senior phase pupils to think about teaching. Some stakeholders already undertaking their own promotion of teaching with their respective audiences. SG could tap into that and create a social media campaign using existing materials.

Next steps - Further consideration to be given to undertaking a "schools week" as part of a social media campaign to promote teaching as a career for senior phase pupils. SG marketing colleagues to work with stakeholders regarding the use of existing assets regarding running a social media campaign in Autumn before the UCAS closing date in January.

Action - Develop a shared narrative that promotes the teaching profession and that Board members actively share through relevant websites and forums.

Next steps - SG to work up draft comms lines to further develop with stakeholders. This action will be a key discussion point for the next meeting, but may prove more difficult for the teacher unions

Workstream 3: Continuum of teacher education

Lead Organisation: SCDE, GTCS, ES

Outcome: A clear and progressive framework for teacher education across the career continuum. Teachers have the opportunity to progress their skills, knowledge and expertise through career pathway opportunities, have agency and autonomy and are leaders of learning within their community. Teachers in the early phase of their careers experience more consistent mentoring and coaching to increase their confidence, motivation and satisfaction. Teachers have access to sustained and coherent teacher education post-induction. This will lead to increased retention rates after achieving full registration with the General Teaching Council (GTC) for Scotland and at key career stages.

Action - Develop, in partnership, a career long teacher education framework that sets out the systems and structures required for teacher progression.

Progress - Scoping Paper to SBTE on 1 February setting out high level plan. Partnership event on 4 March to consider teacher education framework principles and development.

Next steps - Refine principles and rationale for SBTE sign off. Reframe system 'to be map' of teacher education to better reflect system complexity and ensure focus on individual teacher.

Action - Develop, in partnership, a career long teacher education framework that sets out the systems and structures required for teacher progression.

Action - Ensure teacher education framework is informed by existing insight and data, reform consultation processes, academic research and system intelligence.

Progress - Use system intelligence gathered on 4 March to develop further. Desktop exercise of development of teacher education and PL over time in progress.

Next steps - Use refined principles and more detailed map to develop teacher education framework. Scope operational definitions for key concepts for further SBTE scrutiny.

Action - Understand the current gaps in the framework and collaboratively develop a prioritised action plan to address.

Progress - In-person workshop identified system gaps.

Next steps - Use 'to be map' to illustrate known gaps and through SBTE develop prioritisation list.

Action - Use agreed teacher education framework and associated action plan to influence and inform clarity of organisational/system roles and responsibilities and recommend approaches to improving partnership working arrangements.

Action - Two key priorities: Priority action plan area to focus initially on the early career phase – from ITE, through induction and the first 3 years of teaching to inform required change.

Action - Second priority is to identify structured and supported career long teacher education provision, mapped to the new Framework. An initial focus here would align well to the development of the proposed Centre for Teaching Excellence.

Action - Advise on the impact of the teacher education framework on teacher educators throughout the system.