CHARTERED COLLEGE OF TEACHING LAUNCHES TEACHERS’ MANIFESTO
The Chartered College of Teaching has published its Teachers’ Manifesto ahead of the general election. The manifesto, developed by members of the Chartered College, calls for the parties to focus on improving the quality of CPD, support a research-informed teaching profession, establish career pathways focused on the classroom and improve job satisfaction.
Across four sections, members of the Chartered College shared their views on how the next government can best support teachers. Suggestions ranged from the quality control of CPD providers and entitlement to a specific amount of CPD per year, greater attention to tackling the damaging narrative surrounding teaching and a reduction in contact hours to better enable planning.
The Teachers’ Manifesto makes the following recommendations:
Improve quality of teacher CPD
- A national expectation for teachers to complete regular CPD
- Teachers entitled to a specific amount of CPD per year
- CPD should take place regularly and over a longer period of time
- Increase teacher-led CPD
- CPD providers should be quality controlled
Improved job satisfaction
- Tackle the negative narrative surrounding teaching and teachers
- More coaching and mentoring
- Greater focus on flexible working
- Increased support for experienced teachers
- Reduction in workload
- Make changes to the accountability system
- Greater focus on student behaviour
- Reduction in contact hours to better enable planning
The teaching profession is research-informed
- More time to read and discuss research
- A requirement for CPD to be research-informed
- The expectation for teachers, leaders and policy to be research-informed
- Greater HE institution and school collaboration
- Greater access to research
Establish career-pathways focussed on classroom expertise
- Establish stronger systems of collaboration
- Expert teachers to become mentors
- Provide secondment opportunities
- Greater promotion of qualifications recognising expert teachers
- Pathways to become more flexible and clearer
- Greater flexibility to switch between career pathways and schools
Professor Dame Alison Peacock, Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching said:
“We hope that all parties will take note of the views of teachers and act on these suggestions. Teachers deserve opportunities to develop through high-quality CPD and research. However, it is not enough to just provide these tools, they need to actually be given the time to access them.
We need to do much more to celebrate the work of our teachers and recognise their expertise. This echoes our own research which found that the public believes the work of teachers is valued less than it was five years ago. If we are to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis then we need to show just how valued our teachers are. This needs to start now.”
The Chartered College of Teaching is sharing the manifesto with all parties ahead of the election. To read the full manifesto visit chartered.college/chartered-college-teachers-manifesto.