WHY SHOULD HEADTEACHER ENCOURAGE TEACHERS TO JOIN THE CHARTERED TEACHER PROGRAMME?
Robert McBeth
Beths Grammar School
Robert McBeth writes about his CTeach experience and why headteachers should encourage their staff to participate in the Chartered Teacher Programme.
In order for a school to foster an environment of academic scholarship, intellectual curiosity and a love for learning amongst its students, it first and foremost must invest in the scholarship of the teaching staff. This helps to ensure that this environment and culture is delivered to the very best quality and can reap significant returns for school improvement.
Headteachers and school leaders should see teachers as leaders of learning in their own classrooms and the Chartered Teacher Programme is the perfect development tool to allow this to happen. In a time of significant funding constraints facing schools the budget for professional development for staff is likely to be at risk of being reduced considerably. I would encourage Headteachers to consider how investment in staff development could reap greater returns in the long term.
In my view, effective CPD is measured through impact at both classroom and whole school level. The Chartered Teacher Programme is more than just a box-ticking exercise for performance management or attendance at a one-day event. It takes existing staff development and completely reconfigures the learning process to suit the needs of individual staff that are keen to engage in a long-term journey to develop their classroom practice. It is an intense period of self-reflection to support teachers to push the boundaries with their own learning to have a positive impact on the learning experiences of their pupils. It engages teachers with up-to-date research and encourages them to complete their own research-based improvement project to test new ideas and engage with the theory on a practical level. It is tailored to their individual needs and enables them to specialise in a specific area of development which they may feel they need more support, making them an even better classroom practitioner. The inclusive ethos of the Chartered College is infectious. They work hard to develop a network of like-minded teachers from schools across the country to engage in that all-important professional dialogue and to provide support on their journey to becoming top-quality teachers.
Undoubtedly, the Chartered Teacher Programme has been the best CPD I have ever completed. It has made me become more self-reflective, challenged me to adapt my practice based on evidence-based research and consequently made me fall in love with teaching again. Completion of the programme has empowered me to challenge the status quo, to “fight the good fight” and subsequently made me feel excited about what the next five years will bring with my continued involvement with the Chartered College. Headteachers should invest in their staff who will then feel empowered to invest more into their students, bringing with it mutually beneficial outcomes for everyone involved. Whatever the state of the political and financial situation in our country our young people deserve the very best and we as teachers have a responsibility to deliver this. However, it all starts in the classroom. Just as we would say to our students “you reap what you sow” the Chartered Teacher Programme could be the best investment you make.
Robert McBeth
Beths Grammar School
Visit the Chartered Teacher page to find out more or email charteredteacher@chartered.college with any questions. Early-bird rate for the programme closes 2nd December 2019.