Chartered teachers matter: envisioning their future as leaders of learning

This report traces the development of the Chartered Teacher Scheme (CTS) using an approach based on documentary analysis of reports published during the last 10 years. It places this significant and far-sighted policy initiative, which was an important pillar in A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century (2001), within a wider international context in which the “Scottish approach” has been recognised as being at the forefront of quality improvement in schools. Central to this has been the combination of internal and external evaluation based on the use of quality indicators to identify strengths and areas for improvement. It is argued that the section devoted to the Chartered Teacher in the recent Report of the Review of Teacher Employment in Scotland (McCormac, 2011) represents a sharp departure from this approach and is short-sighted in its conclusion. It does not present a full consideration of all the available evidence or a balanced evaluation involving a full analysis of both sides of the debate. Further, in presenting what is described as a “widely held view”, it is quite misleading in terms of what is presented as evidence. As such, Recommendation 19 to discontinue the CTS should be treated with great caution as a basis for sound policy making. The documentary analysis involved in producing this report highlights a complex and long running debate about the CTS around grade, rewards, duties and role and identifies an associated need to develop a more widely shared understanding about the meaning of leadership in particular. In looking to the future, it argued that existing agreements do provide the necessary basis for clarifying the role of the Chartered Teacher with all stakeholders and that a positive future can be envisioned by focussing discussion and debate on the meaning of the Chartered Teacher as a “Leader of Learning”.