Opinion

Let teachers embrace a career that values lifelong learning

26 Jul 2019, 16:32

The Chartered College of Teaching is two-and-a-half years old. What does the future hold for the organisation? Dame Alison Peacock explains.

According to the results of our recent survey – our society does not value our teachers sufficiently. Our teachers shape the future of society, and your impact on the lives of young people is immense and should be celebrated.

Teachers need to be seen as experts, at the heart of their community and trusted for their knowledge. We want to see teachers given the opportunity to embrace a career that values lifelong learning, celebrates their achievements and is universally supported.

My ambition is to change the culture of what it means to be a professional. We want to support and inspire you to work with research, to navigate your way through change and identify the route that works best for you, your pupils, your school, and your community.

The Chartered College of Teaching has taken huge strides in collaborating with teachers in the classroom. Over 26,000 teachers and leaders across all phases have joined and benefited from the resources we offer.

We have brought teachers together across all regions to share insight and develop their practice, and on Saturday we celebrated the very first cohort of teachers to achieve Chartered Teacher status.

 

So how will we grow our membership?

We are making a difference but we know that we have a long way to go. We do not have the benefit of being able to refine our offer over decades, such as other Royal Colleges. We are having to adapt and learn as we grow.

In only 30 months, establishing ourselves, developing our offer, gaining 26,000 members and reaching over 2 million pupils is unquestionably a strong start.

The next stage is to grow and become self-sustaining and to do this we need to reach more teachers. We are planning to visit more schools around the country and inviting our members to discuss, in the spirit of collegiality, how being a member of your professional body supports classroom practice.

Engaging early career teachers as they start their journey is an important part of growing our membership. We know early career teachers are at huge risk of leaving the profession in their first five years. It is imperative they build agency, feel trusted and know they are valued.

By offering free membership and a raft of tools, including our early-career journal, early career network events and early career conference we have an attractive offer to the future of this profession. That is also why we are working to support as many NQTs as possible.

As part of this work, we look forward to welcoming large groups of NQTs to their professional body in September. This will play a strong part in supporting the Early Career framework as it is rolled out nationally.

The best possible recommendation is from other teachers. As we grow we extend our reach and engage more teachers, momentum is unquestionably building.

 

An advocate in every school

Since we launched, the Chartered College has undertaken a variety of activities to support teachers. These are in addition to our core membership activities and have all helped to place us in a strong position for the future.

They have included additional DfE-funded projects; such as our important work set out in their EdTech strategy – including a special EdTech issue of Impact sent to all schools – an early career guide for teachers and the TLIF-funded Accelerate programme.

I am pleased that the government has supported the notion of a professional body and recognised why it is so important to raise the status of the profession. However, it is important for teachers to recognise that we are not driven by one political agenda. We are a professional body that welcomes a broad spectrum of views to enable teachers to drive their profession.

I am determined to reach a point where we have at least one member as an advocate in every single school in the country. It is a marathon but one which we will achieve. In the coming months, we will also be launching our ten-year strategy which will set out in more detail our work to grow and strengthen the profession

We will grow and together we will change lives. Work with us.

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5 Comments

  1. David

    Is this Chartered College’ still limping along? I thought it had died a death ages ago, as another semi-quango largely irrelevant to the daily grind teachers face.

    So, if it is still alive, what’s it actually do? How is it reducing workload? How is it improving behaviour? How is it helping teachers to have a salary they can use to buy somewhere? How is it helping tackle the real issues real teachers face daily? Another quarterly e-magazine full of wonderful ludicrously upbeat messages of support and visions for the future from well-known politicians and articles from celebrities about their favourite teacher just doesn’t cut it these days I’m afraid.

  2. Amanda Grilling

    26000 members is very impressive – that is about the number of new trainees that have qualified in the last two years, isn’t it?

    In my school, the only teachers who are members are the trainees and NQTs. In fact, I wouldn’t mind a very small bet that every single one of the dozen or so we have here are. Why?

    They appear to be under the distinct impression that being able to put down ‘Member of the Chartered College of Teaching’ on their CV or application form somehow instils some kudos upon them. To be brutally frank, I would think it’s the exact opposite – if that is all they can point to to show how their career is progressing nicely, then they need to be probed far more closely in the interview room.

  3. Stanley

    I think some serious points have been made, that do need answers. Workload? Behaviour? Salary? How is this organisation helping? What ****evidence**** is that it has made the slightest bit of difference to teachers in the last two years?

    I look forward to an article that puts these questions to Peacock and reading the verifiable evidence she provides for making a difference. Until that time, it will as the above says, simply be NQTs who join because they think it will look good on their CV. Proper teachers will be rushing around battling heavy workloads and worsening class behaviour to even notice this organisation exists.

  4. Antony Luby

    Sorry to hear of such negative comments.
    It is up to teachers to make their own profession and the Chartered College represents a good way to achieve this.
    Having spent a career lifetime teaching in the classroom I’m proud to belong to the Chartered College…