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Professional Update

We have been tasked by the Scottish Government with introducing a scheme of professional review and development for teachers. The working title for this is Professional Update.

We have launched a consultation on our proposal for a scheme of Professional Update for teachers. The consultation is open until Wednesday 7 Mar 2012.

View the consultation on a scheme of Professional Update.

We have been conversing with teachers about Professional Update. A number of meetings have taken place across the country to discuss our early thinking. The first event was hosted in Glasgow and a mix of education professionals attended to hear our Chief Executive Anthony Finn explain more about how the scheme might operate. Similar meetings have taken place in Dumfries, Dundee, Stirling, Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

In order to look carefully at the issues around such a scheme, we set up a Working Group. One of the first outcomes of the Working Group was to identify the aims of Professional Update which are:

• to maintain and improve the quality of our teachers and to enhance the impact that they have on pupils' learning
• to support, maintain and enhance teachers' continued professionalism.

What Professional Update is not

Professional Update is not a tool to get rid of teachers. It is anticipated that Professional Update will focus on continuous improvement rather than on determining whether or not a teacher is, or has remained, competent.

In line with the Code of Practice on Teacher Competence, competence cases will therefore continue to be handled by authorities in the first instance, with cases of alleged serious professional incompetence referred subsequently to us for resolution. In addition, it is hoped that the small number of cases which lead to a formal review of the competence of an individual teacher may be assisted by the improvements in professional review and development arising from the introduction of Professional Update.

Find out More

We know you will have many more questions to ask about Professional Update. That's why we have placed as much information as possible at this time to better inform you about what the scheme might look like.

You can find our initial statement on Professional Update along with advice notes from our downloads section. We have also created a Professional Update FAQ's page to assist you with any queries you currently have about Professional Update.