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Professional Update

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

We have held a consultation on our proposal for a scheme of Professional Update for teachers. The consultation was open from 1 Feb 2012 until 12 Mar 2012. We have published the consultation responses.

We are having regular conversations with teachers about Professional Update. A number of Professional Update 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. We regularly give presentations to staff in schools, local authorities and at events organised by a range of educational organisations.

Professional Update pilot programmes have been launched in North Lanarkshire, East Renfrewshire and Perth and Kinross, as well as in Erskine Stewart's Melville schools and the University of the West of Scotland. By working with teachers and local authority staff, we will gather information about the practical operation of a scheme of Professional Update and how it will support teachers in the Professional Review and Development process.

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 key purposes of Professional Update which are:

• to maintain and improve the quality of our teachers as outlined in the relevant Professional Standards and to enhance the impact that they have on pupils' learning
• to support, maintain and enhance teachers' continued professionalism and the reputation of the teaching profession in Scotland.

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.