Professional Skills and Abilities

3.1 Curriculum and Pedagogy

3.1.1 Plan effectively to meet learners’ needs

Professional actions

As an accomplished teacher you consistently demonstrate the enhanced skills and abilities working both individually and collaboratively to:

• use a range of assessment approaches to plan and adapt teaching and/or further assessment
• plan and adapt learning, teaching and assessment, to meet the needs of every learner:
• with a critically informed rationale for actions taken
• taking account of the gender, social, cultural, racial, ethnic, religious and economic context
• using appropriate resources, environments and technologies
• lead pedagogical practice with a deep, informed understanding of purposes and processes of learning
• plan learning that is creative, sustainable and takes full account of the impact on resources

3.1.2 Critically and effectively utilise pedagogical approaches and resources

Professional actions

As an accomplished teacher you consistently demonstrate the enhanced skills and abilities working both individually and collaboratively to:

• enact deep subject knowledge and pedagogical leadership
• use research informed pedagogies and critically evaluated resources to:
• deliver high-quality learning experiences for every learner
• support every learner to be curious and engaged with their learning using real world themes where appropriate
• employ rigorous and critical self-evaluation, reflection and enquiry including how to ethically investigate and evidence impact on every learner and on professional practice
• create opportunities for learning to be transformative in terms of challenging assumptions and expanding the world views of learners

3.1.3 Critically and effectively use partnerships for learning and wellbeing

Professional actions

As an accomplished teacher you consistently demonstrate the enhanced skills and abilities working both individually and collaboratively to:

• further develop and encourage a culture where learners meaningfully participate in decisions related to their learning, wellbeing and learning community
• work effectively with colleagues, parents/carers, wider school community and partner agencies to enrich learning and teaching and support the wellbeing of all, across the learning community
• create and develop and sustain partnerships which:
• support decision making that is compatible with a sustainable future in a just and equitable world
• connect learners to their dependence on the natural world and develop their sense of belonging to both the local and global community  
• connect relevance of learning to skills for life, learning and work

3.1.4 Critically and effectively employ assessment, evaluate progress, recording and reporting as an integral part of the teaching process to support and enhance learning

Professional actions

As an accomplished teacher you consistently demonstrate the enhanced skills and abilities working both individually and collaboratively to:

• ensure formative and summative assessment information is used effectively to inform learning and teaching and is proportionately and appropriately recorded
• critically evaluate and use a range of differentiated assessment strategies that ensures support and challenge for all learners
• apply the principles, policies and practices of assessment, including those required by awarding and accrediting bodies
• with a range of relevant partners, select/design, use and evaluate innovative, responsive assessment approaches and strategies
• engage with moderation and verification processes to effectively inform pedagogy, learner progress, whole school and system improvement
• contribute to/design effective recording strategies to capture and analyse appropriate and proportionate data that:
• provides meaningful feedback/feedforward to learners
• supports meaningful reporting of learners’ progress to parents/carers, families and partners
• contribute to the evidence base used to inform learning and teaching, school and system level improvement
• apply professional judgement to evidence gathered to inform summative assessment

3.2 The Learning Context

3.2.1 Critically and effectively organise and manage learning

Professional actions

As an accomplished teacher you consistently demonstrate the enhanced skills and abilities working both individually and collaboratively to:

• create and maintain an inclusive, stimulating, purposeful and dynamic learning environment that offers appropriate support and challenge for all learners
• provide innovative and adaptive learning experiences for learners with additional support needs
• ensure that the learning environment takes full account of the diverse learning needs of learners
• ensure opportunities for active participation, individually and collaboratively, for all learners
• critically evaluate, select and design appropriate resources to ensure appropriately differentiated learning, teaching and assessment
• ensure that every learner has access to and is enabled to select from well-chosen/designed resources including digital technologies
• draw on a range of sources to critically evaluate the impact of the learning environment on every learner and learning and to challenge assumptions, bias and adapt provision, as appropriate

3.2.2 Effectively engage learner participation

Professional actions

As an accomplished teacher you consistently demonstrate the enhanced skills and abilities working both individually and collaboratively to:

• ensure meaningful opportunities are provided for learners’ active participation in decision-making about their education and in which learners recognise that their contributions are genuinely recognised and valued
• develop alternative mechanisms for ensuring participation that take full account of the additional support needs of learners
• use a range of approaches to promote active participation that:
• embrace diversity
• ensure learners feel welcomed, included, respected, valued, safe and nurtured
• take account of wellbeing indicators, childhood development and the impact of childhood experiences

3.2.3 Build positive, respecting relationships for learning

Professional actions

As an accomplished teacher you consistently demonstrate the enhanced skills and abilities working both individually and collaboratively to:

• promote, develop and sustain positive relationships that support learners’ curiosity, motivation and engagement with their learning
• create a learning environment where every learner feels safe, valued and included and is respectful of themselves, each other, their surroundings and the natural world
• promote and develop effective methods of communication that benefit learners with additional support needs
• use a wide variety of research-informed approaches to develop and sustain positive relationships across the learning community

3.3 Professional Learning

3.3.1 Engage critically with literature, research and policy

Professional actions

As an accomplished teacher you consistently demonstrate the enhanced skills and abilities working both individually and collaboratively to:

• critically review, examine and evaluate a range of educational literature, research, and policy to:
• critically question and challenge educational assumptions, beliefs and values of self and system
• ensure practice is informed, justifiable and adapted accordingly
• enact key learning from professional reading and adapt to suit local contexts to ensure that practice reflects current educational thinking to support the needs of learners
• participate and/or lead robust professional dialogue through both face-to-face and online discussions

3.3.2 Engage in reflective practice to develop and advance career-long professional learning and expertise

Professional actions

As an accomplished teacher you consistently demonstrate the enhanced skills and abilities working both individually and collaboratively to:

• engage in rigorous, evidence informed self-evaluation of practice
• investigate, analyse and evaluate the impact of practice and make changes accordingly
• engage in and/or lead practitioner/professional enquiry to inform and challenge practice
• identify and engage in meaningful career-long professional learning, including postgraduate study as appropriate, and maintain a reflective record of evidence of impact on self, colleagues and learners
• show professional courage and judgement to support and challenge system improvement through:
• understanding and exploring local, national, and global contexts and the complexity in which teachers interact
• contributing to a learning culture that supports and facilitates professional dialogue, debate and constructive feedback
• lead and contribute to the professional learning of colleagues, including student and probationer teachers
• engage with the Professional Update process