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Teaching: the Refective Proession



The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland would like to thank the many people who contributed to the development and production of Teaching: the Refective Proession.



Teaching: the Refective ProessionIncorporating the Northern Ireland Teacher Competences



ForewordIt is with a sense o considerable pride that we

welcome the publication o this celebration o

teacher proessionalism. We in Northern Ireland

are well served by dedicated proessionals

who conscientiously endeavour to meet

the needs o those placed in their care.

In a period o unparalleled change, it is timely

that the proession takes an opportunity to

refect on a number o highly signicant issues:

the moral purposes underpinning

our endeavours;

the need or a reciprocity o understandings,

in respect o responsibilities, between the

proession and society at large; and

the knowledge, skills and attributes necessary

to meet the new and emerging challenges.

This document addresses all o these issues and

recognises the complexities o teaching and the

reality that successul teachers are those whonot only refect on their classroom practice,

but are also concerned with the purposes andSally McKeeChairperson, GTCNI

Eddie McArdleRegistrar, GTCNI

consequences o education as well as what

might be deemed technical prociency.

The General Teaching Council or Northern Ireland

(GTCNI) has consistently rejected any attempt to

adopt a reductionist approach to proessional

development and the adoption o a competence

based analysis underpins the Council’s belie

that proessional knowledge is by its very natureorganic, and to an extent evolutionary, refecting

a synthesis o research, experiences gained and

expertise shared in communities o practice.

The document oers not just an insight

into the Council’s understanding as to what

constitutes competence, but as importantly,will oer a basis or urther refection and

discussion. It will acilitate new insights and

the development o a new proessionalism,

which will ensure that Northern Ireland’s young

people continue to be well equipped to meet

the challenges o a rapidly changing world.



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2. How to use this publication This publication, in bringing together the

Council’s Code o Values and Proessional Practice,

Charter or Education and a coherent statement o

teacher competences oers, or the rst time, a

comprehensive discourse which sets out the ethical

basis and moral purposes o our work, as well as

a clear understanding o the practice o teaching.

In providing a common ramework and language

it will acilitate discussion and allow or teachers,

acting in communities o practice, to more readily

share experiences and understandings about the

complex and value-laden process o education. In

making explicit the knowledge, skills and values that

teachers should exempliy, this publication will:

assist with the process o personalrefection and the identication o

proessional development needs;

provide a meaningul basis or proessional

dialogue in respect o proessional

development, including Perormance

Review and Sta Development (PRSD);

acilitate the development and delivery o

programmes – by those providing teacher

education at initial and subsequent phases

– appropriate to the needs o the proession;

provide the basis or collaborative planning

around identied needs at various levels:

whole-school, key stage, department

and interest group;

oer a oundation or those working as mentors

or as school-based proessional learning

and development coordinators to support

beginning teachers and teachers undertaking

Continuing Proessional Development (CPD);

inorm important aspects o School Development

and School Improvement Planning; and

help with the establishment o a whole-school

Teaching and Learning Strategy.



8

proession, i it is to discharge such onerous

responsibilities, needs not only the clarity o

purpose provided by the Charter or Education, but

also a clear ramework o values such as those set

out in the Council’s Code o Values and Proessional

Practice. The Code, which promotes the core values

o trust, honesty, commitment, respect, airness,

equality, integrity, tolerance and service, echoes the

values underpinning the Shared Future policy and

programme. This along with the Charter commits the

proession to enabling our young people not just to

develop as rounded individuals able to prosper in the

world but, as importantly, to live together in a culture

characterised by tolerance and respect or diversity.

Creativity at the Heart of Education The importance o creativity, both in pedagogy

and also as a theme that underpins the learning

experiences o pupils, is regarded by educationalists

as undamental to the teaching and learning

process. With this in mind, the competences

have been designed to enhance proessionalautonomy, both at an individual and collective

level, in a way that encourages creative and

innovative approaches to teaching and which,

in turn, develops in pupils the ability to think

creatively. Indeed, the ability to think creatively,

and the innovation it encourages, is central to any

modern education system that strives to enhance

the lie chances o children and young people.

Value-Based Practice: Charter and CodeSockett (1993) suggests that:

‘It is…impossible to talk extensively about teachers

and teaching without a language of morality.’

The Charter and Code provide the moral and

ethical basis or our endeavours as teachers. These

documents, taken together, outline not just the

moral commitments o the teaching proession

but also the responsibilities to be assumed by all

o the other agencies involved with the liberating

enterprise o education. Some might suggest that

the Charter and Code refect an idealism that sits ill

at ease with the realities o school lie. However, such

a view ails to recognise that the proession, i it is to

claim true proessional status, must value idealism

as an underpinning characteristic o the proessional

persona. Again, Sockett puts it most eloquently:

‘Holding ideals is not exhibiting warm and fuzzy

feelings but needs to be valued as part of intensive

educational debate about fundamental purposes…

the absence of which undermines the heart of

professionalism…’



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4. The Reflective and Activist Teacher

IntroductionHow then might we summarise our understanding

o the teacher as an educator and moral agent? The

Council considers that those who are honoured with

the title and status o teacher will be knowledgeable,

skilul and refective practitioners who will:

be concerned with the purposes and

consequences o education, as well as what

might be called technical prociency;

be prepared to experiment with the unamiliar

and learn rom their experiences;

have an approach characterised by open-

mindedness and wholeheartedness;

be committed to proessional dialogue

in collaboration with colleagues,

in school and beyond;

have working patterns characterised by a

process o action, evaluation and revision; and

in keeping with the Council’s Code o

Proessional Values and Practice, assume, as

lie-long learners, responsibility or their

ongoing proessional development.

Dalmau and Gudjonsdottir (2002) sought to identiy

the diverse roles that proessional educators

embrace depending on their circumstances

and opportunities. These include acting as:

pedagogues and experts in teaching and

learning: activist teachers share their

knowledge and understandings in an

ongoing proessional dialogue;

refective and critical problem solvers: teachers

continuously monitor pupil progress and

learning within the classroom; outside

that environment they refect both as

individuals and as communities o practice

on their practice and pupil progress;

researchers and change agents: in seeking a

deeper understanding o their practice, or

in seeking to plan or change, teachers use

a variety o evaluation and action research

techniques to collect and interpret ndings, to

inorm their thinking and decision making; and

creators o knowledge and theory builders: in

the process o refective practice and actionresearch teachers develop new understandings

o learning, teaching and educational change.

The above resonates with the Council’s concept

o the refective and activist practitioner who,

individually and collectively, will refect on the

nature and purposes o education, and willseek to act as both shapers o policy and well

inormed critics o proposals and reorms.



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The concept o a refective and activist

practitioner is predicated upon the notion o

the teacher as a moral agent and an inormed,

knowledgeable practitioner, see Figure 1.

The issue o proessional knowledge is

complex and fuid as Sharpe (2004) notes:

‘Professional knowledge is no longer viewed as just consisting of a standardised, explicit and fixed

knowledge base. It is now seen as knowledge

which exists in use, is ethical in its use and is

changed by experience. The distinctive nature of

professional knowledge lies in the interplay between

its construction and use. When teachers use their

knowledge, use changes what that knowledge is.’

It ollows rom the above that as proessional

knowledge grows our understanding as to what

constitutes eective pedagogy and best practice

evolves to refect new understandings and

contexts. The reality is that proessional knowledge,

by its very nature, is organic and, to an extent,evolutionary refecting a synthesis o research,

experiences gained and expertise shared.

Reflective

and

Activist

Teacher

Valuesand

Attributes

Missionand

Purpose

Knowledgeand

Competence

Sense of ProfessionalAutonomy

Figure 1



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Teacher Competences andReflective PracticeIn seeking to make more explicit the attributes,

skills and knowledge that teachers as

proessionals should possess and exempliy,

the Council has set out 27 competence

statements, under three broad headings:

Proessional Values and Practice (as enshrined

within the Code o Values and Proessional Practice);

Proessional Knowledge and Understanding; and

Proessional Skills and Application:

Planning and Leading;

Teaching and Learning; and

Assessment.

In light o Sharpe’s constructivist understandings,

as to the nature o proessional knowledge, the

Council rejects a restricted view o teaching

competences. The development o competence

goes well beyond the simple acquisition o

knowledge and skills; although curricular knowledge

and pedagogical skills are important, we should

be mindul that teaching is both an intellectual

and practical activity with important emotional

and creative dimensions. Teachers, while refecting

on and evaluating their proessional context, use

acquired proessional judgement to select the

most appropriate options rom a repertoire o

teaching strategies and, in the process o teaching,

rene and add to their proessional knowledge.

Competence: the Developmental Continuum

The new competence statements are predicatedupon the notion that the achievement o

competence is a developmental process which,

o necessity, transcends early teacher education

and continues throughout a teacher’s career.

As noted earlier, the competences are not

to be viewed as discrete skills, which once

demonstrated are mastered or all time; rather the

acquisition o any competence should be seen

on a continuum refecting the dynamic interplay

between the nature o proessional knowledge

and the opportunities aorded to teachers by

the context o their school and proessional lives.

The new competence statements, thereore,

eectively underpin all phases o early teacher

education and proessional development. The

achievement o competence will depend on:

the nature and level o the teacher’s

experience and their personal eectiveness;

the work-based context; and

the roles teachers experience and

the development opportunities

arising rom such experiences.



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Structure of Statements

In setting out the competence statements, the

Council has identied a series o aspects or

each competence and has urther provided

exemplars o the competence in practice

covering signicant developmental milestones.

As noted above, the achievement o competence

and proessional progression or teachersis dependent, in no small measure, on the

context within which the teacher works.

The Nature of Reflection

One o the principles which underpins the

Council’s concept o competence is the centrality

o refective practice. It is the Council’s view that

competence is developed through refection on

practice and through dialogue with colleagues.

This process o refective practice has

recently been highlighted by the Education

and Training Inspectorate (ETI), in its

publication, The Refective Teacher, in which

it is noted that the teacher’s role is to:

refect on the provisions made or pupils;

assess the quality o provision within

their own classroom; and

decide how the quality o teaching is contributing

to improvement throughout the school.

When engaging in refection it is necessary that

teachers examine the wider context o their teaching,

analysing the eectiveness o a lesson or series o lessons through an attempt to evaluate what was

learned, by whom and how more eective learning

might take place in the uture.

In this context, refective practice needs to be

internalised as part o a teacher’s proessional

identity; it cannot simply be bolted on as

an additional skill, rather it becomes part o

the proessional mind-set and it is integrated

within all the competences in a holistic way.

The notion o the teacher as a researcher is

complementary to the Council’s concept o refectivepractice. Teachers should engage in action research

within their own classroom, school or institution and,

in addition, they should take cognisance o research

within the broader education community. Thus, the

Council’s competence discourse is enriched and

deepened by an emphasis on refective practice

and the teacher as a researcher. It is within thisbroad constructivist ramework that ully rounded

teacher proessionalism is nurtured and developed.



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5. Overview of the Teacher CompetencesAs stated previously the Council, in its deliberations

on the competences, has rejected any attempt

to adopt a reductionist approach to teacher

education. It is imperative that this publication

be read in its entirety and that it is used within

the context o the Council’s core philosophy

which seeks to celebrate the complexity o

teaching and, as importantly, the reality that it is

concerned with values and proessional identity

as much as knowledge and competences.

The Professional Competences The competence statements have been

set out under three broad headings:

Professional Values and Practice

Teachers should demonstrate that they:

1. understand and uphold the core values and

commitments enshrined in the Council’s

Code o Values and Proessional Practice.

Professional Knowledge and Understanding

Teachers will have developed:

2. a knowledge and understanding o

contemporary debates about the nature

and purposes o education and the social

and policy contexts in which the aims o

education are dened and implemented.

3. (i) a knowledge and understanding o

the learning area/subject(s) they teach,

including the centrality o strategies and

initiatives to improve literacy, numeracy

and thinking skills, keeping curricular,

subject and pedagogical knowledge

up-to-date through refection, sel-studyand collaboration with colleagues; and

(ii) in Irish medium and other bilingual contexts,

su cient linguistic and pedagogical

knowledge to teach the curriculum.

4. a knowledge and understanding o how the

learning area/subject(s) they teach contribute

to the Northern Ireland Curriculum* and

be aware o curriculum requirements in

preceding and subsequent key stages.


curriculum development processes, including

planning, implementation and evaluation.

6. a knowledge and understanding o the

actors that promote and hinder eective

learning, and be aware o the need to provide

or the holistic development o the child.


a range o strategies to promote andmaintain positive behaviour, including an

acknowledgement o pupil voice, to establish

an eective learning environment.

*including the Northern Ireland pre-school curricular guidance that applies in the nursery sector.



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8. a knowledge and understanding o the need to

take account o the signicant eatures o pupils’

cultures, languages and aiths and to address

the implications or learning arising rom these.

9. a knowledge and understanding o their

responsibilities under the Special Educational

Needs Code o Practice and know the eatures

o the most common special needs andappropriate strategies to address these.

10. a knowledge and understanding o strategies

or communicating eectively with pupils,

parents, colleagues and personnel rom

relevant child and school support agencies.

11. a knowledge and understanding o howto use technology eectively, both to

aid pupil learning and to support their

proessional role and how this competence

embeds across all o the competences.

12. a knowledge and understanding o the

interrelationship between schools and the

communities they serve, and the potential

or mutual development and well-being.


the statutory ramework pertaining to

education and schooling and their specic

responsibilities emanating rom it.

Professional Skills and Application

Planning and Leading

Teachers will:

14. set appropriate learning objectives/outcomes/

intentions, taking account o what pupils know,

understand and can do, and the demands o

the Northern Ireland Curriculum in terms o

knowledge, skills acquisition and progression.

15. plan and evaluate lessons that enable all pupils,

including those with special educational

needs, to meet learning objectives/outcomes/

intentions, showing high expectations and

an awareness o potential areas o di culty.

16. when appropriate, deploy, organise

and guide the work o other adults

to support pupils’ learning.

17. plan or out-o-school learning, including school

visits and eld work, where appropriate.

18. manage their time and workload eectively and

e ciently and maintain a work/lie balance.

Teaching and Learning

Teachers will:

19. create and maintain a sae, interactive and

challenging learning environment, with

appropriate clarity o purpose or activities.

20. use a range o teaching strategies and resources,

including eLearning where appropriate, that

enable learning to take place and whichmaintain pace within lessons and over time.

21. employ strategies that motivate and meet

the needs o all pupils, including those with

special and additional educational needs and

or those not learning in their rst language.



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22. secure and promote a standard o behaviour

that enables all pupils to learn, pre-empting

and dealing with inappropriate behaviour

in the context o the school policies and

what is known about best practice.

23. contribute to the lie and development o

the school, collaborating with teaching and

support sta, parents and external agencies.

Assessment

Teachers will:

24. ocus on assessment or learning by monitoring

pupils’ progress, giving constructive eedback to

help pupils refect on and improve their learning.

25. select rom a range o assessment strategies

to evaluate pupils’ learning, and use this

inormation in their planning to help

make their teaching more eective.

26. assess the levels o pupils’ attainment

against relevant benchmarking data and

understand the relationship between

pupil assessment and target setting.

27. liaise orally and in written reports in an

eective manner with parents or carers on

their child’s progress and achievements.

Dimensions of DevelopmentAs teachers progress in their careers they will

encounter dierent challenges and expectations.

They grow in condence, share in the knowledge

o colleagues and learn rom experience. It

can also be anticipated that their practice will

become progressively more sophisticated

and nuanced. This will be evidenced by:

greater complexity in teaching, or example,

in handling mixed-ability classes, or reluctant

learners, or classes marked by signicant

diversity, or inter-disciplinary work;

the deployment o a wider range

o teaching strategies;

basing teaching on a wider range o

evidence, reading and research;

extending one’s impact beyond the classroom

and uller participation in the lie o the school;

the capacity to exercise autonomy,to innovate, to improvise; and

a pronounced capacity or sel-criticism and

sel-improvement; the ability to impact on

colleagues through mentoring and coaching,

modelling good practice, contributing to the

literature on teaching and learning and thepublic discussion o proessional issues, leading

sta development, all based on the capacity

to theorise about policy and practice.



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6. The Competence Statements and Phase ExemplarsIn presenting the competences along with the

phase exemplars, the Council has sought to

emphasise that the acquisition o competence is

very much related to context and phase, whether

this be initial teacher education, induction,

early proessional development or beyond into

career-long continuing proessional development,

see Figure 2. It can be said that the phase

exemplars attempt to articulate the necessary

widening and deepening o experience related

to classroom and the whole-school context

in which teachers work. However, they also

emphasise the growing collective responsibilities

inherent in the development o proessional

communities o practice, within which the

individual’s growing proessional competence

is situated. The Council takes the view that it is

within these wider proessional communities that

school improvement is promoted and sustained.

It is also important that the exemplars are not

viewed as a teacher education curriculum,

or as prescriptive benchmarks to be applied

irrespective o the specic context within which

teachers work or the challenges and development

opportunities aorded them; rather, they are the

basis or refection and dialogue, and a vehicle

or needs analysis and orward planning.

Professional Competence Number Phase Exemplars

Competence Statement Aspect of Competence Initial Teacher Education InductionEarly Professional

Development

Continuing Professional

Development, Collaborative

Practice and School Improvement

General competence statement. Aspects or clarity

o understanding

and precision.

Essential knowledge,

understanding and

skills acquisition along

with the principles o

basic refective practice

and evaluation.

Application to pupil and

classroom context with

evaluation and adaptation.

Application to pupil,

classroom and wider school

context with adaptation,

evaluation and renement.

Application to classroom

and whole-school practice.

Evaluation and renement

to context, meeting wider

collective responsibilities.

Figure 2



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Professional Values and Practice

Professional Competence 1 Phase Exemplars


Development




Teachers should demonstrate that

they understand and uphold the

core values and commitments

enshrined in the Council’s Code o

Values and Proessional Practice.

Will situate their

practice within the

value ramework

set out by GTCNI.

Know and understand

the values in the Code

and contribute to

debate and refection

on their application

in practice.

Will actively exempliy the

values within the classroom

and wider school context.

Will proactively exempliy

the values within the

classroom, school and wider

proessional context.

Will be prepared to engage

in refection and debate on

the mission o education as

encapsulated within a school’s

mission statement and ethos.

Will demonstrate an

understanding o the commitments to

learners, colleagues

and others and

the proession.

Know and understand

their commitments tolearners, colleagues

and others and

the proession.

Will ull their commitments

to learners, colleaguesand others and the

wider proession.

Will proactively ull their

commitments to learners,colleagues and others and

the wider proession.

Will be prepared to proactively

ull their commitments tolearners, colleagues and others

and the wider proession. When

necessary help, support, liaise

and collaborate with colleagues

to enable them to meet their

proessional responsibilities.



18




Development




Teachers will have developed a

knowledge and understanding o

contemporary debates about the

nature and purposes o education

and the social and policy contexts

in which the aims o education

are dened and implemented.

Know and understand

contemporary debates

about the nature and

purposes o education.

Know and understand

the nature and

purposes o education

as examined by key

gures in the Twentieth

Century and some

contemporary debates.

Apply a knowledge and

understanding about the

nature and purposes o

education as examined

by key gures in the

Twentieth Century and

an understanding o

contemporary debates or

proessional practice.

Through refection

on classroom practice

apply a knowledge and

understanding about the

nature and purposes o

education as examined

by key gures in the

Twentieth Century and

an understanding o contemporary debates to


Engage with others to promote a


relevant contemporary debates

about the nature and purposes

o education and be able to

contribute to ongoing debate.

Know and understand

the social and policy

contexts in which the

aims o education

are dened and

implemented.

Know and understand

the contemporary

social and policy

context or education

in Northern Ireland.

Apply a knowledge and

understanding o the

contemporary social and

policy context or education

in Northern Ireland to


Through refection,

apply to proessional

practice, knowledge and

understanding o the

contemporary social and

policy context or education

in Northern Ireland.

Engage with others in ongoing

debate on the contemporary

policy context or education in

Northern Ireland and the impact

o policy on proessional practice



21




Development





knowledge and understanding

o curriculum development

processes, including planning,

implementation and evaluation.

Know and understand

curriculum

development

processes.

Know and understand

the main educational,

cultural and

economic infuences

on curriculum

development.

Know and understand

curriculum development

processes within Northern

Ireland and the implications

o this or their own teaching.

Know and understand

curriculum development

processes within Northern

Ireland and the implications

o this or their own class and

the wider school community.

Collaborate with others to

promote a knowledge and

understanding o curriculum

development processes in

Northern Ireland and how this

impacts at whole-school level.

Know and understand

the relationship

between the planning,

implementation

and evaluation o

the curriculum.

Know and understand

the relationship

between the planning,

implementation

and evaluation o

the curriculum.

Know and understand the

relationship between the

planning, implementation

and evaluation o the

curriculum, and how they

relate to classroom practice.

Know and understand the

relationship between the

planning, implementation

and evaluation o the

curriculum and how they

relate to classroom and

wider school practice.

Engage with others and

contribute to curriculum

planning, implementation and

evaluation at whole-school level.



22




Development





knowledge and understanding

o the actors that promote

and hinder eective learning,

and be aware o the need

to provide or the holistic

development o the child.

Understand what

is known about the

actors that aid learning.

Examine theories o

learning and child

development, including

the physiology

o learning.

Planning and interactions

with pupils show an

understanding o theories

o child development and

the physiology o learning.


with pupils show an

understanding o theories

o child development and

the physiology o learning,

and has a growing impact

on pupils’ learning.

Assist other sta and parents to

understand the actors that aid

learning so that there is a school

wide impact on pupils’ learning.

Understand what

is known about

the actors thathinder learning.

Consider the key

aspects o emotional

and behaviouraldi culties; trauma,

child abuse, bullying,

discrimination,

stereotyping, and

pupil mobility or

absence rom school.


with pupils show an

understanding o the keyaspects o the emotional and

behavioural di culties that

some pupils may experience.


with pupils show a deeper

understanding o keyaspects o the emotional and

behavioural di culties that

some pupils may experience.

Assist other sta and parents to

understand the actors that hinder

learning so that there is a schoolwide impact on pupils’ learning.



23




Development






a range o strategies to promote

and maintain positive behaviour,

including an acknowledgement

o pupil voice, to establish an

eective learning environment.

A knowledge and

understanding o a

range o strategies to

promote and maintain

positive behaviour.

Know a range o

strategies to promote

and maintain

positive behaviour.

Select appropriate

strategies to promote

and maintain positive

behaviour in the classroom

context in accordance

with school policies

Evaluate and adopt particular

strategies refecting specic

circumstances and school

context and policies.


develop a range o strategies to

promote and maintain positive

behaviour at whole-school level.

An understanding

o the signicance

o pupil voice.

Have an understanding

o the need to

take account o

pupils’ views.

Take account o pupils’

views relating to their

learning and behaviour.

Take account o pupils’

views relating to their

learning and behaviour

and evaluate teaching

strategies as appropriate

Engage with pupils so that the

school can be aware o their views

relating to learning and behaviour

and use this awareness to adapt,

when necessary, school policies

A knowledge and

understanding o a

range o strategies to

establish an eective

learning environment.

Appreciate the

dierence that

the classroom

environment, physical

and social, can make

to eective learning.

Understand more ully the

classroom environment and

how actors such as display

and seating arrangements

impact on pupils’ learning.

Establish an eective

learning environment,

or example, through

display, room and

resource organisation and

seating arrangements.


establish an eective learning

environment at classroom

and whole-school level.



P f i l K l d d U d di



25




Development




Teachers will have developed aknowledge and understanding

o their responsibilities under

the Special Educational Needs

Code o Practice and know the

eatures o the most common

special needs and appropriate

strategies to address these.

Know and understandtheir responsibilities

under the Special

Educational Needs

Code o Practice.

Know and understandthe principles

underpinning

the teaching o

children with special

educational needs

and the key aspects

o, and teachers’

responsibilities under,

current legislation

and guidance.

Understand the Code o Practice and how it relates

to pupils that they teach.

Understand the Code o Practice and how it relates

to pupils in the school.

Help others understandtheir responsibilities under

the Special Educational

Needs Code o Practice.

Full their

responsibilities under

the Special Educational


Teach pupils with

special educational

needs under the

guidance o the

class teacher.

Teach pupils with special

educational needs

according to the Code

o Practice, working with

the SENCO and parents.

Teach pupils with special

educational needs according

to the Code o Practice,

working more eectively

with the SENCO and parents.

Collaborate with others so that

they can ull their responsibilities

under the Special Educational


Know the eatures o

the most common

special needs.

Know the basic

eatures o common

special needs such as:

dyspraxia, dyslexia,

dyscalculia, autistic

spectrum disorders,

hearing and visual

impairment.

Know more about the

special needs o pupils that

they teach and use this

knowledge to promote an

inclusive approach and to

reer pupils or extra help.

Know the main eatures

o moderate and severe

learning di culties; apply

this to their teaching to

promote inclusion and to

reer pupils or extra help.

Help others understand the

eatures o the most common

special needs to adopt an

inclusive approach at whole-

school level which refects the

varying needs o pupils who have

learning needs and disabilities.

P f i l K l d d U d t di



26




Development





o strategies or communicating

eectively with pupils, parents,

colleagues and personnel

rom relevant child and

school support agencies.

Strategies orcommunicating

eectively with pupils.

Develop anunderstanding o the

range o strategies

or communicating

with pupils, including

through listening,

voice, body language,

writing while modelling

good grammar and

precise vocabulary.

Explore, in a classroomcontext, a range

o approaches or

communicating with pupils.

Rene strategies orcommunicating clearly with

pupils, including through

listening, voice, body

language and writing.

Collaborate with others to developstrategies or communicating

clearly with pupils.

Strategies or

communicating

eectively with parents.

Consider the

signicance o

parents as partners

in the educative

process and the need

to communicateeectively with them.

Work within the school

protocols relating

to communicating

with parents.

Develop a range o strategies

or communicating clearly

and e ciently with parents.

Collaborate with others to review

and extend the range o strategies

or communicating with parents.

Strategies or

communicating

eectively withcolleagues and

personnel rom relevant

child and school

support agencies.

Understand the

signicant roles o

sta rom school androm other agencies

in the lie o the

child, and the need

to interact with such

individuals or agencies.

Work within the school’s

current practice and

protocols in relationto communication

with colleagues and

outside agencies.

Develop increasingly

condent and e cient

communicationwith colleagues and

outside agencies.


develop a range o strategies

or communicating eectivelywith colleagues and child

and school support agencies,

ollowing protocols.



28




Development





o the interrelationship between

schools and the communities they

serve, and the potential or mutual

development and well-being.

Understand theinterrelationship

between schools

and the communities

they serve.

Recognise thesignicance o the

community in school

lie, such as the impact

o perceptions within

the community about

the value o education.

Develop a knowledgeand understanding o the

specic social context

o the school and be

aware o school policies

to address issues.

Understand the specicsocial context o the

school and apply school

policies to address issues.

Engage with others tounderstand the implications o

the interrelationship between

the school and the communities

it serves and contribute to

the development o school

policies to address issues.

Understand the

potential or mutual

development and

well-being.

Recognise that

community views

regarding the purposes

and advantages o

education can be

harnessed to enhance

pupil outcomes, with

reciprocal benets in

terms o community

empowerment.

Develop an understanding

o how the school and

its communities interact

or mutual benet.

Understand how the

school and its communities

can work together or

mutual development

and well-being.

Engage with others to promote

an understanding as to how

the school and its communities

can work together to create a

positive view about the purposes

and advantages o education.



Professional Skills and Application: Planning and Leading



31

pp g g



Development




Teachers will plan and evaluatelessons that enable all pupils,

including those with special

educational needs, to meet

learning objectives/outcomes/

intentions, showing high

expectations and an awareness

o potential areas o di culty.

Plan lessons that enableall pupils (including

those with special

needs) to meet the

learning objectives.

Plans have clearobjectives, relevant

content, resources

and well-sequenced

activities.

Plans have clear objectives,relevant content, resources

and well-sequenced

activities that enable

all pupils to make

progress. Planning is

inormed by assessment

o pupils’ progress.

Planning is more e cientand eective through

sel-evaluation, including

the outcomes o

assessment o all pupils.

Collaborate with others to planlessons that enable all pupils to

meet the learning objectives.

Plan lessons showing

high expectations.

Plans show high, but

realistic, expectations

bearing in mind the

age and attainment

range o the class.

Plans show high, but

realistic, expectations o all

pupils, and refect dierent

attainment levels o pupils

and other personal and

social matters that may

impact on their learning.

High expectations o

all pupils are evident in

planning and are inormed

by sel-evaluation,

including the outcomes o

assessment o all pupils.

Collaborate with others

to plan lessons showing

high expectations.

Plan lessons showing

an awareness o

potential areas

o di culty and

conusion or pupils.

Plans show an

awareness o areas o

potential di culty and

conusion or pupils.

Plans acknowledge the

prior learning o pupils

and potential areas o

di culty and conusion.

Planning is inormed

by the prior learning o

the pupils and areas o

potential di culty and

conusion identied

through appropriate

assessment strategies.

Collaborate with others to plan

lessons showing an awareness

o potential areas o di culty

and conusion or pupils.




32

pp g g



Development




Teachers will, when appropriate,deploy, organise and guide

the work o other adults to

support pupils’ learning.

Deploy adults tosupport pupils’

learning.

Understand thepotential benets

arising rom the

deployment o

other adults to

support learning.

Identiy the roles andresponsibilities o additional

adults, and deploy

them eectively to help

personalise pupils’ learning.

Evaluate the strengthso additional adults and

deploy them eectively to

optimise their contribution

to personalised learning.

Liaise with others to deployadults eectively at classroom


Guide and organise

the work o other

adults to supportpupils’ learning.

Understand the role

o the teacher and

other adults in thesupporting o learning.

In collaboration with other

adults, and building on

their expertise, plan andorganise how they are

to support learning.

In collaboration with other

adults, evaluate existing

arrangements and planand organise how they

are to support learning.

Liaise with other teachers to

organise the work o adults

supporting pupils’ learning.




33



Development




Teachers will plan or out-o-schoollearning, including school visits

and eld work, where appropriate.

Plan or out-o-school learning.

Appreciate and explorethe potential o out-

o-school resources

and environments

(both physical and

virtual) to enhance

and personalise

pupils’ learning.

Plan and encourageout-o-school activities

that consolidate, build

on, enrich, personalise

and extend learning.

Exploit more ully,opportunities or out-

o-school activities that

consolidate, build on,

enrich, personalise and

extend pupils’ learning.

Assist others with thedevelopment o ideas or out-o-

school activities that consolidate,

build on, enrich, personalise

and extend pupils’ learning.

Plan or school visits

and eld work.

Seek opportunities

to assist with school

visits and eld work.

With support, plan visits

and eld work to enrich and

extend pupils’ learning.

Where appropriate,

plan visits, visitors and

eld work to enrich andextend pupils’ learning.


initiate visits and eld work

to enrich pupils’ learning.




34



Development




Teachers will manage theirtime and workload eectively

and e ciently and maintain

a work/lie balance.

Manage their time andworkload eectively

and e ciently.

Be able to maintaina balance in their

working lie, both

in college and

school settings and

manage time with

increasing e ciency.

As the year progresses,manage workload

increasingly e ciently

through knowing what

to prioritise. Monitor

how long is spent on

planning, marking etc.

Be aware o time spenton dierent tasks and

become more e cient

in managing workload.

Support others in prioritisingand managing their workload.

Maintain a work/

lie balance.

Be aware o work/

lie balance issues

– learning rom theexperience o others.

Audit work/lie balance as

the year progresses and seek

to address any imbalance.

Be aware o how one is

managing workload and

stress, and act to improvework/lie balance.

Support others to maintain a

work/lie balance in the ace

o additional responsibilities.

Professional Skills and Application: Teaching and Learning



35



Development




Teachers will create andmaintain a sae, interactive

and challenging learning

environment, with appropriate

clarity o purpose or activities.

Create and maintaina sae, interactive and

challenging learning

environment.

Appreciate theimportance o creating

a sae, interactive and

challenging learning

environment and how

others seek to create

such an environment.

Create, with advice, a sae,interactive and challenging


considering actors such

as seating arrangements,

the organisation o

resources and displays

that support, celebrate

and inspire learning.

Create a sae, interactiveand challenging learning

environment, considering

seating arrangements,

the organisation o

resources and displays

that support, celebrate

and inspire learning.

Give advice to others on howto create a sae, interactive

and challenging learning

environment at classroom


Create and maintain a


with appropriate clarity

o purpose or activities.

Learn rom others

how to set up

purposeul activities.

Set up purposeul activities

that enable pupils to meet


Set up purposeul activities

with increasing eectiveness

that enable pupils to meet


Support others in the

development o purposeul

activities that enable pupils to

meet learning objectives.



37



Development




Teachers will employ strategiesthat motivate and meet the

needs o all pupils, including

those with special and additional

educational needs and or those

not learning in their rst language.

Employ strategies thatmotivate and meet the

needs o pupils with

special and additional

educational needs.

Develop anunderstanding o, and

an ability to employ,

appropriate strategies.

Employ, with support andadvice, strategies that

motivate and meet the

needs o pupils with learning

di culties and disabili ties.

Employ and evaluate, withincreasing eectiveness,

strategies that motivate

and meet the needs

o pupils with learning

di culties and disabilities.

Advise others on strategiesthat motivate and meet the

needs o pupils with learning

di culties and disabilities.

Employ strategies that

motivate and meet

the needs o pupils

who are not learning

in their rst language.

Develop multisensory

strategies that meet

the needs o pupils

who are not learning


With support, employ

multisensory strategies

that meet the needs o

pupils who are not learning


Extend the repertoire o

strategies to ensure the

inclusion and progress o

pupils who are not learning


Advise others on strategies

that ensure the inclusion and

progress o pupils who are not

learning in their rst language.




38



Development




Teachers will secure and promote astandard o behaviour that enables

all pupils to learn, pre-empting

and dealing with inappropriate

behaviour in the context o

the school policies and what is

known about best practice.

Secure and promote astandard o behaviour

that enables all

pupils to learn.

Learn, rom anexamination o the

work o other teachers,

how to secure and

promote a standard o

behaviour that enables

all pupils to learn.

With support, establisha purposeul learning

environment, set clear

expectations and ground

rules, and respond positively

to good behaviour.

Set clear expectationsand ground rules about

behaviour, and respond

positively to good behaviour

promoting pupils’ sel

control and responsibility.

Collaborate with othersto secure and promote a

standard o behaviour that

enables all pupils to learn.

Pre-empt inappropriate

behaviour in the

context o the schoolpolicies and what

is known about

best practice.

With support and

drawing on what

is known aboutbest practice, pre-

empt inappropriate

behaviour by setting

clear expectations

about responsibilities.


behaviour by setting clear

expectations and groundrules about responsibilities

and consequences,

working within the school

behaviour policy.


behaviour by using

a range o strategiesdrawing on what is known

about best practice.

Collaborate with others to pre-

empt inappropriate behaviour

by implementing school policiesconsistently and by considering

what is known about best practice.

Deal with inappropriate

behaviour in the

context o the school

policies and what

is known about

best practice.

With support, deal

with inappropriate

behaviour in the

context o the school

policies and what

is known about

best practice.

With support, when

necessary, deal with

inappropriate behaviour in

the context o the school

policies and what is known

about best practice.

Drawing on research and

experience o best practice,

deal with inappropriate

behaviour in the context

o the school policies.

Collaborate with others to manage

behaviour by implementing

school policies consistently

and by considering what is

known about best practice.


P f i l C Ph E l



39



Development




Teachers will contribute tothe lie and development o

the school, collaborating with

teaching and support sta,

parents and external agencies.

Contribute to thelie o the school.

Understand schoolpolicies and practices

and their impact on

teaching and learning

within the school.

Adopt school policiesand practices and attend

meetings as appropriate.

Do duties. Participate

in school events.

Contribute to thedevelopment o some

school policies and practices.

Lead the development o someschool policies and practices; lead

meetings and school events.

Contribute to the

development o

the school.

Seek opportunities to

attend sta meetings.

Take an active part in sta

meetings, task groups, etc.

Manage a subject or

aspect o school lie.

Lead and manage a subject

or aspect o school lie.

Collaborate with

teaching sta.

Plan and collaborate

with the teacher whose

class(es) you teach.

Collaborate with immediate

colleagues, as appropriate,

on planning, administration,

assessment, etc.

Collaborate with teachers

across the school,

sharing ideas, etc.

Collaborate to support whole-

school development.

Collaborate withsupport sta.

Collaborate withsupport sta who

are working in the

class(es) you teach.

Collaborate with supportsta who are working in

the class(es) you teach.

Collaborate with supportsta across the school to

aid pupils’ development.

Collaborate with support sta or whole-school development.

Collaborate with

parents.

Understand the

importance o

collaborating withparents and exploiting

all opportunities

to do so.

Be condent in relating

to parents inormally

and ormally.

Collaborate with parents

to aid pupils’ progress

and raise achievement.

Support others in collaborating

with parents to aid pupils’

progress and raise achievementthroughout the school.

Collaborate with

external agencies.

Know the role o

external agencies.

Collaborate with the external

agencies who are involved

with pupils that you teach.

Collaborate with external

agencies to aid pupils’

welare, progress and

to raise achievement.

Be proactive in seeking the help o,

and work with, external agencies

to promote pupils’ welare,

progress and to raise achievement.

Professional Skills and Application: Assessment

P f i l C t 24 Ph E l



40



Development




Teachers will ocus on assessmentor learning by monitoring pupils’

progress, giving constructive

eedback to help pupils refect

on and improve their learning.

Monitor pupils’progress.

Monitor pupils’progress through

observation, marking,

targeted questioning,

and discussion.

Monitor pupils’ progressthrough marking,

observation, targeted

questioning, and discussion.

Monitor pupils’ progresswith greater responsiveness

to their individual needs

and with an increasing

impact on their progress.

Liaise with others to monitorpupils’ progress.

Give constructive

eedback.

Oer immediate

eedback to reinorce

learning, challenge

pupils’ understanding

and promote

progression. Mark

against the planned

learning objectives

and note strengthsas well as areas or

improvement.

Oer immediate eedback to

reinorce learning, challenge

pupils’ understanding

and promote progression.

Mark against the planned

learning objectives and

note strengths as well as

areas or improvement.

Oer immediate eedback

with greater responsiveness

to pupils’ individual needs

and an increasing impact

on their progress.

Support others to give

constructive eedback which

promotes eective teaching and

learning at whole-school level.

Help pupils refect

on and improve

their learning.

Use eective

questioning and sel-

assessment tasks or

pupils to refect on and

improve their learning.

Use eective questioning

and sel-assessment tasks

or pupils to refect on and

improve their learning.

Use eective questioning

and sel-assessment tasks

with greater responsiveness

to pupils’ individual needs

with increasing impact

on their progress.


encourage pupils to refect on

and improve their learning.





41



Development




Teachers will select rom a rangeo assessment strategies to

evaluate pupils’ learning, and

use this inormation in their

planning to help make their

teaching more eective.

Use a range o assessment strategies

to evaluate pupils’

learning.

Know about, and beable to use, a range

o ipsative, ormative

and summative

assessments.

Appreciate their uses

and limitations.

Identiy commonmisconceptions and

intervene to address

pupils’ errors and make

evidence-based assessments

against relevant criteria.

Involve pupils in assessingboth their learning strategies

and perormance.

Support others to use a rangeo assessment strategies to

evaluate pupils’ learning.

Use this inormation

in planning to

make teachingmore eective.

Use inormation rom

ipsative, ormative and

summative assessmentsin their lesson planning

and grouping o pupils.

Use inormation rom


summative assessmentsto make teaching more

responsive to pupils’ needs.

Use inormation rom


summative assessments withincreasing responsiveness

to pupils’ needs and impact

on pupils’ progress.

Collaborate with others to use

assessment inormation in their

planning to make teachingmore eective at classroom






42



Development




Teachers will assess the levelso pupils’ attainment against

relevant benchmarking

data and understand the

relationship between pupil

assessment and target setting.

Assess the level o pupils’ attainment

against relevant

benchmarking data.

Develop anunderstanding o a

range o approaches

to pupil assessment

and how it can

be reerenced to

appropriate

benchmarking data.

With support andusing existing school

procedures and assessment

protocols, assess pupils’

attainment against relevant

benchmarking data.

Assess pupils’ attainmentand analyse it against

relevant benchmarking data.

Liaise with others to assesspupils’ attainment against

relevant benchmarking data.

Understand the

relationship between

pupil assessmentand target setting.

Understand best

practice in setting

targets and itsrelationship with

pupils’ learning

and progression.

Employ best practice in

target setting to promote

pupils’ learning in theclassroom context.

Evaluate and adopt best

practice in dierentiated

target setting to promotepupils’ learning in the

classroom context.

Collaborate with others to employ

best practice in dierentiated

target setting to promote pupils’learning and progression.





43



Development




Teachers will liaise orallyand in written reports in an

eective manner with parents

or carers on their child’s

progress and achievements.

Liaise orally in aneective manner with

parents or carers on

their child’s progress

and achievements.

In keeping withagreed protocols or

student teachers, seek

opportunities to learn

about the ways in

which teachers engage

with parents and

others in a sharing o

inormation regarding

pupils, or details o pupils’ progress.

With due regard to schoolpolicy, liaise both ormally

and inormally with parents

and carers, giving clear

messages in a sensitive

and proessional manner.

Liaise orally both ormallyand inormally with parents

and carers, giving clear

messages in a sensitive

and proessional manner.

Give advice to others on how toliaise orally in an eective manner

with parents or carers on their

child’s progress and achievements.

Liaise in written reports

in an eective manner

with parents or carerson their child’s progress

and achievements.

Seek opportunities to

learn rom experienced

teachers how theywrite reports on

pupils’ progress.

In consultation with

others, write reports

based on assessmentinormation that are clear,

honest, positive and avoid

educational jargon.

Write reports based on

assessment inormation

that are clear, honest,positive and avoid

educational jargon.

Give advice to others regarding

the writing o reports based on

assessment inormation thatare clear, honest, positive and

avoid educational jargon.



45

Core Values The core values o the proession are as ollows:

Trust Honesty Commitment

Respect Fairness Equality

Integrity Tolerance Service

A commitment to serve lies at the heart o

proessional behaviour. In addition, members o theproession will exempliy the values listed above

in their work and in their relationships with others;

recognising, in particular, the unique and privileged

relationship that exists between teachers and their

pupils. In keeping with the spirit o proessional

service and commitment, teachers will at all times

be conscious o their responsibilities to others:learners, colleagues and indeed the proession itsel.

Many o the commitments outlined below are also

underpinned by legislation and the proession will

always seek, as a minimum, to comply with both the

spirit and detail o relevant legislative requirements.

Commitment to Learners Teachers will:

maintain proessional relationships with

those pupils/learners entrusted to their care

which respect the pupil/learner as a person

and encourage growth and development;

acknowledge and respect the uniqueness,

individuality and specic needs o each

pupil and thus provide appropriate

learning experiences; and

aim to motivate and inspire pupils with a

view to helping each realise their potential.

Commitment to Colleagues and Others Teachers will:

work with colleagues and others to create a

proessional community that supports the

social, intellectual, spiritual/moral, emotional

and physical development o pupils;

promote collegiality among colleagues

by respecting their proessional standingand opinions and, in that spirit, be

prepared to oer advice and share

proessional practice with colleagues;

cooperate, where appropriate, with proessionals

rom other agencies in the interests o pupils;

ensure that relationships with the parents,guardians or carers o pupils, in their capacity

as partners in the educational process, are

characterised by respect and trust; and

respect condential inormation relating to

pupils or colleagues gained in the course o

proessional practice, unless the well-being o an

individual or legal imperative requires disclosure.



49

call or the development o an education

service that ensures excellence or all,irrespective o ability or needs;

acknowledge the primary role o parents, amilies

and society in the context o education;

a rm the contribution to society made

by teachers and all others engaged

in meeting the educational anddevelopmental needs o young people;

are committed to a culture o empowerment

where the voice o the proessional

community is heard and respected;

recognise the right o all engaged in the

processes o education to ongoing proessionaldevelopment appropriate to their needs;

recognise the debilitating eects o social,

cultural and economic deprivation and

commit ourselves to addressing such issues;

are committed to ensuring that the

needs o the vulnerable are appropriatelycatered or in our system;

are committed to ensuring that initiatives

and programmes at all phases o educationare appropriately unded; and

believe that the basis o all sound

policy development lies in consultation,

appropriate research and data collation.



Day, C. (2004)

A Passion or Teaching,London: Routledge Falmer.

Delor, J, (1996)

Learning the Treasure within,

Geneva UNESCO

Dalmau, M.C., and Gudjonsdottir, H. (2002)

Framing Proessional Discourse withTeachers in Improving Teacher

Education Practices Through Sel-Study,

(Ed) Loughran J and Russell T

London: Routledge Fabrer.

Hargreaves, A. (2003)

Teaching in the Knowledge Society,England: McGraw-Hill Open University Press.

Sharpe, R. (2004)

‘How do Proessionals Learn and Develop?

Implications or Sta and Education Developers’.

Enhancing Sta and Education Development.

Baume, D. and Kahn, P. (Eds)

London: Routledge Falmer

Sockett, H. (1993)

The Moral Base or Teacher Proessionalism.

New York: Teachers College Press.

50

References



General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland

Albany House

73 - 75 Great Victoria StreetBelfast BT2 7AF

Tel: (028) 9033 3390

Fax: (028) 9034 8787

Email: [email protected]

www.gtcni.org.uk

gtcni_bookmarked final 13th june 07

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