Teachers’ Rights and Responsibilities

The GTCE and becoming a Professional

Tim Cain

Source: www.express.co.uk

Some responses to the new Code of Practice“Teachers really must object. Why give away all of your power when we

regularly hear stories of SLT bullying and intimidation. This charter adds another string to their bow and is unjust.”

“We teachers need to accept that it is are own so called colleagues that sold us down the river. Teachers or teacher representatives have an inbuilt majority on the GTC but this Code was agreed.”

“We need a sit in !!! But as it's the holiday can we refuse to return ? I'm loving the holidays too much .... drinking, debauchery and orgies...”

(Source: TES website)

NASUWT is carrying out a petition against the Code.

What are the “new rules” for teachers?

Any ideas?

The GTCE: what is it; why does it matter?History of General Teaching Council, 2000-

Relationship with teachers & government

Other Councils:

General Social Care Council

Nursing & Midwifery Council

Solicitors Regulation Authority

Wales, Scotland & N. Ireland GTCs

The GTCE: what it does

Registers teachers*

Maintains professional standards

Advises government

Commissions research projects (including systematic reviews)

Runs the Teacher Learning Academy (TLA)

Publishes a termly magazine

*All trainee teachers in England are required to be registered by the GTCE

The GTCE council

25 elected by registered teachers

9 chosen by teacher trade unions and associations

17 chosen by other organisations connected with teaching (including CBI, Commission for Equality & Human Rights, LGA)

13 chosen through the public appointments procedure (the majority of whom are teachers)

The GTCE is funded compulsorily by teachers’ registrations fees (£33 pa)

Code of Conduct and Practice: principles1. Put the wellbeing, development and progress of children and

young people first

2. Take responsibility for maintaining the quality of your teaching

3. Help children and young people to become confident and successful learners

4. Demonstrate respect for diversity and promote equality

Code of Conduct and Practice: principles5. Strive to establish productive partnerships with parents and carers

6. Work as part of a whole-school team

7. Cooperate with other professionals in the children’s workforce

8. Demonstrate honesty and integrity and uphold public trust and confidence in the teaching profession

Wellbeing and progress of children • Use professional expertise and judgement to do the best for

children

• Take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children

• Follow the school’s child protection policies and procedures

• Establish and maintain appropriate professional boundaries

• Take responsibility for accessing help and support in order to ensure that they do not have a negative impact on learning or progress or put children and young people at risk of harm

• Use appropriate channels to raise concerns about the practice of other teachers or professionals

Maintain teaching quality• Meet the relevant professional standards

• Develop their practice within the framework of their school’s curriculum

• Base their practice on knowledge of their subject areas and specialisms, and make use of research about teaching and learning

• Make use of assessment techniques, set appropriate and clear learning objectives, plan activities and employ a range of teaching methodologies and technologies to meet individual and group learning needs

• Reflect on their practice and use feedback from colleagues […]

• Maintain GTCE registration.

Help children learn• Uphold children and young people’s rights

• Listen to young people, and involve them in decisions that affect them

• Have high expectations of all young people, whatever their background or aptitudes

• Promote children and young people’s confidence and self-awareness

• Communicate clear expectations about pupil behaviour to ensure disruption to learning is minimised and children and young people feel safe and secure

• Help children and young people prepare for the future by engaging them with the implications of changes in society and technology and offering them impartial advice and guidance about their future options.

Respect for diversity; promote equality • Act appropriately towards all children and young people, parents,

carers and colleagues, whatever their socio-economic background, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, religion or belief

• Take responsibility for understanding and complying with school policies relating to equality of opportunity, inclusion, access and bullying

• Address unlawful discrimination, bullying, and stereotyping

• Help create a fair and inclusive school environment

• Help children and young people to understand different views, perspectives, and experiences and develop positive relationships both within school and in the local community.

Establish partnerships with parents/carers • Provide parents and carers with accessible and accurate

information about their child’s progress

• Involve parents and carers in important decisions about their child’s education

• Consider parents’ and carers’ views and perspectives

• Follow school policies and procedures on communication with and involvement of parents and carers, including those that relate to sensitive areas such as attendance and exclusion.

Work as part of a whole-school team • Endeavour to develop productive relationships with all school

colleagues

• Exercise any leadership and management responsibilities in a respectful, inclusive and fair way

• Uphold school policies and procedures, and raise any concerns about the life or running of the school in a responsible and appropriate way

• Contribute to colleagues’ learning and development

• Participate in whole-school development and improvement activities

• Recognise the important role of the school in the life of the local community, and take responsibility for upholding its reputation and building trust and confidence in it.

Cooperate with other professionals • Seek to understand the roles of other professional colleagues in the

children’s workforce

• Communicate and establish productive working relationships with other professional colleagues

• Ensure that they are clear about their own professional contribution to joint working, seeking clarification where this is needed

• Understand that in sharing responsibility for children and young people’s wellbeing and development they should always act within their own competence and responsibilities.

Uphold trust in the teaching profession• Exercise their responsibilities in relation to the examination and

assessment of achievement and attainment in a fair, transparent and honest way

• Demonstrate honesty and integrity in management and administrative duties, including in the use of school property and finance

• Understand that their duty to safeguard children and young people comes first, but otherwise acknowledge the rights of young people, families, and colleagues to confidentiality

• Represent their professional status accurately and avoid taking advantage of their professional position

• Maintain reasonable standards in their own behaviour that enable them to maintain an effective learning environment and also to uphold public trust and confidence in the profession.

Relevance to training“Training providers must notify the relevant authorities if trainees are

required to leave a programme for reasons of misconduct or they choose to discontinue their studies in circumstances in which they could have been required to leave.”

Criminal convictionsPolice reports of any conviction or caution of a teacher are sent to the

Criminal Records Bureau.

“Isolated Road Traffic Offences would not normally be considered as behaviour incompatible with being a registered teacher,” but relevant offences include:

• Benefit fraud

• Indecent assault

• Threatening or disorderly behaviour

• Unlawful wounding

Numbers of casesSince the GTCE took responsibility for regulation in June 2001,

almost two thirds (97 of 150) of local education authorities in England have not referred a single case for alleged incompetence.

The total number of incompetence referrals for the 80 months to January 31 this year is 135, or an average of 20 annually. From the 135 referrals, 60 hearings have taken place, with 46 resulting in a conviction and disciplinary order. Of these, eight teachers were barred from the profession and ten were suspended from the register.

Source: Times Online, May 2008

Misconduct punished by GTCE• Swearing at pupils and calling them by offensive names

• Making a racist remark to pupils

• Endangering pupils through instructing them to undertake inappropriate manual handling

• Failing to safeguard the health and safety of pupils by not taking reasonable steps to ensure they remained on school premises

• Intimidating a child with special educational needs

• Deliberately undermining the authority of the head teacher and staff colleagues

Misconduct punished by GTCE• Sending a letter to parents of children in a class, which was seriously

in breach of the school’s policy and guidelines with regard to communications with parents and children

• Falsifying coursework and moderating marks submitted for a GCSE examination

• Persistent failure to co-operate with arrangements for furthering the educational progress of pupils with special educational needs, including by the submission of Annual Review documentation

• Providing unauthorised photocopies of examination papers to students at a private tutorial college

Misconduct punished by GTCE• Theft of school property

• Submission of false mileage expenses

• Using school administrative staff and facilities for private interests

• Using school equipment to view pornography

• Falsifying a reference for a teaching post

• Misrepresenting the pattern of past employment on a teaching application form.

Code of conduct for Trainee teachersWhat would it be?

GTCE website: www.gtce.org.uk

NASUWT petition: www.nasuwt.org.uk

Tim Cain