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16 September 2002
Donald Henderson
Head of Teachers Division
Area 2-A21
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Dear Mr Henderson
OECD PROJECT – ATTRACTING, DEVELOPING AND RETAINING EFFECTIVE TEACHERS: STAKEHOLDER QUESTIONNAIRE
Thank you for your letter dated 30 July 2002 on the above subject. This was discussed at the SSBA Executive Board meeting on 14th September 2002.
It was noted that the project and the questionnaire are focussed on policies and priorities for development in relation to teacher recruitment, retention and development. It was also noted that the Scottish Executive will most easily provide the statistical material sought in the questionnaire with some additional material from Education Authorities and Teacher Education Institutions. They will also be able to provide the background to the McCrone review and the eventual pay and conditions settlement. It is with this background in mind that the School Board Association has restricted its comments to those parts of the questionnaire which seeks perceptions from "other stakeholders".
NATIONAL CONTEXT (Section one)
What are the broad public perceptions about the role of schools, the quality of schooling, and the status of teachers?
The Scottish public education system has a long and honourable history and continues to command respect and confidence amongst parents. The vast majority of parents send their children to public schools (as opposed to private). Education has been a major political priority for several years and the influence of parents on policy development has grown considerably. The majority of School Boards appear content with the respective roles of national and local government in the administration of the education system.
Much attention has been given to raising standards in schools. While the importance of obtaining good qualifications grows each year there is still a strong parental view that schools have a wider role to fulfil in providing a broad education which will prepare young people for life.
Over the last 20 years the involvement of parents in their children’s education has changed significantly. Parents have considerably more say in decisions regarding their children’s schooling than they had in the past. This has led to changes in attitudes towards schools on the part of parents. There is now more information available about schools’ performance which has informed parents’ decisions about which school to select for their child. Much more information is available about the curriculum and about individual children’s progress. This has led to some greater transparency about the professional aspects of a teacher’s job and a greater confidence on the part of some parents to seek clarification about decisions concerning teaching and learning.
There is considerable media attention given to the quality of schools. Inspection reports are published and receive close scrutiny from local press. Examination results are published and receive considerable national attention from the media. The emphasis on school improvement and the need to achieve better examination results year on year has added to parents’ interest in school quality.
The public perception of teachers is generally positive. Much attention was given to the recent teachers’ pay award and changes to conditions of service. However the majority of parents are not aware of the details of the new agreement. Most parents view their child’s teacher as professional and hard-working. There is a close working relationship between teachers and parents in primary education but this becomes more distant at the secondary stage as children engage with around 15 teachers each year.
In the recent national debate on education the Scottish School Board Association found that the overwhelming number of parents and pupils regarded the quality of teaching in their school as very good.
ATTRACTING ABLE PEOPLE INTO THE TEACHING PROFESSION (Section 3)
A major concern for parents is the inability of some schools to provide sufficient qualified staff to offer a full curriculum when full-time staff are absent. Properly qualified staff increasingly cannot fill teacher absences and in some cases this can mean that pupils are receiving inadequate tuition in particular subjects for extended periods of time. In other cases children have been taught by a series of temporary teachers over a long period. Neither situation is satisfactory for the children concerned and the need for alternative arrangements to the traditional "supply list" requires to be given proper attention.
At times of almost full employment it can be difficult to recruit additional teachers. It can also mean that there is less competition for training places which, in turn, can lead to reductions in quality of intake. The recent improvement in teacher salaries and conditions will hopefully address this issue and recent signs have been encouraging.
EDUCATING, DEVELOPING AND CERTIFYING TEACHERS (Section 4)
It is to be hoped that the recent initiatives on continuing professional development for teachers and the introduction of chartered teachers will help to retain good teachers in the classroom. Previously many good teachers sought promotion to posts which reduced or removed their teaching commitment.
It will be important that proper attention is given to training teachers to work with parents as partners in their child’s education. This change of perception has occurred gradually but may not yet be fully integrated into teachers’ initial training. It may be necessary to review initial training and also to ensure that probationer teachers are prepared for this important element in their chosen career.
In both the continuing professional development of teachers and initial teacher training it will be important for the teaching profession to be able to identify working with parents in two different ways:
I trust you will find the above useful in your deliberations.
Yours sincerely
Ann Hill
Chief Executive
SSBA
