Every teacher matters

1. Every teacher matters 8 November 2010

2. Every teacher matters • The importance of teachers • Government responsibility for teacher quality • Problems with improving teacher quality • The path to performance • A new approach? • An action plan for great teaching • Recommendations • Further information

3. The importance of teachers“Nothing matters more than having great teachers” - Michael Gove, September 2010 • Policymakers’ focus has been on class sizes to improve educational outcomes when in fact teacher quality is the single biggest influence on pupils’ educational progress • Research shows that an excellent teacher can improve a pupil’s performance by as much as 53 percentile points, or more than three GCSE grades • Over the last decade, the school workforce has grown substantially, with 10 per cent more teachers and 2 ½ times as many teaching assistants, despite falling pupil numbers • 2003 National Agreement on pay and conditions has fuelled costs • Increasing reliance on teaching assistants has not had positive outcomes – only 25 per cent of teachers say they now spend less time on routine/administrative tasks

4. Government responsibility for teacher quality • Government has taken responsibility for improving teacher quality • Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) costs £713m, sets 41 “core standards” that all teachers should meet but are extremely vague, offering no clarity as to what constitutes having achieved the standard and no quantifiable target • National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services costs £124m, provides courses and resources for aspiring school leaders, runs the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) compulsory for all first-time headteachers • Ofsted inspects schools on seven main criteria, to be reduced to four from 2011: quality of teaching, leadership, pupils’ behaviour and safety, and their achievements • General Teaching Council for England (GTC), registry and regulator of teachers, abolished in June

5. Government responsibility for teacher quality • School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) recommends pay and conditions to government; School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) fulfils similar role for support staff, abolished in October • Local authorities (LAs) are also responsible for overseeing schools’ performance, financial stability and staff capability • School Improvement Partners (SIPs) are a key tool for this – often successful heads from other schools who take a mentoring and advice role • SIPs however are increasingly also used for accountability purposes, assessing schools’ performance on behalf of the LA – this confusion undermines their value as mentors • Governing bodies are responsible for the budget and strategy of schools and the head’s performance, but many governors receive no training and are ill-equipped to hold heads to account

6. Problems with improving teacher quality • Much of the continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers is of low quality; only 25 per cent of teachers are regularly observed and most CPD is “passive learning” • The Audit Commission and National Audit Office both say schools do not focus sufficiently on value for money of staffing • Persistently underperforming teachers are often not dealt with due to delays in capability proceedings including appeals, sick leave, LA intervention, cost and impact on the school • There is substantial concern over the influence of the unions on attempts to deal with underperforming teachers • Heads are subject to restrictions on classroom observation for the purposes of formal performance management • The NPQH has very little focus on providing practical management skills (finance, legal, HR) that headteachers need

7. The path to performance • The best schools ignore government bureaucracy and successfully put great emphasis on nurturing their teachers; CPD and performance management are embedded into the school’s culture • Peer learning is structured and commonplace; teachers regularly observe and are observed by their colleagues; best practice is routinely shared • Performance management is based on clear, quantifiable targets drawn up by the school and teachers are held to account for their performance and supported to improve • Performance management is seen as a supportive and developmental, rather than punitive, process • Successful programmes like the Improving Teacher Programme and National Leaders of Education are effective at spreading best practice into underperforming schools

8. The path to performance • Good heads deal successfully with underperforming teachers despite the complexity of capability procedures • Clarity is key: well-defined targets allow both the headteacher and the teacher in question to identify problems and target support; they allow capability procedures to be followed quickly • The best heads work with union representatives to successfully manage out persistent underperformers not suited to teaching • Headline figures suggesting very few teachers leave the profession are misleading: it is common for teachers to leave the school (and often the profession) before the end of capability procedures

9. A new approach? • The Government is putting significant emphasis on improving the quality of teaching – Michael Gove said in July that this is “the single most important thing in education” • There are plans to expand Teach First and introduce two new programmes, Teach Now and Troops to Teaching, as well as requiring a 2:2 degree for new state-funded trainee teachers • These proposals will not impact on the existing 447,000 teachers • The Government is also encouraging teachers’ autonomy in the classroom and has reduced regulation – the GTC and SSSNB have been abolished; Ofsted’s inspection criteria has been tightened • The TDA and National College are under review • The Government’s structural reforms should help: academies give heads freedom over pay and conditions and remove LA influence; free schools increase choice and parental accountability

10. An action plan for great teaching • The Government’s direction of travel is right but its reforms do not go far enough; the main challenge is improving existing teachers • The ineffective existing bureaucratic structure governing teaching, including Ofsted, the TDA, the National College and local authorities, is left fundamentally unchanged • Ministers must remove this bureaucratic superstructure and workforce agreements, and strengthen schools’ accountability to ensure a focus on the quality of teaching • Government and the entire school system must shift its attention from quantity to quality • Reform’s recommendations would not only improve the quality of teaching but could also generate savings of over £2 billion per year – 6 per cent of the Department for Education’s budget or around £90,000 per school

11. Recommendations • Full, genuine parental choice will provide real accountability; restrictions on profit-making free schools should be lifted • Government attempts to control teacher quality should end: the TDA should focus solely on recruitment and initial training • The National College should be privatised, allowing schools to pay directly for its useful services • Universities should develop education-focused MBA-style qualifications to replace the NPQH • All schools should be given academy freedoms, taking them out of LA control; national pay and conditions should be abolished • Government interventions into the cost and size of the teaching workforce should end, with heads given freedom to set the right balance between pay, staff numbers and quality; the number of teaching assistants would fall as a result of this

12. Please feel free to contact any of the Reform team 020 7799 6699 Dale Bassett, Research Director dale.bassett@reform.co.uk Download the full report at www.reform.co.uk Further information