A petition calling for the General Teaching Council for Scotland to be replaced by a government agency has been published today on the Scottish Parliament website.
The petition - in the name of Paul Blaker on behalf of Accountability Scotland - says that “many concerns have been raised about GTCS…not meeting its principal legislative aims”, including its handling of safeguarding concerns.
It says: “The GTCS is not supporting teachers’ professional development nor are they helping children to experience improved quality learning and teaching.
‘Trust in teaching’ at stake
The petition statement adds: “The government decided to replace Education Scotland and reform the Scottish Qualifications Authority. Now GTCS, which has presided over declining standards and serious concerns, must be abolished in the public interest to ensure that trust in teaching and their regulator is maintained.”
Tes Scotland went to the GTCS for comment on the petition, but was told that it did not wish to say anything at this point.
Any person or organisation can submit a petition to the Scottish Parliament.
The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee looks at all published petitions, regardless of the number of signatures they collect. The committee will decide what action it wants to take. For instance, it can close a petition, or it can ask for a debate about a petition in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
The petition follows a review of the GTCS “fitness to teach” process that found several areas for improvement, such as: the time it takes to resolve cases; support of vulnerable participants, the simplification of guidance and documentation for the public; and case management.
Fitness to teach is the approach by which the GTCS investigates a teacher’s conduct or competence, with the ultimate sanction being a ban from teaching.
The review found the median time taken between a referral of a teacher to the GTCS and the final stage in the process, the full hearing decision, to be around four years (211.1 weeks, based on six cases). However, the process could take even longer to conclude; in two cases it examined, “it took over five years from the receipt of referral to the [full hearing] decision”.
The review - which was carried out by the Public Standards Authority for Health and Social Care and commissioned by GTCS - also found “clearer agreement on ‘who does what’ in the system” is needed when it comes to investigating complaints about teachers.
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