ATL

Excellent teachers

The Excellent Teacher Scheme (ETS) offers the most experienced classroom teachers in England and Wales an alternative to teaching and learning responsibilities posts, advanced skills teacher grades or leadership group posts.

What are excellent teachers?

According to Department for Education guidance, excellent teachers have the length, breadth and depth of experience, pedagogic excellence and coaching and mentoring skills of a high order.

Their high-quality teaching skills make them a role model for less experienced classroom teachers. In addition to their normal duties in the classroom, excellent teachers have a distinctive role in helping other teachers improve their effectiveness and have a major impact on improving pupil attainment across the whole school.

Schools are able to create posts for teachers who had reached U3 and to provide them with new roles that focus on whole-school teaching and learning issues. Unlike advanced skills teachers (AST), excellent teacher posts do not have an outreach function.

Assessment

When considering applying for assessment, teachers will need to be able to show that they:

• have continued to develop themselves professionally

• have provided regular coaching and mentoring

• have evidence of work that has identified and addressed the needs of a particular group or groups of pupils, involving a searching analysis, and has been of sufficient substance to have a positive impact beyond their assigned pupils - this evidence should normally come from the two to three-year period leading up to their application

• are likely to meet the excellent teacher standards.

Appointment

To be eligible to be appointed to an excellent teacher post, teachers must:

• have been assessed as meeting the excellent teacher standards

• have been first placed on point U3 at least two years before the date they take up post.

Once in post, excellent teachers should continue to maintain high standards, demonstrate a commitment to developing themselves professionally and provide an exemplary role model for staff through their professional expertise.

The four Excellent Teacher standards

1. Excellent results/outcomes

As a result of the aspiring excellent teacher's teaching, pupils:

• show consistent improvement in relation to prior and expected attainment

• are highly motivated, enthusiastic and respond positively to challenges and high expectations

• consistently exhibit high standards of discipline and behaviour

• show a consistent record of parental involvement and satisfaction.

2. Excellent subject and/or specialist knowledge

Aspiring excellent teachers must:

• keep up-to-date in their subjects and/or specialism(s)

• have a full understanding of connections and progressions in the subject and use this in their teaching to ensure pupils make good progress

• quickly understand pupils' perceptions and misconceptions from their questions and responses

• understand ICT in the teaching of their subject or specialism(s).

3. Excellent ability to plan

Aspiring excellent teachers must:

• prepare lessons and sequences of lessons with clear objectives to ensure successful learning by all pupils

• set consistently high expectations for pupils in their class and homework

• plan their teaching to ensure it builds on the current and previous achievement of pupils.

4. Excellent ability to teach, manage pupils and maintain discipline

Aspiring excellent teachers must:

• understand and use the most effective teaching methods to achieve the teaching objectives in hand

• display flair and creativity in engaging, enthusing and challenging groups of pupils

• use questioning and explanation skillfully to secure maximum progress

• develop pupils' literacy, numeracy and ICT skills as appropriate within their phase and context

• provide positive and targeted support for pupils who have special educational needs, are very able, are from ethnic minorities, lack confidence, have behavioural difficulties or are disaffected

• maintain respect and discipline and are consistent and fair.

Need further advice?

Your first point of contact is your ATL rep in your school or college. Your local ATL branch is also available to help with queries, or you can contact ATL's member advisors on tel: 020 7930 6441 or email us. Please have your membership number to hand when telephoning and include it with any correspondence - this will help us to answer your query more quickly.