Professional Update and Practitioner Enquiry: Old Wine in New Bottles?

Abstract

Starting in August 2014, all registered teachers in Scotland are now required to engage in a process of Professional Update (PU) managed by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). The aim is to ensure that teachers at every stage of their careers participate in worthwhile professional learning, which can take a variety of forms. PU is, in effect, a system of regular professional reaccreditation. This paper examines the new arrangements, the way in which they have been devised and the thinking that lies behind them. It also looks at the provisions which preceded them and suggests that a change of terminology does not necessarily mean that there will be a significant change of practice. One particular form of Professional Update which is recommended – Practitioner Enquiry (PE) – is shown to have had a long history, but relatively modest results. A number of reasons for the slow pace of change in the field of professional learning and development are considered: these include teacher resistance, bureaucratic obstruction and academic failure. The paper concludes by arguing for greater intellectual freedom in defining what counts as legitimate professional learning and cautioning against the expectation that new systems and structures will by themselves bring about major shifts in attitude.