Member and Chartered Teacher, Lucy Hare, was welcomed to the committee meeting. Lucy would later be co-opted onto the committee, returning it to a capacity of fifteen members.
There have been ongoing investigations into how Chartered Teachers who are no longer studying at a Higher education establishment can access academic journals. There was a concern that the new Code of Practice on the Role of the Chartered Teacher placed an emphasis on the Chartered Teacher staying abreast of the latest research, theory and practice, while not providing guidance on how such information could be obtained. This point had been made to the TES Scotland who had approached ACTS for a response to the publication of the Code.
David Noble spoke about progress on the planned February 2010 ACTS conference, provisionally titled, ‘Engaging with new practice, research, and policy’. He had been in discussion with many of the national education agencies and Chartered Teacher Programme providers. Sponsorship has been obtained from two organisations and further discussions will take place during October. David is in contact with two events organisers and a final decision on the direction to proceed will be taken at the end of October. The event, which is ‘pencilled-in’ for Saturday, 6th February, will be promoted from mid-November onwards. It is envisaged that the event will appeal to: Chartered Teachers; those ‘on the route’; teachers who are considering Chartered Teacher; practitioners who wish to share their enhanced practice; Chartered Teacher Programme providers and academic researchers; policy-makers and other educationists from national and international agencies; and commercial companies. There will be CPD, research, policy, and good practice sessions; with networking opportunities and the ACTS Annual General Meeting. It is planned that a Question Time-style debate will be one of the session choices in the afternoon.
The Charterd Teacher Glow Group is now established at https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Chartered%20Teachers/default.aspx. ACTS have agreed with Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) to operate the Glow Group on behalf of all people who have access to Glow and who wish to be members of a Chartered Teacher-focused community. Monthly Glow Meets (web conferences) will take place, with the programme of sessions available at https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Chartered%20Teachers/Lists/Events/AllItems.aspx. The first one takes place from 7.30 – 8.15pm on Thursday, 29th October, with a discussion around the Revised Standard for Chartered Teacher. Any Glow user can request membership of the Glow Group and then be able to attend the Glow Meets.
Dorothy Coe informed the committee that the Autumn issue of the ACTS newsletter had been emailed to ACTS members and is available on the website. The next edition will include conference information, an article on Co-operative Learning, and a printable ACTS flyer for staffrooms.
ACTS are considering whether to affiliate with the College of Teachers. Discussion will be taking place on the committee’s private wiki and a decision will be taken before the next meeting.
Finally, ACTS continue to pursue charitable status.
The next committee meeting will take place in Edinburgh on Saturday, 21st November from 10.30am – 12pm. Members who wish to attend should email actscotland@yahoo.com for further details.
