Teaching competences for qualified primary teacher status in England

Abstract

The use of competence statements as a way of safeguarding standards for newly qualified teachers in England has dominated teacher education and training over the past 5 years, largely as a result of the Department for Education's Circulars 9/92 and 14/93. More recently, the Teacher Training Agency has submitted proposals which include comprehensive sets of criteria by which trainee teachers are to be evaluated before being granted qualified status. This article examines the principle of using competence statements as a basis for judging teaching ability, and suggests that their interpretation is complex. It argues that the successful acquisition of every competence is unattainable, and that some prioritising is inevitable. The article challenges the view that competence statements can be used for assessing teaching in every situation, regardless of context, without taking account of the diverse school circumstances in which trainee teachers find themselves. Despite the limitations of a competence-based approach for the assessment of teaching ability, its value as a basis for dialogue and intelligent reflection should be exploited.