Commonwealth Secretariat develops standards for teachers and school leaders and School Leadership Framework
The Commonwealth Secretariat, which is currently hosting and leading ADEA’s Working Group on the Teaching Profession (WGTP), initiated a consultative and participatory process in 2011 to develop a broad Pan-Commonwealth Framework for Professional Standards for Teachers and School Leaders. The main purpose of the proposed standards framework is to guide countries in defining the basic requirements related to knowledge, pedagogical skills and personal attributes that teachers and school leaders must demonstrate in order to achieve the objectives of education. The Standards have been finalised and are being printed for piloting before they are widely disseminated to Ministries of Education and Teacher Training institutions in Africa.
The Commonwealth Secretariat has also developed the Commonwealth School Leadership Capability Framework which recognises that in some Commonwealth countries school leaders currently have very limited opportunity for professional learning and development. This is particularly the case in developing countries and small state contexts. Moreover, school leaders in Commonwealth countries currently possess very limited opportunity to share experiences with each other, to learn from each other or to develop joint educational initiatives. For these reasons, the provision of educational leadership development opportunities to developing countries and small state school leaders is an expressed priority of the Commonwealth School Leadership Programme.
The Framework forms the conceptual core of the Commonwealth School Leadership Programme and is designed to provide, mainly through professional dialogue and high quality educational resources, a shared language to better understand the significance of leaders and leadership at all levels. This Framework will be published and piloted before being shared widely with Ministries of Education and teacher training institutions in Africa.
For more information, contact Florence Malinga, Commonwealth Secretariat, also Coordinator, ADEA Working Group on the Teaching Profession (WGTP), e-mail: f.malinga@commonwealth.int
