Research services

Tender description

The Welsh Government wishes to commissions an evaluation of the professional standards for teaching, leadership and assisting teaching. Professional standards have an important role to play in delivering the transformational reforms to the education system in Wales. Developed in consultation with practitioners, schools and key partners in the education system in Wales, new professional standards have been rolled out across the workforce since 2017. The standards, which represent a radical departure from the old standards, have been designed to inspire, challenge and support TAs, HLTAs and every practitioner from initial training through to school leadership. The standards reflect the reforms and focus on the range of skills and behaviours to support practitioners to prepare for their role in the new curriculum. Understanding how different practitioner groups, schools and related organisations view and use the standards over time will inform ongoing Welsh Government policy development including activity relating to supporting professional learning needs. The aim of the evaluation is to assess implementation, effectiveness and anticipated impacts of the standards in terms of their ability to support the development of a highly-skilled workforce ready to meet the challenges of education reform in Wales. The evaluation will: (i) assess the engagement with standards amongst practitioners; (ii) review the implementation of the standards amongst practitioners; (iii) understand what factors and/ or conditions support or impede effective implementation of the standards; (iv) consider whether the standards have been effective in terms of their intention to: — set clear expectations about effective practice during a practitioner’s career including, where applicable, entry to the profession, — enable practitioners to reflect on their practice, individually and collectively, against nationally agreed standards of effective practice and affirm and celebrate their successes, — support practitioners to identify areas for further professional development, and — form a backdrop to the performance management process. (v) explore the anticipated impacts of implementing the standards at the practitioner, school and system level; (vi) make recommendations for future policy and practice across the whole system to support the future implementation and effectiveness of the standards.