Revised professional standards for assisting teaching, teaching and leadership

We are consulting on the revised professional standards for assisting teaching, teaching and leadership.

This consultation is for every education professional working in schools in Wales who has a role in supporting the learning and development of children and young people. This includes teachers, newly qualified teachers, teaching assistants, school leaders at all levels, including headteachers, and those in wider system leadership roles.

The Professional Standards for Assisting Teaching, Teaching and Leadership were introduced in September 2018. The standards’ primary purpose was to support practitioners across Wales to prepare for the roll-out and delivery of Curriculum for Wales. Since 2018, the ongoing education reform agenda has created a new landscape for the education sector in Wales. In order to recognise and support this new landscape, the Professional Standards have been revised, through extensive co-construction with the education sector, so that the standards reflect the current priorities for the sector and support the future direction of education in Wales, which is expected to continue to develop and evolve over the coming years. 

This consultation document sets out the revised professional standards for assisting teaching, teaching, in school leadership, headship and system leadership and seeks views from across the sector, and beyond, to shape the final version of the professional standards which will be launched in September 2026.

Revised standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) are currently in development and will be aligned with the wider suite of professional standards that are set out in this consultation document. The consultation on the revised standards for QTS will take place in the autumn term 2026 and the revised standards are expected to be launched in September 2027.

What are the Professional Standards for assisting teaching, teaching and leadership

The revised standards are designed to support teaching assistants, teachers and leaders throughout their professional careers, from initial teacher education through to experienced leadership roles. Rooted in the values of equity, excellence, and high expectations, the professional standards promote reflective practice, collaboration and lifelong learning. They aim to ensure that all involved with assisting teaching, teaching and leadership in Wales are empowered to inspire learners, lead innovation, and contribute meaningfully to a vibrant, inclusive education system that meets the needs of all learners. 

The professional standards serve as a tool for individual professional effectiveness, growth and development as well as guiding governing bodies, local authorities and other partners in supporting leaders and their school teams to achieve their personal and professional aspirations.

Who are the professional standards for

The professional standards apply to every education professional working in schools in Wales who takes a role in supporting the learning and development of children and young people. This includes teachers, newly qualified teachers, teaching assistants, school leaders at all levels, including headteachers, and practitioners in wider system leadership roles. 

How to use the professional standards

Each of the five professional standards is supported by a set of key descriptors that summarise how each standard can be demonstrated in practice. To provoke meaningful professional conversations, each descriptor is matched with reflective questions designed to initiate conversations between colleagues, encouraging them to critically evaluate their effectiveness in that particular area of work. These questions are categorised according to different professional roles, assisting teaching, teaching, in school leadership, headship and system leadership. This structure allows individuals to engage with the descriptors in ways that are relevant to their roles and responsibilities, leading to positive and sustained improvements in professional practice. 

It is not intended that all the descriptors are to be used in their entirety. Rather they serve as prompts to initiate productive, focused conversations. The questions are conversation starters, tools to stimulate insight and critical thinking about professional practice in relation to each descriptor and the associated standard.

How will the professional standards presented

The professional standards will be presented on a dedicated web platform with a layout intentionally designed to guide users in how the professional standards should be interpreted and used. The web platform will include interactive features, such as ‘hover’ over text, which allow users to explore definitions, reference and terminology within the context of their professional conversations. It is our intention to host the online versions of the revised Standards on Hwb from September 2026.

The descriptors are not meant to be read or used as a checklist, scorecard or spreadsheet. Instead, they are deliberately designed to encourage individuals to explore aspects of their work and engage with the professional standards in ways that resonate with their professional context. 

Many descriptors are linked both within a single standard and across the other five professional standards. This design gives individuals the opportunity to operate at different levels in various contexts depending on their roles and experience. The professional standards are intended to be used responsively, allowing individuals to engage with them in ways that best support their own professional development and reflective practice. 

The professional development review

At least annually, every practitioner working in a school is entitled to a professional development review, for example, a formal conversation with another colleague who is responsible for their growth, knows their work well and can guide their development.

Using the standards in the professional development review provides a formalised process for individual reflection, recognition of success and a focus on professional growth. In order to support this process, an individual practitioner could select a descriptor from each of the professional standards which they feel is particularly relevant to their role, using the accompanying questions as a prompt to start the conversation. The questions should always create a natural conversation, rather than feel like a justification or validation exercise. 

While keeping a record of these conversations might be helpful, it is not mandatory. However, it may prove useful for later reflection or to inform future actions especially when a practitioner is considering their own ongoing professional development. For example, many professionals will find the Professional Learning Passport (PLP) to be a useful tool for capturing and sharing evidence of how they meet the professional standards. By uploading examples of practice, practitioners can reflect on their development and illustrate their engagement with the professional standards. These examples will contribute to a growing collection of exemplification materials that will support practitioners in understanding and applying the professional standards in their own contexts. 

The draft professional standards for assisting teaching, teaching and leadership are set out in the following three sections A to C. 

• Section A: Professional commitments
• Section B: Professional standards
• Section C: Descriptors and questions

The vision for education in Wales

The promotion and quest for effective implementation of the national education agenda are the responsibility of all involved. The future of all learners, the nation and the wider world are positively affected by practice which supports the well-being of future generations, being an anti-racist Wales by 2030 and reaching a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

Welsh Language

Effective support for Cymraeg 2050 by embedding the Welsh language across the curriculum and school culture ensures that all learners and professionals have the opportunity to become confident, capable Welsh speakers who value and use the Welsh language in their everyday lives.

Literacy, numeracy and digital competence within a broad curriculum experience

A school or setting’s curriculum is everything a learner experiences in pursuit of the four purposes. It is not simply what we teach, but how we teach and crucially, why we teach it. The central importance of literacy, numeracy and digital competence lies at the heart of a broad and deep curriculum that employs authentic learning to open a world of opportunity to all learners.

Community and collective effort

The success of education in Wales relies upon the collective responsibility and effort of all involved to engage with colleagues and the wider community beyond the school. 

Professional integrity and ethical responsibility

Professionals uphold the highest standards of integrity by acting in the best interests of all learners and by challenging practices or behaviours that may limit any learner’s opportunity to succeed, even when this requires courage or difficult conversations. 

Embracing professional standards

As part of an ongoing and developmental conversation, the professional standards aim to develop every individual to become the best version of their professional self within a self-improving school system that values and respects personal growth and professional development. 

The standard for effective Pedagogy

Professionals accept accountability for their own pedagogical development and work with others to refine teaching and advance learning, securing progress for all learners. They engage in a continuous cycle of reflection and improvement that supports high expectations for all learners, promotes wellbeing, and nurtures a lifelong love of learning.

The standard for Collaboration 

Professionals strengthen practice by working closely with others in their own school to extend effectiveness by contributing to a climate of trust, mutual support and collective thinking. They actively seek opportunities to engage with other schools and wider partners to enhance professional effectiveness and extend effective pedagogy and practice contributing to system-wide improvement.

The standard for Professional Learning

Professionals actively engage in continuous professional learning, deepening their knowledge, understanding and skills through reflection and enquiry. They create purposeful opportunities for conversation and rigorous enquiry with colleagues to foster collective growth across learning communities within and beyond the school leading to sustained improvements in pedagogy and learner outcomes.

The standard for Innovation

Professionals embrace innovation through the controlled and measured development of improved techniques and approaches to advance pedagogic practice and learner progress. They contribute to a positive climate for innovation, evaluating practices with precision, so that innovative practice is coherent and outcomes are effectively disseminated and applied.

The standard for Leadership

Professionals place pedagogy as central in their leadership role. They recognise their responsibility to display a positive regard for others in pursuit of coherence and clarity in development and improvement. They lead colleagues and the wider community to fulfil the educational ambitions of Wales in the best interests of all learners. 

Pedagogy

Varying teaching approaches to suit learners’ needs

Learners are more engaged and motivated to succeed when teachers use developmentally and pedagogically appropriate approaches that support them in realising the purposes of the curriculum.

Assisting teaching

How well do you understand and adapt the approaches used to shape learning experiences to meet the needs of individual learners? 

Teaching

How well do you create worthwhile opportunities for a diverse range of learners to find their own solutions, become confident, critical thinkers and take an active role in shaping their own learning experiences? 

In School Leadership

In professional dialogue, how well do you lead, model and celebrate inclusive approaches to learning that encourage skills that are integral to the four purposes? 

Headship

How well do you create a culture and environment where staff are encouraged to adopt and apply relevant and inclusive pedagogic approaches that enable all learners to realise the purposes of the curriculum?

System Leadership

How well do you support schools and governing bodies to adopt evidence informed approaches and implement engaging pedagogy that secures tangible progress for the diverse range of learners?

Understanding how learners develop

Learning is effective when teachers understand how children and young people develop within the context of each learner’s experiences and specific needs.

Assisting teaching

How well do you understand how children and young people develop? How does this understanding help you to support effective learning?

Teaching

How effectively do you update your knowledge and understanding of child and adolescent development and the implications for your pedagogy and practice? How well do you integrate new understandings into your teaching to remove barriers and increase participation?

In School Leadership

How well do you model, facilitate and promote a secure understanding of learner development and their needs within your team?

Headship

To what extent do you lead in securing a deep understanding of learner development to ensure high quality teaching and effective learning for all learners with particular attention to learners who are experiencing difficulty. 

System Leadership

How successfully do you use reliable sources in facilitating rigorous and worthwhile evidence-informed dialogue about learners’ development, enabling teachers and leaders to reflect on their own practice? How far can you demonstrate the impact this has had on improving learner inclusion and intended outcomes?

Understanding the 3 to 19 continuum and implications for pedagogy

Effective pedagogy is underpinned by developmentally appropriate learning throughout the 3 to 19 continuum and beyond.

Assisting Teaching

How well do you understand the reasons for different learning approaches as learners develop? How does this help you to support learning? 

Teaching

How well do you understand the previous learning approaches experienced by your learners and how has this informed your pedagogical decisions and planning for progression? 

In School Leadership

How effectively do you develop coherent understanding and practice in the 3 to 19 continuum within your area of responsibility?

Headship

How well do you lead a whole school approach to evolving pedagogical practice across the 3 to 19 continuum and ensure staff are supported to adapt teaching as learners mature as individuals with differing needs? What systems are in place to enable professional dialogue about learner progression and how well are governors involved in these conversations?

System Leadership

How well do you understand child and adolescent development and to what extent do you use the 3 to 19 continuum to inform your work? How effectively do you support cross-phase dialogue to develop pedagogical approaches appropriate to the maturity and holistic development of all learners?

Progression in learning

Understanding the development of learners and factors which affect progress enables teaching practices to better support intended learning outcomes. 

Assisting teaching

How well do you understand the developmental needs and other factors that affect the progress of individual learners you work with and adapt your approach for them to achieve? 

Teaching

How well do you design and adapt learning experiences to address the specific developmental needs of your learners and ensure their progress? How effectively do you enable those who support you to understand individual learners’ needs?

In School Leadership

How well do you support teachers in developing a shared understanding of learner development and progression, helping them recognise and respond to the specific needs of their learners? 

Headship

How effectively does your shared vision for learning, and the resultant curriculum design support the development and progress of all learners and challenge teachers to respond to specific and additional learning needs?

System Leadership

How well do you enable schools and settings to ensure their understanding and actions in terms of learner development and progression are consistent with expectations in Curriculum for Wales?

Context and wider community

Contextual knowledge about all learners and the wider community enables provision to maximise learning.

Assisting teaching

How well do you know the learners’ community and factors affecting learners’ lives? How do you help others to use this knowledge to support effective learning in the school?

Teaching

How effectively do you use your knowledge and understanding of your learners, your school and the community to design and adapt your curriculum and pedagogic approaches for individual learners? 

In School Leadership

How well do you support your team in effectively using contextual knowledge to shape their curriculum and pedagogical approaches, ensuring they meet the needs of all learners? 

Headship

To what extent do you ensure that staff have the necessary knowledge about the context of the school and all its learners and that they apply it to design effective curriculum and pedagogical approaches that improve learning? How effectively is relevant multi-agency support employed within the school?

System Leadership

How well do you support the transfer and use of contextual knowledge across different groups of learners within the school system, enabling teachers and leaders to design, adapt and improve their curriculum and pedagogical practice to respond effectively to contextual needs? To what extent is multi-agency support co-ordinated to best support schools?

Embedding curriculum in purposeful authentic contexts

Embedding the curriculum in purposeful, authentic contexts is essential for ensuring the presence, participation and progression of all learners. 

Assisting teaching

How well do you support learners as they engage in learning experiences rooted in authentic contexts? How well do you contribute to building learners’ sense of enjoyment and confidence in learning?

Teaching

How well do you design and implement experiences within authentic learning contexts that effectively support the realisation of the Curriculum for Wales? 

In School Leadership

How effectively do you model, provide and measure the impact of authentic learning contexts in supporting the progressive development of all learners?

Headship

How effectively do you promote and embed authentic learning contexts to support the progressive development of all learners to engage fully with the Curriculum for Wales?

System Leadership

How do you promote and support others to embed the purposeful use of authentic learning contexts across schools to support learner presence, participation and progression?

Using technology to enhance learning

Pedagogical approaches that integrate technology ethically, effectively and inclusively can personalise learning, promote digital competence, enhance accessibility and prepare learners for an increasingly digital world. 

Assisting teaching

How well do you support the school in ensuring that digital resources are accessible, inclusive and used ethically, critically and responsibly? 

Teaching

How effectively do you model the ethical, critical and responsible use of technology to develop digital competence and enhance learning? 

In School Leadership

How effectively do you support your team in building the confidence and skills to embed the use of technology authentically and inclusively?

Headship

How well do you lead a whole school, strategic approach to evaluating and planning for the use of technology that is ethical, learner-centred, and future-facing?

System Leadership

How effectively are you supporting schools to use technology in ways that promote equitable access, engagement and participation in learning?

Building positive learner dispositions

Learning is most effective where the day-to-day practice and routines of the school promote positive learner dispositions such as engagement, confidence and responsibility.

Assisting teaching

As a positive role model, how successful are you in encouraging learners to develop a sense of belonging and readiness to learn? 

Teaching

How do you encourage learners to develop positive attitudes, a sense of belonging and readiness to learn by building strong relationships and managing your learning environment?

In School Leadership

How well do you support shared expectations that promote a culture of respect, high standards and positive learner dispositions?

Headship

How effectively do school policies encourage learners to exercise responsibility (rather than comply with rules), and engage confidently in their learning?

System Leadership

How far do your expectations of schools promote cultures that consistently support positive learner dispositions and high-quality learning? How effectively do you address practices that hinder or deny the school’s ambitions for its learners?

Productive and purposeful assessment linked to learning

In schools where assessment is used effectively, learner needs are identified and met in order to ensure progress.

Assisting teaching

How well do you use your knowledge of learners and observations of their engagement to support assessment and help adapt teaching and learning?

Teaching

How well do you understand and use assessment to identify learner needs and understand progress, recognising how those with a significantly greater difficulty in learning can be enabled by adaptive teaching practices?

In School Leadership

How well does your team use information from assessment including observation to analyse, evaluate and improve pedagogic effectiveness?

Headship

How well do you articulate the purposes and effectiveness of assessment to the range of stakeholders and agencies involved?How effectively are you analysing, evaluating and supporting your school in using practices aligned with the principles of assessment to enhance learning and progression?

System Leadership

How well are you helping schools and governing bodies to use assessment practice to enable learning? How well do you challenge ineffective assessment practices? How well do you facilitate the sharing of effective assessment practices between schools including during transitions to benefit all learners? How well are you helping schools to identify and provide for learners with significantly greater difficulty in learning or those requiring additional learning provision?

Collaboration

Collective Responsibility

Making the most of opportunities to seek and offer professional advice, including using multi-agency input, to support shared reflection, enquiry and solutions strengthens collective responsibility, improves teaching and benefits all involved.

Assisting teaching

How effectively have you engaged in professional conversations, offering your insights and seeking the advice of others to best support learning?

Teaching

How well do you engage in professional conversations, contributing advice and support based on your own experiences as well as seeking to learn and benefit from advice of others? What impact has this collaboration had on you, your colleagues and your learners?

In School Leadership

How well do you create and model opportunities for purposeful, mutual support and advice within and beyond your team. In what ways has this had impact? 

Headship

How effectively do you promote and embed collaboration within your school, in partnership with governors and external multi-agency partners, to enhance professional practice? What examples are there of the impact of this collaboration on learner outcomes and the wider school community?

System Leadership

How successfully do you enable the exchange of advice and support, within, across and beyond your own community of schools? How effectively have external agencies been involved? What evidence is there of the impact of this collaboration on the system?

Talking about pedagogy

Teaching becomes more effective when professionals reflect on and evaluate their own current pedagogic practice through guided professional conversations.

Assisting teaching

How well do you take part in professional conversations with colleagues about improving pedagogy for learners? 

Teaching

How effectively do you engage in deliberate conversations about pedagogy with colleagues in order to develop more effective, efficient and enjoyable practice for all learners?

In School Leadership

How far do you encourage your team to reflect on and discuss pedagogical approaches, drawing on valid, reliable evidence and research to improve practice? 

Headship

How well do you lead and manage professional conversations about pedagogy to enable teachers to work together to develop and refine approaches to the benefit all learners?

System Leadership

How effectively do you facilitate professional conversations within and across schools about pedagogical values, principles and practice to promote inclusion and ensure improvement for all learners?

Sharing resources

Collaborative improvement is achieved when resources are shared within and between schools, agencies and communities. By sharing insights and best practices, schools can learn from each other’s strengths and create more efficient, cost-effective solutions.

Assisting teaching

How well do you work with others to share insights, expertise and resources?

Teaching

How far do you actively work with others to enable the effective shared development of resources and best practices?

In School Leadership

How efficiently are you managing time, resources and space so that your team can work effectively in the best interests of learners?

Headship

To what extent are you developing an open and mutually supportive culture of learner improvement through the sharing of resources for collaborative working? How well do you share insights and best practices with other schools, agencies and the community?

System Leadership

How far are you identifying and facilitating effective collaboration in relation to resource decisions to the mutual benefit of schools and to maximise impact on learners?

Professional learning

Securing improvement

Professional learning is effective when positive changes in professional attitudes, behaviours and routines lead to school improvement. 

Assisting teaching

How effective do you use your professional learning experiences to enable you to support learners? 

Teaching

How far can you identify the impact of your professional learning on yourself as a teacher and on the holistic progress of learners?

In School Leadership

To what extent do you engage in, model and promote purposeful professional learning which contributes to sustained improvement across school priorities?

Headship

To what extent do you develop, model and sustain a culture where professional learning is embedded, collaborative and driven by school improvement planning?

System Leadership

To what extent do you support schools individually and collectively, along with governing bodies to develop, share and use professional learning to drive improvement?

Personal responsibility

Taking responsibility for professional learning is an expected part of personal and professional growth and development, informed equally by individual, local and national priorities. 

Assisting teaching

How well do you use feedback and reflect on your experiences to identify areas for your professional growth? How does this benefit the learners you support?

Teaching

How effectively do you use a range of insights to identify your professional learning needs? How well do you ensure your professional learning experiences positively affect your practice and improve outcomes for learners?

In School Leadership

To what extent do you enable your team to reflect and take responsibility for their own professional learning? How well do you support them in identifying and balancing individual and team priorities for learning and in using these experiences effectively across the team?

Headship

To what extent do you use the findings of whole school self-evaluation to identify professional learning needs for yourself and your colleagues that will support necessary school improvement? 

System Leadership

In what ways do you effectively co-ordinate professional learning opportunities across schools to have a positive impact both on your own professional learning and in other settings? How can this be more effective?

Engaging with the National Entitlement

Access and engagement in formal and informal, structured and incidental professional learning experiences will benefit the individual and schools. Individuals should take advantage of high-quality professional learning opportunities aligned with national approaches. 

Assisting teaching

How well does your engagement in professional learning enable positive changes in the support you offer to learners?

Teaching

To what extent do you engage with a broad range of formal and informal professional learning experiences that challenge your beliefs, mindsets and practices, and support positive changes in your teaching practices?

In School Leadership

How well do you ensure that your team has equitable access to professional learning that meets school and national priorities, as well as individual development needs?

Headship

To what extent do you engage with a broad range of professional learning that challenges your thinking as a leader and how well do you make explicit the value of your own learning to your staff, governors and colleagues? 

System Leadership

To what extent does your own ongoing professional learning strengthen your capacity to support your schools across the system?

Ensuring impact

Professional Learning is effective when it extends knowledge, understanding and skills and is used to the benefit of all learners.

Assisting teaching

How effectively do you reflect on and use your professional learning to enable learners to make progress?

Teaching

How well do you ensure that your ongoing professional learning is relevant and applied in ways that appropriately meet the specific and individual needs of learners?

In School Leadership

How well do you support your team to ensure that professional learning is effective and makes a positive impact on learning? How do you measure its effectiveness?

Headship

How well do you facilitate a culture of professional learning and enquiry and provide relevant and timely experience for colleagues? How far do you ensure that these experiences are effectively implemented to affect all learners positively?

System Leadership

To what extent do you strategically support schools in identifying, and facilitating necessary and relevant professional learning opportunities that are aligned with coherent, evidence-based practices? How do you disseminate good practice across your schools and settings to benefit the wider system?

Using professional learning to achieve the school’s vision

The identification and co-ordination of appropriate high quality professional learning will strengthen and improve teaching and leadership.

Assisting Teaching

How far has your professional learning helped you to support the school’s vision?

Teaching

To what extent does your professional learning make a difference to you, your learners and your school? How do you use feedback from others, including learners to improve outcomes for all? 

In School Leadership

To what extent do you ensure that you and your team share and reflect upon professional learning, and collaborate effectively to support sustained school improvement?

Headship

To what extent do you ensure that you and your staff have the time and space to engage with and share professional learning that has positive impact on whole school improvement through improved staff effectiveness and enjoyment?

System Leadership

How successfully do you engage in or lead universal and bespoke professional learning alongside leaders and governing bodies to secure improved learner outcomes for yourself and the system?

Innovation

Empowering professionalism

Establishing and implementing evidence informed innovative practices empowers teachers and leaders to explore, adapt and co-create. 

Assisting Teaching

How well do you support innovation within your area of work? How effectively do you contribute suggestions to enhance learning?

Teaching

How effectively do you involve learners as well as professionals in shaping, trialling and evaluating new innovations to enhance learning?

In School Leadership

How effectively do you create a culture of curiosity, enquiry, and risk-taking among staff empowering colleagues to extend and embed innovation? How do you ensure innovation remains ethical, inclusive, and learner-centred and avoids being reactive or trend-driven? 

Headship

How well do you build trust and enable openness to innovation and professional enquiry that is ethical, inclusive and learner-centred? How well do you connect your school’s innovations to system-wide reform, research, and collaboration to ensure alignment and sustainability?

System Leadership

How successfully do you enable schools to innovate within a framework of trust, flexibility, and clear ethical principles? What strategies do you employ to build capacity, use of time, resources and networks for sustainable innovation across diverse school contexts?

An Innovative outlook

An outlook of professional curiosity and enquiry leads to innovative practice that secures improvement.

Assisting Teaching

How well do you engage with efforts to enhance practice? In what ways has this improved the way you support learners?

Teaching

To what extent do you innovate to improve your own teaching practice?

In School Leadership

How well do you encourage, model and facilitate innovative approaches with your team? How do you ensure these approaches lead to sustained improvements?

Headship

To what extent do you encourage and strategically lead the implementation of innovative systems and procedures in your school? How is this evaluated?

System Leadership

To what extent do you facilitate and support the development of innovative practices across schools? How do you ensure these practices are meaningful and disseminated appropriately across the wider system?

Evaluation and refinement 

A culture which embeds innovative practices, coupled with continuous evaluation and refinement leads to sustained improvement in teaching and learning.

Assisting Teaching

How well do you share your perceptions of how innovation is improving learning?

Teaching

How effective have changes in your practice been and how have you evaluated their impact on your learners?

In School Leadership

How well do you evaluate which innovative improvements should be refined and extended to benefit colleagues and improve teaching across the school?

Headship

How successfully do you ensure that innovative changes are evidence based, and context driven and lead to sustained improvement in learning and teaching? 

System Leadership

How well do you ensure innovative practice is rigorously evaluated and effectively disseminated across schools in order to share findings and insights?

Leadership

A shared vision

Effective schools work towards a shared and clearly understood vision for all learners that reflects evolving national expectations and the specific needs of their communities.

Assisting teaching

How well do you contribute to the vision and values of your school to support learners?

Teaching

To what extent do you reflect on your leadership of teaching and learning to promote the school’s shared vision in your everyday practice? 

In School Leadership

How do you evaluate the impact of teaching and learning and lead focussed conversations with colleagues to help to realise the school’s shared vision? 

Headship

How effectively do you evaluate and challenge the progress, outcomes and well-being of learners, in line with both the school’s vision and its development as a learning organisation?

System Leadership

How effectively do you support schools to develop as effective learning organisations that adapt to change and align with the Welsh education agenda? To what extent do you contribute to the collective vision for local improvement in schools?

The school and its community

Building positive partnerships with families, the wider community and stakeholders increases the effectiveness of teaching and learning. 

Assisting teaching

How well do you get involved with the school’s efforts to nurture positive relationships with families and the wider community?

Teaching

How well do you work with families, agencies and stakeholders to ensure readiness to learn and improve learning?

In School Leadership

How well does your team take advantage of opportunities to engage with the wider community beyond the school to the benefit of learners? What strategies do you employ to ensure that this engagement is productive and sustained?

Headship

How effectively do you listen, communicate and model the school’s shared vision positively within the community and how far does this strengthen collective responsibility for schools and learning? What steps do you take to build the confidence necessary for effective engagement between families and the school and identify and tackle any barriers that may exist?

System Leadership

How do you support and enable schools, agencies and stakeholders to effectively understand, prioritise and act upon the importance of positive engagement with families and the community as a driver of improvement?

Equitable education

Effective schools ensure that every learner has the opportunity to develop their talents and skills, regardless of their background or circumstances, and receives the support and resources they need to overcome any barriers to their presence, participation and achievement in order to fulfil their potential.

Assisting teaching

How well do you contribute to an equitable and inclusive learning environment where all learners feel valued and can fulfil their potential?

Teaching

How well do you understand your learners’ lives and experiences and how effectively do you take account of their wider experiences in designing learning and in developing a learning environment where they feel valued and included? 

In School Leadership

How effectively do you lead and support your team in understanding learners lives and experiences and in designing learning that advances equitable and inclusive education?

Headship

How well do you enable understanding of learners’ lives and experiences in designing curriculum and developing a learning environment where they feel valued, included and successful? To what extent are you fostering mutual respect and positive regard among staff, learners and stakeholders while challenging harmful or limiting stereotypes?

System Leadership

How well do you support and challenge schools and governing bodies to foster mutual regard and respect between schools and their communities ensuring an equitable and inclusive educational experience for all?

Learner voice

Schools that actively listen and respond to the voice of learners see greater levels of presence, participation and achievement and are more effective in meeting needs and enabling the achievement of the four purposes.

Assisting teaching

How well do you use learner voice to build trusting relationships and realise the four purposes?

Teaching

How successfully do you engage with learners in identifying and acting upon their priorities, successes, concerns and frustrations?

In School Leadership

How far are you aware of the variability of learners’ views on their experiences and to what extent have you related this variability to outcomes? How effectively do you act upon these insights?

Headship

How effective are approaches for gathering views of learners, collectively and individually, and to what extent does the school respond? How effective does the school recognise and reflect the role of learners as experts in their own lives?

System Leadership

How far are you aware of the views and opinions of learners within schools and settings and how well do you enable these to be positively used to effect improvement?

Self-evaluation and improvement planning

Where self-evaluation practices and improvement planning are finely tuned and well used, the school is increasingly effective.

Assisting teaching

How well do you reflect on your practice and its impact, suggesting improvements when needed?

Teaching

How well do you engage in self-evaluation in terms of your own teaching within the context of the school’s vision and how well does this inform the school’s improvement planning?

In School Leadership

To what extent has self evaluation shed light on the work of your team and your leadership and what changes to practice have taken place as a result?

Headship

How well do you evaluate the work of your own school? How effectively do you use a range of enquiry methods and external perspectivesto build insight and establish effective plans for improvement?

System Leadership

How successfully do you evaluate your own work in terms of enabling schools you support to understand and improve against their starting points and implement their development plans?

Coherence between expectations and practice

Leadership which secures coherence between vision, values and practice will have a more positive impact on learning and well-being.

Assisting teaching

How far is your practice aligned with the vision and values of your school? 

Teaching

How far is your practice coherent with the vision and values of Welsh education?

In School Leadership

How well do you ensure coherence in expectations of learning across your team? How well do you identify and address any incoherence?

Headship

How effectively do you lead and drive the vision for learning to ensure coherence of expectations and learning experiences across the school community?

System Leadership

How successfully do you support and challenge others to embed and drive a coherent vision that aligns and moves with the Welsh education agenda?

Question 1a

Do you agree that the structure for the revised professional standards is clear and easy to understand? 

Question 1b 

Do you agree that the structure for the revised professional standards is relevant to current needs and practices?

Question 2a

Do you agree that the revised professional standards, linked questions and supporting descriptors are appropriate for teaching assistants?

Question 2b

Do you agree that the revised professional standards, linked questions and supporting descriptors are appropriate for teachers?

Question 2c

Do you agree that the revised professional standards, linked questions and supporting descriptors are appropriate for in-school leaders?

Question 2d

Do you agree that the revised professional standards, linked questions and supporting descriptors are appropriate for headteachers?

Question 2e

Do you agree that the revised professional standards, linked questions and supporting descriptors are appropriate for system leaders?

Question 3a 

Do you agree that the revised professional standards and supporting descriptors are appropriate for use in mandatory statutory induction (Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT))?

Question 3b

Do you agree that the revised professional standards and supporting descriptors are appropriate for use in the contexts of both validation and accreditation (for example TALP and NPQH)?

Question 4

Do you agree that the revised professional standards and supporting descriptors will facilitate informal developmental conversations?

Question 5a

Do you agree that the revised professional standards, supporting descriptors and linked questions are supportive and developmental?

Question 5b

Do you agree that the revised professional standards, supporting descriptors and linked questions promote a sense of professionalism?

Question 6a

Do you agree that the revised professional standards and supporting descriptors will prompt professional conversations that will encourage a focus on the priorities for the education sector in Wales?

Question 6b

Do you agree that the revised professional standards and supporting descriptors will enable the developing school improvement agenda?

Question 7

Are there any descriptors that are unclear, should be changed or are missing?

Question 8

What sort of support might be useful to enable the standards to be used effectively?

Question 9

Are there other impacts of these proposals which you would like to share your views on?

Question 10

What, in your opinion, would be the likely effects of the proposals on the Welsh language? We are particularly interested in any likely effects on opportunities to use the Welsh language and on not treating the Welsh language less favourably than English.

• Do you think that there are opportunities to promote any positive effects?
• Do you think that there are opportunities to mitigate any adverse effects?

Question 11

In your opinion, could the proposals be formulated or changed so as to:

• have positive effects or more positive effects on using the Welsh language and on not treating the Welsh language less favourably than English, or
• mitigate any negative effects on using the Welsh language and on not treating the Welsh language less favourably than English?

Please use the consultation response form to respond to the above questions.

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