The Profession Knows Best with Dame Alison Peacock

"The reason I lead the Chartered College of Teaching is that the profession very often knows best and too often we’re subject to external interference."

Professor Dame Alison Peacock is Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, a new professional body that seeks to raise the status of teaching through celebrating, supporting and connecting teachers to provide expert teaching and leadership.

In this frank and insightful episode, Alison shares her reassurance and wisdom for everyone in the profession. Here are some quotes from the episode: 

• "The teaching community has been subject to ridiculous targets to recover lost learning.
• I don’t think it’s enough for the secretary of state to say 'this year we’ll trust teachers not algorithms'. It's a very snappy little phrase (but) to ask teachers to do this without a framework in place is a very risky and stressful process for everyone involved.
• I’m not calling for a revolution; I’m calling for greater professional responsibility.
• An element of competition is an energiser, but not when stakes have become so high that if you falter you completely fail.
• I don’t think we need to have the inspection system reinstated in the autumn in the way that it was before the pandemic. That kind of hyper-accountability means everyone is constantly looking over their shoulder.
  
• We need to be really loving to our current set of leaders because they’ve done so much. They deserve our recognition and support.
• We had to stop for a while and consider what really matters in my life? This was a universal realisation for so many of us. Listen to those important things. They are much more important than pleasing Ofsted."
• And much more.

Prior to joining the Chartered College, Alison was Executive Headteacher of The Wroxham School in Hertfordshire. Her career has spanned primary, secondary and advisory roles. She is an Honorary Fellow of Queens College Cambridge and a Visiting Professor of both the University of Hertfordshire and Glyndŵr University. 

You can connect with Dame Alison Peacock

On Twitter @alisonmpeacock  @charteredcoll

On LinkedIn Dame Alison Peacock

The Chartered College of Teaching website is chartered.college

For any membership enquiries, the Chartered College of Teaching email is hello@chartered.college

You can connect with Maria

On Twitter @Mariabrosnan

On LinkedIn Maria Brosnan

On Instagram @pursuitwellbeing

Find out more about our 5-step Wellbeing Action Plan for teachers online course.

And Maria's new book, The Pursuit of Sleep for teachers, is available now.