Union learning representatives: facilitating professional development for Scottish teachers

Alexandrou, A. and O'Brien, J. (2007) Union learning representatives: facilitating professional development for Scottish teachers. International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning, 11(19),

Abstract

In the United Kingdom, teachers' professional associations and labor organizations, notably in the form of trade unions have historically been involved in education and training in the workplace. Recently, in the United Kingdom this activity has gained greater credence and importance due to the emergence of trade union learning representatives who are a new category of unpaid lay representation with statutory rights who operate within the workplace. They are part of the present UK government's drive to expand and improve lifelong learning and continuing professional development (CPD) in order to create the new learning society within the UK. In Scotland, a constituent part of the UK with its own distinctive education system, the McCrone Report (2000), particularly its CPD recommendations and the subsequent 21st Century Agreement (Scottish Executive Education Department [SEED], 2001) has added impetus to the role of these learning representatives within the Scottish teaching profession. This article examines how the Educational Institute of Scotland, a professional trade union, which represents the overwhelming majority of teachers in Scotland, has launched a learning representatives initiative with the aim that the representatives work to advise, broker, and facilitate improved CPD opportunities for their colleagues, particularly in relation to Chartered Teacher status (O'Brien and Hunt, 2005).

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: O'Brien, Professor James Paul
• Authors: Alexandrou, A., and O'Brien, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Professional Learning and Leadership
• Journal Name: International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning
• Publisher: Thompson Rivers University
• ISSN: 1206-9620
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2007 The Authors
• First Published: First published in International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning 11(19)
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License