Introduction

Your initial teacher training course is just the first rung of a professional ladder. It lays the foundation for your teaching career, preparing you for your first teaching post and your first year of teaching. It does not, however, equip you for the rest of your life as a teacher, it simply starts you off on that life. When you enter the teaching profession, you will begin the process of Continuing Professional Development. You will soon ask: How can I improve as a teacher? How can I progress in my career? Annex A of Circular 4/98 contains a section relating to Other Professional Requirements (Section D). This section describes some of the more generic, non-subject specific criteria you must satisfy before being awarded your Qualified Teacher Status. They are likely to have been covered in the professional studies elements of your training course and during work in school. One particular requirement is that:

For all courses, those to be awarded Qualified Teacher Status should, when assessed, demonstrate that they:

e. understand the need to take responsibility for their own professional development and to keep up to date with research and developments in pedagogy and in the subjects they teach;

(Circular 4/98, p. 16)