ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the argument for developing the culture of our teaching profession towards proudly becoming a learning profession. It explains the rationale for building voluntary membership of the Chartered College of Teaching, a professional body with royal charter that seeks to celebrate, support and connect teachers to provide world-class teaching that benefits pupils and society. The chapter discusses the importance of raising the status of the teaching profession as a global community and presents notions of collegiality and collaboration as a means to build the quality and expertise of education. It considers the importance of professional pride and identity in the context of career development and collective standards that replace punitive external accountability. A professional body has a different but complementary role to that of professional associations or teacher unions. The Chartered College of Teaching was granted a supplemental Royal Charter in 2017, enabling the professional body to offer chartered status to teachers and school leaders.
