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Working with the Wider Workforce Section 7 Advanced Skills Teachers
7.1 Introduction
Teachers can be supported in their own professional development at the same time as providing benefit to their pupils through the use of an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST). As well as being aware of the help and advice that ASTs can provide, student teachers may well choose to take the path towards becoming an AST themselves, and it is never to soon to begin to think about future career choices. ASTs have proved themselves to be excellent classroom practitioners and have a great deal to offer the profession.
An AST is a teacher who has passed a national assessment and been appointed to an AST post. ASTs concentrate on sharing their skills, through outreach work in other schools.
The Advanced Skills Teacher grade is designed to strengthen teaching and learning through better leadership, better rewards, better training and better support. ASTs spend 80% of their time teaching their own classes and 20% sharing good practice in other schools.
This outreach can be useful for extending teachers’ own practice, but pupils can also benefit from working with someone different.
‘During their non-contact time an AST can reasonably be expected to undertake any of the following activities:
- Producing high quality teaching materials
- Disseminating materials relating to best practice and educational research
- Providing 'model' lessons to a whole class, or a target group of pupils eg. G & T, SEN, EAL etc., with staff observing
- Supporting a subject leader with regard to schemes of work, policies or management skills
- Observing lessons and advising other teachers on classroom organisation, lesson planning and teaching methods
- Helping teachers who are experiencing difficulties
- Participating in the induction and mentoring of newly qualified teachers
- Leading professional learning groups
- Supporting professional development’
 
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