Corporate report

Teaching Regulation Agency corporate plan: 2021 to 2024

Updated 15 July 2021

Applies to England

Purpose

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) is an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE). Our purpose is to support employers, schools and headteachers with safeguarding responsibilities. We also, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education (Secretary of State), act as the competent authority for teaching in England.

Teaching in England is a regulated profession, and legislation sets out what training a teacher has to undertake in order to teach in certain settings. We are responsible for awarding qualified teacher status (QTS) to teachers trained in England, and early years teacher status (EYTS) to individuals who have completed their early years teacher training. We are also responsible for the professional recognition of teachers who have qualified outside of England. We maintain the central record of qualified teachers which provides employers the opportunity to complete pre-employment checks to ensure they are employing teachers who are appropriately qualified for their role.

TRA, on behalf of the Secretary of State, operates the regulatory system for teacher misconduct, as defined by The Teachers’ Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012 and as amended by The Teachers’ Disciplinary (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2014.

Teachers are one of the most significant factors in a child’s education. The overwhelming majority are highly competent and effective, and never engage in any form of serious misconduct. For the small minority which do, TRA is responsible for:

• investigating serious misconduct, where a teacher’s alleged behaviour is fundamentally incompatible with being a teacher and could lead to them being prohibited from teaching
• prohibiting teachers from teaching, where they are found to have committed serious misconduct

Headteachers and governing bodies are responsible for managing teachers in relation to:

• their competence and conduct and taking action to address underperformance
• misconduct in their schools

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Home Office, is responsible for deciding whether an individual should be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults. They also maintain a list of those individuals who are determined to be unsuitable (the barred list).

Strategy and vision

DfE’s vision is to provide world class education, training and care for everyone, whatever their background. It will make sure that everyone has the chance to reach their potential and live a more fulfilled life. It will also create a more productive economy so that our country is fit for the future. We support this by striving to achieve excellence in all that we do acting as the competent authority for teaching in England and providing a fair and consistent regulatory system for the teaching profession on behalf of the Secretary of State.

We do this by:

• awarding QTS to teachers who successfully complete initial teacher training (ITT), and EYTS to teachers who complete early years ITT
• assessing applications received from teachers trained outside of England for recognition of professional status fairly and efficiently
• regulating the teaching profession through fair, rigorous and timely teacher misconduct investigations and hearings to enable schools to meet their safeguarding responsibilities

These activities maintain the high-quality standards of the profession, allowing every child access to high-quality education.

Values

The Civil Service is an integral part of the government. It supports the government in developing and implementing its policies and in delivering public services. Civil servants are accountable to ministers, who in turn are accountable to Parliament.

As civil servants, our staff are appointed on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. They are expected to carry out their role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its core values: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. Further details are available in the Civil Service code.

Our cultural values are structured under 5 priorities that support our aims.

People

Our workplace is welcoming, inclusive and organised, with staff that support and collaborate with each other, to create a work environment that is effective, professional and inspires them to do their best. It is a diverse, transparent and inclusive environment that respects the views and opinions of others.

Our leaders are supportive, honest, visible and approachable. They are receptive to all views and treat staff fairly and consistently.

Staff are passionate about their work leading to an environment where they feel valued, respected, supported and encouraged to maximise their potential to build capacity and expertise through having clear objectives and opportunities to learn and develop.

Systems and technology

We continue to develop and use skills in the latest technology to improve the systems we use to provide a better service to our customers. We build communities of practice to better share learning and experiences cross-agency and within the DfE.

Governance, risk and project management

We ensure strong performance and governance rigour is in place with a focus on quality. We identify and manage risks and issues appropriately and collaboratively across the agency. Staff are set clear objectives and understand their role in achieving them.

Customer experience

We ensure staff focus on our customers to provide an efficient and high-quality service that considers their needs and requirements.

We use customer insight to develop and improve our services, ensuring our customers’ needs are listened to and acted upon.

Quality

We aim to achieve excellence, consistently delivering high-quality teacher misconduct and teacher qualification services which promote fairness and trust in the education profession. We measure the quality of the work we do through the implementation of a quality framework which incorporates learning from our work and embedding this into future planning.

Our staff representative group, working in partnership with the senior management team, concentrate on improving the working practices and the culture within the TRA. They develop an annual plan based on themes from the DfE’s annual people survey. These themes include resources and workload, learning and development, diversity and inclusion, and fair treatment.

Organisational structure

Alan Meyrick is our Chief Executive Officer and Accounting Officer.

John Knowles is Head of the Teacher Qualification Unit, responsible for:

• competent authority and recognition of professional qualifications
• QTS award and induction
• the Programme Management Office, the Information, Compliance and Assurance team and the Finance team

Sarah Buxcey is the Head of the Teacher Misconduct Unit, responsible for:

• teacher misconduct casework operational delivery
• stakeholder engagement and media relations
• contracts, performance, systems and quality

Our priorities

Our ambition is to make sure we have the right people, with the right skills and experience, utilising the right tools to meet our aspirations within this corporate plan. Our priorities include:

• reviewing our key performance indicators which measure our performance and service delivery
• modernising our enquiry services, using the latest technology and design principles to improve customer experience
• working collaboratively with DfE policy and digital colleagues to reform our priority policies:
  • implementing a new professional recognition framework for overseas teachers applying to teach in England, following the passage of the Professional Qualifications bill
  • aligning teacher qualification systems development with the emerging DfE strategies for digital services
  • deliver standalone DBS barred list status checks through TRA services from 1 April 2021
• developing and implementing a new teacher portal allowing teachers to securely access case sensitive information online
• further developing the online referral form for employers and members of the public who wish to refer an allegation of serious misconduct by a teacher
• continuing to embed a blended model of virtual and face to face hearings to effectively administer the hearing process
• focusing on administering the delivery of misconduct hearings that were delayed by the pause in hearings during 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions – ensuring case by case consideration to scheduling cases as soon as possible using the blended hearing model
• continuing to work in partnership with DfE policy teams to support and review the wider regulatory framework that underpins our work
• working with commercial colleagues to review our legal firm contracts by 2022 to include contract extensions and reprocurement exercises

Objectives

For 2021 to 2024, we will:

• aspire to ensure that all key performance indicators are met
• work to the governance and accountability arrangements as set out in the TRA framework document
• strive to deal with all teacher misconduct referrals and teacher qualification applications fairly, consistently and promptly
• learn from other regulators through regular engagement, including equivalent organisations in the devolved nations
• improve our systems and technology to deliver a better service to our customers
• respond to all correspondence in a timely and concise manner, including freedom of information and subject access requests

The Teacher Qualification Unit will:

• maintain the central record of qualified teachers in England and the central list of teachers prohibited from teaching in England
• provide digital services to enable employers to complete their pre-recruitment checks of teachers, including safeguarding checks
• provide a digital service to enable teachers to view their personal records and access their teaching certificates
• award QTS to teachers who successfully complete ITT and EYTS to teachers who complete early years ITT
• manage annual data collection services to ensure the accurate recording of QTS, EYTS, ITT, statutory induction outcomes and national professional qualifications onto the central record of qualified teachers
• act, on behalf of the Secretary of State, as the competent authority for the teaching profession in England and grant professional recognition in England to eligible overseas trained teachers
• provide high-quality support and advice to users of our products and services through our digital channels
• support the DfE to develop and implement operational changes resulting from policy reform

The Teacher Misconduct Unit will:

• following the introduction of virtual hearings in 2020, we will review and implement a longer-term strategy, which incorporates benefits and lessons learnt to embed a blended approach of virtual and face to face hearings, to meet future requirements and help mitigate further disruptions
• complete an initial assessment of all teacher misconduct referrals received determining whether a referral is within jurisdiction and serious enough to potentially result in a prohibition order
• for referrals which are within jurisdiction and serious enough to potentially result in a prohibition order, we will establish this as a case and will:
  • consider whether an interim prohibition order should be imposed to prevent the person teaching until the case is concluded – this can be considered and imposed at any stage of the case
  • undertake an initial investigation and decide whether there is a case to answer or the case should conclude
  • refer the case to a professional conduct panel if there is a case to answer
• work with external stakeholders, such as legal firms and professional conduct panels, to prepare for a hearing, ensuring the panels meet regulations and guidelines
• following a professional conduct panel, take a decision on behalf of the Secretary of State regarding whether to impose a prohibition order
• engage in a timely manner with the teacher, teacher’s representative and referrer as required throughout the lifetime of a case, and respond to all teacher misconduct case queries
• promptly publish notice of forthcoming hearings, and professional conduct panel outcomes
• on receipt of High Court appeal notifications, work with internal legal advisers to prepare cases to present on behalf of the Secretary of State
• consider cases where a newly qualified teacher (NQT) wishes to appeal failure of, or an extension to, their induction period
• work with other organisations, including DBS, schools and the police, to support the safeguarding of children
• support independent inquiries as and when required, including the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)
• ensure all content on GOV.UK accurately reflects the teacher misconduct guidance and disciplinary regulations
• learn from other regulators through regular engagement, including equivalent organisations in the devolved nations
• ensure robust contract management of legal firms engaged in our work, ensuring value for money, closely monitoring quality and timeliness standards
• continue to implement our quality assurance framework which measures the quality of our decision making, procedures, case management, contracts, data integrity and engagement with stakeholders
• regularly engage with independent professional conduct panel members, providing relevant training to new and existing panellists, networking and development events, and conduct yearly panellist appraisals

Response to COVID-19

We continue to work with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 Coronavirus Bill stipulated that no public panels could take place. As a result, all professional conduct panels were postponed from March to August 2020. Misconduct casework continued to be progressed up to the point of a hearing and interim prohibition orders imposed as required. The Teacher Qualification Unit continued to deliver all of its functions whilst operating remotely.

We developed plans to restart hearings in a way that was fair and safe for all involved, working collaboratively with teachers, DfE policy and legal colleagues, trade unions, contracted legal firms and independent panellists to establish virtual professional conduct panels. We liaised with other regulators regarding conducting virtual professional conduct panels, undertaking equalities impact assessments to ensure the changes did not disadvantage those with protected characteristics.

Virtual professional conduct panels meetings and hearings commenced in September and November 2020 respectively. We plan to continue with a combined model of virtual and face to face hearings during 2021 to 2024 including minimising further disruption to those cases delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Scale of operation

The annual average scale of the Teacher Qualification Unit operations include:

• the award of QTS and EYTS to approximately 34,500 teachers who complete either a course of ITT or EYITT in England and Wales or have been assessed against the Teachers’ Standards
• processing approximately 6,000 applications from overseas trained teachers requesting recognition of professional status as a qualified teacher in England
• providing up to 75,000 new online certificates to teachers through the teacher self service portal
• recording approximately 30,000 NQT induction passes onto the central record of qualified teachers
• issuing up to 39,000 teacher reference numbers (TRN)
• answering up to 33,000 telephone enquiries and responding to approximately 45,000 email helpdesk enquiries
• enabling more than 24,000 schools and employers to complete safer recruitment checks

The annual average scale of the Teacher Misconduct Unit operations include (all of which is demand led and subject to change):

• considering approximately 900 referrals of serious misconduct
• investigating and administering approximately 60% of referrals
• making decisions on behalf of the Secretary of State for approximately, based on an average from the last 3 years:
  • 100 teacher misconduct cases
  • 15 set aside cases
  • 3 induction appeals
• for all misconduct cases, identify whether an interim prohibition order should be considered and applied
• working with policy colleagues to ensure that there are sufficient trained panellists, including lay and teacher panellists
• working with the Government Legal Department to respond to High Court appeals

Monitoring and performance

Key performance indicators

We report on a number of key performance indicators on a monthly basis.

Teacher qualifications

Our current performance indicators are:

• process all QTS recommendations from ITT providers and make the results available within 2 working days of receipt
• process all induction results submitted by appropriate bodies and make the results available within 2 working days of receipt
• all teacher qualification secure online portals will be available to users for 98% of the reporting year

Professional recognition of overseas teachers

Our current key performance indicators are:

• 100% of European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland applications initially assessed within 20 working days
• 100% of application decisions completed within 90 working days for EEA and Switzerland, and 20 working days for overseas trained teachers from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Gibraltar and the USA.

Helpdesk

Our current key performance indicators are:

• all emails responded to within 5 working days of receipt
• abandonment rate for telephone enquiries to be less than 5%

Teacher Misconduct

Our current key performance indicators are:

• 95% of referrals are initially assessed within 3 working days from the date of receipt
• cases that are formally investigated are concluded or referred to a hearing within 20 weeks (median) from the date investigation begins
• teacher misconduct cases that are considered at the hearing stage are concluded within 52 weeks (median) from the date of receipt of referral

Risk and issue management

We will ensure that we continue to manage risks and issues effectively. Our Executive Board will oversee our strategic and operational risk and issue management. The board will:

• identify risks and issues through open discussion
• discuss and agree the reliability, suitability and integrity of countermeasures and contingencies to manage identified risks and issues
• ensure risk and issue management meet the requirements of internal audit and DfE’s strategic risk management framework

Our Chief Executive will discuss risks and issues with the senior sponsor at both their monthly review meetings and the quarterly strategic performance review meetings. The senior sponsor is responsible for escalating any risk that meets the escalation criteria as set out in DfE’s risk management framework to the Performance and Risk Committee who will escalate to DfE leadership team and the Audit and Risk Committee where appropriate.

We will review all risk and issue registers with DfE’s Central Risk team every 6 months. Our Chief Executive also meets every 6 months with a member of the Assurance and Risk Committee to discuss our performance.

We manage risk using the following principles:

• risks must be managed at the lowest appropriate level within our established governance arrangements
• risks must be systematically identified and assessed by each governance level
• risks must be clearly articulated to demonstrate the potential cause of a risk and that proposed countermeasures will address the cause
• responsibility for owning risk, overseeing countermeasures and contingencies should be allocated to named individuals
• risks are managed within the defined risk appetite

Forward look

Arms Length Body (ALB) review

In line with Cabinet Office policy for the tailored reviews of public bodies, we underwent our first ALB review, (formerly Tailored Review) in 2019. We will be reviewed again in line with Cabinet Office policy for the ALB reviews of public bodies. This will cover both the existing review programme and any future programme that supersedes it. The outcomes of our recent review are available in the Tailored review of the Teaching Regulation Agency.

Annual report and accounts

TRA, in line with other executive agencies prepares an annual report and accounts. These will be reviewed and audited by the National Audit Office (NAO) and published online.

Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA)

During 2020 to 2021, internal audits were conducted on our correspondence and casework management processes with improvement actions identified that will be implemented during 2021 to 2022.

During 2021 to 2022, internal audits are planned on:

• the strategic governance and management of the central record of qualified teachers
• virtual hearings
• data management and the customer journey
• the new arrangements for professional recognition of overseas teachers

Budget information

Our corporate plan will be updated annually with the budget for the following year.

For 2021 to 2022, we plan to spend:

Area of spend	2021 to 2022
Administration budget	£218,000
Programme budget	£9,112,000
Capital budget	n/a
Total	£9,330,000

Within TRA there is formal agreement that staff costs (excluding the Programme Management Office) have a programme budget.

The programme summary is provided below:

Cost centre or account code description	2021 to 2022
Teacher services programme (not including Programme Management Office)	£3,479,000
Presenting costs programme	£3,055,000
Regulation costs programme	£1,613,000
QTS and induction programme	£59,000
TRA IT development	£906,000
Total programme budget	£9,112,000