Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1998 c. 30 |
Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998
1998 Chapter 30
An Act to make provision for the establishment of General Teaching Councils for England and Wales and with respect to the registration, qualifications and training of teachers and the inspection of such training to make new provision with respect to grants and loans to students in higher or further education and fees payable by them to make provision with respect to the funding of higher education institutions and certain further education, and other matters relating to further and higher e ducation institutions to enable the higher and further education funding councils in Scotland to discharge certain functions jointly to enable young persons to have time off work for study or training to make provision with respect to the inspection of training and careers services provided in pursuance of arrangements or directions under the Employment and Training Act 1973 to provide that the Scottish Further Education Funding Council shall be a relevant body for the purposes of section 19(5) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and for connected purposes.
[16th July 1998]
B e it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
The teaching profession
Chapter I
The General Teaching Councils
The General Teaching Council for England.
1 The General Teaching Council for England.
(1) There shall be a body corporate which, subject to subsection (10), shall be known as the General Teaching Council for England (in this Act referred to as ‘the Council’).
(2) The principal aims of the Council in exercising their functions are—
(a) to contribute to improving the standards of teaching and the quality of learning, and
(b) to maintain and improve standards of professional conduct amongst teachers,
in the interests of the public.
(3) The functions conferred on the Council by or under this Chapter—
(a) are exercisable by them in relation to both England and Wales at any time before the date specified in an order under section 8(1) (establishment of General Teaching Council for Wales) and
(b) are exercisable by them in relation to England only at any time on or after that date.
(4) In exercising their functions, the Council shall have regard to the requirements of persons who are disabled persons for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 .
(5) The Council shall be constituted in accordance with regulations made by the Secretary of State and regulations under this subsection may authorise the Council to make rules with respect to such matters relating to their constitution as may be specified in the regulations.
(6) In exercising his power to make regulations under subsection (5), the Secretary of State shall have regard to the desirability of the Council's membership reflecting the interests of—
(a) teachers,
(b) employers of teachers,
(c) providers of teacher training,
(d) persons concerned with the teaching of persons with special educational needs,
(e) religious bodies involved in the provision of education,
(f) parents of pupils,
(g) commerce and industry, and
(h) the general public,
and such other interests as in the opinion of the Secretary of State will enable the Council to carry out their functions more effectively.
(7) Regulations under subsection (5) must be framed so as to secure that a majority of the members of the Council are registered teachers who—
(a) either are for the time being employed or otherwise engaged to provide their services as teachers or have had such recent employment or engagement as teachers as may be prescribed and
(b) satisfy such other criteria as to eligibility for appointment or election to the Council as may be prescribed.
(8) In relation to appointments made or elections held before a register is established under section 3, the reference in subsection (7) to registered teachers is a reference to qualified teachers within the meaning of section 218(2) of the Education Reform Act 1988 .
(9) Schedule 1 to this Act has effect in relation to the Council.
(10) At any time before the date mentioned in subsection (3)(a), the Council shall be known as the General Teaching Council for England and Wales and—
(a) in relation to any time before that date, references to the Council in any enactment shall accordingly be construed as references to the General Teaching Council for England and Wales, and
(b) any reference to the Council by that name in an instrument or document made before that date shall be construed on or after that date as a reference to the General Teaching Council for England.
Advisory functions of General Teaching Council for England.
2 Advisory functions of General Teaching Council for England.
(1) The Council shall from time to time advise—
(a) the Secretary of State, and
(b) such other persons or bodies as he may from time to time designate,
on such matters falling within subsection (2) as they think fit.
(2) Those matters are—
(a) standards of teaching
(b) standards of conduct for teachers
(c) the role of the teaching profession
(d) the training, career development and performance management of teachers
(e) recruitment to the teaching profession and
(f) medical fitness to teach.
(3) The Council shall also advise the Secretary of State—
(a) on such matters falling within subsection (2), or
(b) on such other matters relating to teaching,
as he may from time to time require.
(4) The Council may be required under subsection (3)(b) to advise the Secretary of State on any matter relevant to a decision by him as to whether any power exercisable by him by virtue of section 218(6) of the Education Reform Act 1988 (prohibition or restriction on employment of teachers) should or should not be exercised in any particular case.
(5) The Council may give advice on such matters falling within subsection (2) as they think fit to s uch persons or bodies as they may from time to time determine.
(6) Any advice given by the Council on matters falling within subsection (2) shall be advice of a general nature.
(7) The Council may publish advice given by them under subsection (1), (3) or (5).
3 Registration of teachers.
(1) The Council shall establish and maintain a register of teachers (‘the register’).
(2) The register shall contain the name of every person who is eligible for registration and applies to be registered in the register in accordance with regulations made under section 4.
(3) A person is eligible for registration if he is a qualified teacher within the meaning of section 218(2) of the Education Reform Act 1988 and he is not for the time being—
(a) prohibited from being employed, or otherwise engaged to provide his services, as a teacher as the result of a direction given by the Secretary of State by virtue of section 218(6) of that Act (prohibition or restriction on employment of teachers), or
(b) subject to a disciplinary order made under Schedule 2 to this Act by virtue of which he is not eligible for registration, or
(c) disqualified from being employed as a teacher in any school by virtue of an order made—
(ii) by the Secretary of State under section 471 of that Act, or
(d) (subject to such exceptions as may be prescribed by, or determined by the Secretary of State under, regulations) ineligible for registration as a teacher, or disqualified from being a teacher in any school, by virtue of any prescribed provision of the law of Scotland or of Northern Ireland.
(4) Except in such circumstances as may be prescribed, a person is not eligible for registration if, having served an induction period in accordance with regulations under section 19, he has failed to complete it satisfactorily for the purposes of those regulations.
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