In the final part of this series, Matt Bromley pulls together his discussions on what professional teacher autonomy means and its links to outstanding practice. Here, he discusses what risk-taking in teaching and learning, in this context, looks like and why it is important

“Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.” William Butler Yeats

In part three of this four-part series, I said that the level of autonomy afforded to teachers is dependent (to some extent) on where their school is along the path to excellence – schools need to tighten up the constraints on autonomy in order to become “good” but must loosen those constraints in order to become “outstanding”.

Another important consideration to be taken into account is teachers’ individual experience and expertise – an NQT will require more assistance and direction than a staffroom stalwart, for example.

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