Classroom Quality Standards (CQS): An introduction

The Quality Standards: self-evaluation tools for Gifted and Talented education

The Classroom Quality Standards (CQS) are part of the suite of National Quality Standards for Gifted and Talented (G&T) Education in England. The suite is made up of:

• the Institutional Quality Standards (IQS) – a whole-school self-evaluation and planning tool, designed for use by senior and middle leaders. The IQS identifies 14 elements of provision structured within the five components of personalised learning
• the Classroom Quality Standards (CQS) – a tool to support teachers and other classroom practitioners to reflect on their own practice and to plan further development and action research
• the Local Authority Quality Standards (LAQS) – a self-evaluation tool to be used by local Children's Services authorities to ensure that appropriate support and challenge is provided to schools, and to support coherent planning of provision across a local area. They are designed to strengthen the capacity and quality of support for the IQS and CQS in schools.

All three tools are intended to provide flexible frameworks around which professionals can examine their practice and plan improvement, rather than as prescriptive models of provision.