UCET
The ITT reforms T
here has been a lot of coverage in the media over the last 18 months about the government’s plans to reform initial teacher training (ITT) and give schools a greater say in
how new teachers are trained. This dates back to before last year’s general election, when Michael Gove called for a shift in teacher training “away from universities and into schools” and described teaching as a craft that is “best learnt as an apprentice observing a master craftsman or woman”. The coverage and associated rhetoric culminated in the publication in June of a Department for Education (DfE) strategy paper: Training our next generation of outstanding teachers: an improvement strategy for discussion which proposed, among other things, a greater role for schools in ITT, raising entry requirements, funding PGCE students through targeted bursaries and expanding employment-based routes into teaching such as Teach First. Much of the coverage inevitably related to the perceptions of teacher
educators to the reform proposals. There was initially alarm about the implied plans to marginalise the role of universities in teacher training, although as it became clear that the government had (possibly belatedly) recognised the invaluable contribution that universities make, statements from the ITT sector also became more nuanced.
“Little appears to have been said about the implications for schools, despite the fact that schools are to have an increasingly important role in the
delivery of ITT and in the recruitment of student teachers.”
But the focus of debate remained on what the implications were for
the ITT sector. Little appears to have been said about the implications for schools, despite the fact that schools are to have an increasingly important role in the delivery of ITT and in the recruitment of student teachers, something that in principle teacher training universities will welcome.
Impact on schools So what are the implications for schools and school leaders? A key strand of the government’s strategy is the introduction of
teaching schools, the first 100 of which were announced recently. Teaching schools will play a leading role in ITT and award-bearing CPD for schools in their clusters. Staff from teaching schools and their partner schools will be expected to be involved in the design and delivery of ITT programmes and in the recruitment, training and assessment of student teachers. They will also be expected to facilitate opportunities for teachers in their clusters to undertake award-bearing CPD. But, to help them do this, teaching schools will be expected to work in partnership with universities and will be able to draw on the administrative, pedagogical and subject expertise that universities will be able to provide. And rather than be accredited ITT providers in their own right, teaching school clusters will be allowed to work in partnership with other accredited providers, who can then shoulder the administrative burdens that accredited providers face and be subject to ultimate accountability through the Ofsted teacher training inspection process. The responsibility for teacher education can, under the teaching school model, be shared. Schools will receive the benefits that active
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engagement with teacher education brings in terms of staff recruitment and development and access to innovative ideas and practices, while universities will benefit from closer working relationships with schools. We do not think that, provided responsibilities are shared and partnerships maintained, teaching schools need be concerned about having a greater involvement in teacher education. The benefits such engagement can bring in terms of school improvement will make it worthwhile. The implications of the government’s proposals do however go
further than teaching schools. Under the new “school-direct” policy, up to 500 ITT places will be available to allow schools to recruit trainees to fill vacant posts and contract with an accredited ITT provider to deliver training. In the longer term, the government suggests that it might become the norm for trainee teachers to be recruited by schools in the expectation that they receive employment on completion of their training. There may be a case for a small proportion of places to be allocated
through a “school-direct” route to fill vacancies that the overarching infrastructure has for whatever reason been unable to meet. But most schools are unlikely to want to take on full responsibility for selecting all trainee teachers and commissioning their training, and no one is going to require them to do so. Schools that want to be accredited ITT providers can already become so under existing arrangements. Long may that continue. We are in favour of a mixed market, and in any case many school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) and graduate teacher programme (GTP) providers already work in partnership with (and are sometimes led by) universities. However, for most schools we envisage a further strengthening of existing partnership arrangements rather than a whole-sale shift to an entirely school-based model. UCET agrees that schools should be more actively engaged in both
ITT and award-bearing CPD, and should be involved in the design and delivery of programmes in respect of both. We are also attracted by the idea of shared appointments by schools and universities, and universities being represented on school governing bodies and schools on relevant university committees. The existing partnership model between schools and universities, according to all quality indicators, does work well and any measures to strengthen and improve those partnerships are to be welcomed.
James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), reflects on the changes to initial teacher training and looks at the implications for school leaders
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