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NEWS • VIEWS • INFORMATION • ADVICE





Teaching Schools A quick guide



The Government is developing a national network of teaching schools across England to lead training and professional development of teachers and headteachers.



What are teaching schools?



The four key functions of teaching schools are to:



provide initial teacher training (ITT);

provide continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers, school leaders and other school staff. This will include

peer-to-peer support and developing and sharing best practice; n spot and develop talent and leadership potential; and

provide advice and support to schools in challenging circumstances.



How many are there?



There are 100 schools in the first cohort of teaching schools. The Coalition Government’s plan is that eventually there will be around 600 teaching schools.



Which schools are eligible?



Only schools that have been judged outstanding by Ofsted are eligible to apply to become teaching schools.



Issues of concern



The requirement that only outstanding schools can be designated as teaching schools is problematic. Many schools that have been judged outstanding serve advantaged communities. These schools may not be best placed to develop and deliver training and CPD that addresses the full diversity of the pupil population.

Giving individual teaching school partnerships responsibility for the design and delivery of training and CPD locally is likely to lead to wide variations in quality and could mean that there is little coherence in teacher training around the country.

Teaching schools will be responsible for delivering a wide range of training and CPD. Teachers working in teaching schools may be expected to develop and deliver training and CPD, act as mentors and coaches, and they may be expected to develop and participate in professional networks. Teaching schools could therefore increase teacher workload.

The teaching schools programme is built on the principle of competition and the idea that the market should determine what training and CPD is provided. Introducing a market will reduce schools’ willingness to collaborate and co-operate, fragment the education system, increase variation in practice and quality of provision, with cost taking precedence over quality. Inequalities may increase as minority needs and interests are much less likely to be catered for.

Shifting responsibility for making decisions about training and professional development to school level enables the Government to wash its hands of responsibility for ensuring that there are adequate funds to meet teachers’ and school leaders’ training and development needs. The Coalition Government can cut costs without taking responsibility for the quality of provision.

Effective partnerships are built up over time and are dependent on trust. There is a danger that insufficient time and investment will be put into developing partnerships in areas where existing arrangements are weak.

Some headteachers have applied to become a teaching school without engaging staff in the decision-making process or in decisions about matters that will affect them.

Teaching schools will be responsible for ‘spotting and developing talent’. There is a danger that some partnerships will adopt practices of favouritism, or will introduce criteria for identifying potential that make it difficult or impossible for teachers and staff from some groups or backgrounds to meet.



Visit www.nasuwt.org.uk/TeacherTraining