VIEWS & OPINION


Better initial teacher training can fix schools for good


Comment by Professor GERAINT JONES, executive director and associate pro vice-chancellor of the National Institute of Teaching and Education (NITE) at Coventry University


At present, it is safe to say that there are many issues in the education sector. As the executive director of a training school, you might expect me to advocate for better initial teacher training and ongoing professional development. You’ve got me there! Because I genuinely believe training is the solution to many of these challenges, and if we can commit to it, resource it and give it the time it needs, we can end the endless short term patches and fix teaching’s leaky boiler for good.


Good quality initial teacher training and ongoing professional development have been shown to raise standards, improve pupil outcomes and boost teacher retention – to the tune of 12,000 extra teachers remaining in the profession a year. When


you consider: recent figures published by the DfE which show applications to initial teacher training (ITT) have fallen sharply; recent government data indicating almost one in six teachers in England quits after just a year in the classroom; worrying evidence of the pandemic’s impact on students’ development - with KS1 children said to be two to three months behind where they should be and worrying rises in mental health issues amongst those in older years - it’s a no brainer that we need teachers. And we need them to be thoroughly trained, highly motivated and super resilient.


Raise the profile of teaching


How do we go about this? Well, firstly, we need to raise the profile of teaching and make it more attractive. Yes, the hours are long, there is no disputing that, but the rewards are considerable. Pay is also an issue, however the answer to this is not a golden handshake payment for new teachers but rather to attract the brightest and the best by making teaching an aspirational career. Teaching is a vital profession that should be on par with other careers such as medicine, dentistry, and law. In these jobs, professionals would have both rigorous initial training, and then continuous professional development baked in, it would be irresponsible not to – the same should be said for teaching.


Two-year ITT training


Core to this would be to make the initial training period for teachers longer. A 36 week course is simply insufficient to cover everything a teacher needs to know when they arrive in the classroom – and certainly not to the required depth. In primary, ITT providers are so tight on time they can, in most cases, only give about a day to teaching foundation subjects like PE. At secondary, there is little left in the locker for teaching them about examination syllabuses, for example – so early career teachers simply don’t know how to support their students through GCSEs and A levels adequately. Additional mentoring for trainees and new teachers in their first three years is a key new feature in ITT and the ECF, and it is a positive step. But in reality, the heads I speak to tell me they don’t have the money and their staff don’t have the time (and, in some cases, expertise) to effectively mentor new teachers.


A two-year course would bridge this gap and provide trainees with greater subject knowledge and teaching skills, including in the latest methodologies in adaptive teaching. This would mean they could thrive – not simply survive – in the classroom, and have a


November 2022


genuinely positive impact on their students’ educational experience. Not to mention, making it more likely they, themselves, stay in the profession.


Professional development in schools Once teachers qualify, we urgently need to look at how we continue to support their personal growth and professional development. Teachers are in the business of learning, yet as a sector we are guilty of neglecting our own development. We need a new culture, one that values expertise and ongoing mastery, where training is prioritised and ringfenced because we know too well it is the first thing to go when budgets are tight, as they are now. According to research, the average school


spends between £2,000 and £4,000 per year on training. Once you account for mandatory safeguarding and health and safety training, and the necessary IT courses, it leaves little per head for professional development.


The lack of respect and importance placed on continuous training in teaching denigrates our status as a profession - a key reason why too many top-quality graduates do not join or decide to leave it early. Ongoing training should be mandatory, with ring-fenced budgets for CPD for every member of staff. It pays to invest and build schools full of expertise.


From conversations I’ve had with trainee teachers and school leaders, a schools’ attitude to the professional development of its staff is one of the main reasons why they continue in the job. Moreover, we should incentivise teachers to not only stay in the role but to develop professionally. I firmly believe that with the right initial teacher training, and a genuine shift towards a culture of ongoing CPD we can attract and retain excellent teachers and fix teaching’s broken boiler once and for all.


Emphasis on understanding the student


Good teachers know what makes their students tick. If a new teacher does not understand how a child learns, or indeed what is happening to their brains and bodies throughout their childhood, can we really expect them to master, for example, behaviour management or adaptive teaching? Yet the current model devotes very little time to fostering this. I’d like to see two to three months given over to Educational Psychology, so trainees have time to properly understand the evidence base and go into the classroom skilled to supporting the complexities of the teenage years; or able to unlock the emotional and social development of young children. Get to grips with this, and classroom management clicks. Not to mention a teacher’s ability to create a calm and structured learning environment that supports them to achieve their best.


In my role at NITE, I spend considerable time in schools listening to staff, from trainees to school leaders, about what works for them and what they need. And everything points to better training. In order for newly qualified teachers to have the right foundations for success, and ensuring they join a profession which has ongoing development at its heart. With better initial teacher training, a culture which celebrates ongoing CPD and a new devotion to mastery, we can build a world-class education system – one capable of attracting, and retaining, talent and of doing an outstanding job for young people.


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