Initial Teacher Education

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1.  The NUT believes that high standards in Initial Teaching Education, together with high quality continuing professional development for teachers as an entitlement, should provide the bedrock for the future success of the education system `in England.

2.  Teachers require a good understanding of the developmental aspects of the teaching process and how children learn. This has implications for both initial teacher training and teachers’ continuing professional development, which currently tend to concentrate on the what, or the content and delivery of the Primary National Strategy, rather than the why.

3.  The QTS Standards should enable and encourage newly qualified teachers to undertake curriculum design or innovation themselves. The ability to exercise creativity is often cited as an attractive aspect of teaching as a career and the lack of opportunities to exercise it is frequently given as a cause for leaving the profession. The addition of knowledge about curriculum design within the QTS Standards would not only benefit practice within schools, but also recruitment and retention. Such a Standard could also feed into those relating to developing subject expertise further in the Standards for later stages of teachers’ careers.

4.  The current QTS Standards provide clear guidance to ITT providers, schools and trainees that cultural, social and linguistic diversity is an essential part of the education of new teachers. Standard 3.4 requires trainees to differentiate their teaching with particular reference to more able and SEN pupils, whilst 3.3.5 refers to supporting pupils learning English as an additional language. 1.1 demands respect for pupils’ “social, cultural, linguistic, religious and ethnic backgrounds” and 3.1.2 focuses on the varying needs of “girls and boys, from all ethnic groups”. 3.3.6 requires that trainees “take account of the varying interests, experiences and achievements of girls and boys and pupils from different cultural and ethnic groups, to help pupils make good progress”. This provision could be improved still further by references to issues such as working in mono-cultural and single sex schools.

5.  There is still a need for pastoral aspects of teachers’ work, within the context of Every Child Matters and the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce, to be addressed much more explicitly in the QTS Standards if it is to capture the essence of teachers’ day-to-day work as well as respond to these new policy developments.

6.  Whilst the primary focus of teachers’ work is unquestionably pupils’ academic progress, the QTS Standards need to reflect the actuality of teachers’ practice, which is based on concern for the development of the child as a whole. The QTS Standards could be strengthened further by references to having knowledge about and taking action informed by knowledge of child development. This holistic approach to the whole child is particularly important given the need for the Standards to have relevance to early years teachers.

7.  The Common Core has a whole strand on ‘observation and judgement’, to reflect the importance of such skills in recognising developmental delay or behaviour changes. These would have a direct impact on pupils’ academic progress and, as such, are therefore necessarily part of what all teachers do, although they have received little or no training for it. The requirement within the Common Core that those working with children should “know that development includes emotional, physical, intellectual, social, moral and character growth, and know that they can all affect one another”, would appear to be a much closer definition of what teachers need to know than what is contained within the QTS Standards currently.

8.  Employment-based ITE training routes have become increasingly popular and now account for a significant proportion of all ITE training places. It is clear, however, from the findings of both NUT[1] and OFSTED[2] research, however, that there is significant variation in the type, quality and organisation of training and support experienced by trainees.

9.  There is some evidence to suggest that trainees’ professional knowledge and understanding is not always well developed. In the NUT survey questions which related to training needs, some respondents needed further practical training such as how to plan, assess or differentiate and subject specific content. Among a minority of respondents there was also a need for more theoretical input such as in child development, teaching and learning styles and curriculum studies. This observation would appear to be supported by the OFSTED finding that primary GRTP (Graduate and Registered Teacher Programmes) trainees had a good understanding of the content of the NLNS but not of the principles or research underpinning it.

10.  It could be argued that the GRTP gives a narrower image of the teacher as a professional and that, with a focus on school based learning and access to more theoretical studies from external sources limited, trainees would not always be aware of the importance, or even existence, of gaps in their training programmes. In order to ensure that GRTP trainees are professional educators, rather than ‘technicians’ it is essential to ensure that all trainees have a basic entitlement to theoretical study, which DRBs’ and schools’ current interpretation of training to meet the QTS Standards does not always include.

11.  In primary schools especially, a substantial number of GRTP trainees undertake a full teaching timetable in addition to their training and it is difficult to imagine how training plans could be adjusted to take account of that. It would be extremely problematic for all but the most experienced to take on a demanding full time teaching post whilst at the same time undertaking the necessary reading, written assignments and study specified in their training plans.

12.  The NUT believes that ITE should be as much about acquiring pedagogical skills as developing deep subject knowledge. The decline in the number of first degree courses in primary education, for example, has been a retrograde development in terms of professional knowledge about pedagogy. The decline has been accelerated by the incentives payable to PGCE students that are denied those on four year undergraduate courses. That decline will now be compounded by the new arrangements for PGCE bursaries, whereby a trainee following a secondary PGCE shortage subject course would be eligible for £9,000, whilst a primary PGCE trainee would receive only £4,000. Given average levels of student debt and the buoyant employment prospects for mathematics and science graduates, it is unlikely that significant numbers of such graduates will be recruited into primary education.

13.  These are important factors when considering the contribution of ITE to the overall strategy to improve the quality of teaching. Students on one year PGCE courses receive a basic preparation necessary for teaching, but they do not receive the time they need to explore, in depth, the relationship of the curriculum to the development of children’s knowledge, effective pedagogy, child development and the five Every Child Matters outcomes when compared to four year undergraduate ITE routes. In addition, as valuable as the employment-based routes to teaching are, both the National Union of Teachers and OFSTED research have shown gaps in the provision of high quality mentoring and trainees’ subject knowledge and pedagogy, which need to be addressed in the subsequent CPD offered to such teachers later in their careers.

14.  A false dichotomy accompanied the introduction of employment-based initial teacher training, that practical training experience in the classroom was more important than ‘theory’. It is an absurd dichotomy. Teachers’ theoretical knowledge should, in fact, provide the basis for effective pedagogy. It should provide the rationale for learning and teaching, for classroom management, for child development and for responding to pupil behaviour. An understanding of key research studies and methodology should be seen as essential equipment for teaching and should certainly form part of both ITE and on-going CPD provision.

15.  There is a strong case for Government to review ITE on the basis of whether it should be expanded, as part of the move towards a masters-level profession and integrated with an effective national professional development strategy. The Government should certainly explore whether all post-graduate ITE courses should become two-year programmes, to enable professional matters such as pedagogy to be studied in other than a superficial manner.

16.  Any potential expansion in the length and capacity of ITT courses should, however, be accompanied by an evaluation of the financial consequences for students. Students face a partial and erratic patchwork of financial incentives. These incentives should be reformulated into rational and sufficient grant aid which applies to all students, regardless of which phase they are training to teach in and should include equitable support for tuition fees.

17.  The NUT has been particularly concerned to ensure that a range of distinct ITE routes is available, to ensure that the training needs of distinct groups are met. It is not only the overall targets for ITE that are important, but also how they are met, to ensure that the profile of those accepted on courses leading to the award of QTS adequately reflects the needs of schools in terms of gender, age, ethnic background and location.

18.  The NUT has been concerned for many years at the low numbers of people from minority ethnic communities who are entering the teaching profession. It is not known how many teachers come from minority ethnic backgrounds: estimates range from one per cent to five per cent. However, 12 per cent of the school population in England consists of children from minority ethnic communities. The Union believes that the teaching force should represent the range of population served, and that pupils in schools should see the range of ethnicities found in the community reflected in the teachers working in the school. This both serves to demonstrate to all pupils that all sections of society can hold professional status and authority, and acts as a role model of academic attainment for pupils from minority ethnic communities.

Recommendations:

·  ITE should aim to equip newly qualified teachers with the skills and knowledge necessary in order to exercise professional judgement rather than focus on ‘delivery’ of the National Strategies.

·  The QTS Standards should give more emphasis to aspects of teachers’ day-to-day pastoral work and child development.

·  Action is needed to address the variation in the type, quality and organisation of training and support experienced by employment-based ITE trainees.

·  The current disparity in funding for trainees in the primary and secondary ITE sectors should be addressed as a matter of urgency to increase the number of specialist maths and science teachers in primary schools.

·  One year ITE courses should be extended to provide trainees with time to explore in depth, the relationship between the curriculum and the development of children’s knowledge, effective pedagogy, child development and the five Every Child Matters outcomes.

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[1] National Union of Teachers, The Graduate and Registered Teacher Programmes: National Union of Teachers’ Survey of Members, NUT, 2003.

[2] OFSTED, An Employment-Based Route into Teaching 2003 – 06, HMI 2664, 2007