Newly qualified teacher’s survey 2013

Where can I find it?

What is it?

Each year, the DfE invites newly qualified teachers to complete a survey which asks them about:

  1. The quality of their initial teacher training
  2. Their induction experiences
  3. Their employment circumstances

In 2013, around 6,700 NQTs completed the online survey, which is a 20% response rate.

There are a number of questions, generally starting with ‘how good was your training in preparing you to....’and the content covers areas such as – teaching their specialist subject, working with others, establishing behaviour, using different teaching methods, assessing and monitoring etc. There’s a list of these in the appendix for this document.

NQTs rate their training as poor, satisfactory, good or very good for each question. It’s possible then to look at the results in terms of primary/secondary responses; type of initial teacher training route; regionally and in some cases by ITT provider.

Of particular interest to us are the questions:

For primary:How good was your training in preparing you to teach language comprehension?

For primary and secondary: How good was your training in preparing you to teach pupils with special educational needs?

The report then looks in detail at the NQTs responses on the quality of their training and where questions are common, they are compared to last year. It’s also possible to look at comparisons since 2000, although interestingly, 2003 was the first time NQTs were asked about SEN. You can find those here:

What does it say?

NQTs are rating the quality of their training more highly overall, and from 2012 to 2013, there was an increase across all of the 18 questions asked. 90% of primary and 92% of secondary NQTs who responded rated their training as good or very good.

In 2013, 67% of Primary NQTs felt their preparation to teach language comprehension was good or very good. This was a statistically significant increase from 56% in 2012, which was the first time they had been asked.

In 2013, 69% of primary NQTsfelt their preparation to work with pupils with SEN was good or very good.This is an increase from 59% in 2012 and from 40% in 2003.

In 2013, 74% of secondary NQTsfelt their preparation to work with pupils with SEN was good or very good compared to 65% in 2012 and 46% in 2003.

However, it’s important to note that these ratings are lower than many other areas.

Of primary NQTs, 90% rated their training overall as good/very good. Aspects which are rated lower than SEN are working with minority ethnic backgrounds (66%), supporting EAL (58%) and communicating with parents and carers (66%).

For secondary NQTs, 92% rated their training overall as good/very good. Similar aspects were rated lower than SEN by secondary NQTs: working with minority ethnic backgrounds (66%) and supporting EAL (61%)

What does this tell us?

  • NQTs are rating the quality of their training more highly.
  • Of all the questions relating to teaching and learning, preparation to teach language comprehension had the lowest good/very good rating (67%). For example, preparation to teach reading was 80% good or very good and to teach writing was 73% good/very good. This also means a third of primary NQTs who responded felt their preparation to teach language comprehension was either only adequate or poor.
  • There has been a strong increase in NQTs rating their quality of their preparation in relation to SEN since 2003. This went from 40%-69% for primary NQTs; and from 46%-74% of secondary NQTs.
  • However, while this is encouraging, NQTs rate the quality of their training in SEN lower than most other areas of their training.

Any caveats?

The figures are based on a response rate of 20% of NQTs.

Appendix 1

Primary:

Overall quality of training

  • How good was your training in helping you to understand the national curriculum?
  • How good was your training in helping you to teach your specialist subject?
  • How good was your training in helping you establish and maintain a good standard of behaviour in the classroom?
  • How good was your training in helping you use a range of teaching methods that promote pupil’s learning?
  • How good was your training in helping you plan your teaching to achieve progression for pupils?
  • How good was your training in helping you to teach reading including phonics and comprehension?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach writing?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach language comprehension?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach systematic synthetic phonics?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach primary mathematics?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach pupils with English as an additional language?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach pupils with special educational needs?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach across the range of abilities?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to work with teaching colleagues as part of a team?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to communicate with parents or carers?
  • How good was your training in preparing you for your teacher’s statutory responsibility for (the welfare and) safeguarding of pupils?

Please rate the overall quality of your training

  • How good was your training in helping you to understand the national curriculum?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach your specialist subject?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to establish and maintain a good standard of behaviour in the classroom?
  • How good was your training in helping you to use a range of teaching methods that promote pupil’s learning?
  • How good was your training in helping you plan your teaching to achieve progression for pupils?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach pupils with English as an additional language?
  • How good was your training in helping you to teach pupils with special educational needs?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to teach across a range of abilities?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to work with teaching colleagues as part of a team?
  • How good was your training in preparing you to communicate with parents and carers?
  • How good was your training in preparing you for your teacher’s statutory responsibility for (the welfare and) safeguarding of pupils?

Lisa Morgan November 2013