International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
part time as well as full time routes. These programmes involve both an academic element that is assessed and
awarded by the accredited provider (e.g. university), with the PGCE carrying Masters Level credits, and a
professional element of QTS. This is assessed against the professional Teachers’ Standards as set out by the
Department for Education. These outline the minimum requirements for teachers’ practice and conduct (DfE,
2012).
Historically, those choosing to undertake an ITE programme based almost entirely in school have had the choice
of applying for a school based programme operated by a SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) or
EBITT (Employment Based Initial Teacher Training). EBITT pathways have included the Graduate Teacher
Programme (GTP); Overseas Trained Teacher Programme (OTTP); and Teach First (TF). There was also, the
Registered Teacher Programme (RTP), similar to the GTP, but for non-graduates. The RTP, GTP and OTTP led
to qualified teacher status (QTS), but not necessarily a PGCE, this being the academic qualification as well as
QTS. These routes essentially involved training to teach whilst being employed by the school as an unqualified
teacher, following an individual programme of training to achieve QTS. Recent government policy has led to a
change in employment based provision with the closure of GTP, RTP and OTTP routes and the emergence of
School Direct, the government’s preferred school based route leading to QTS. The Secretary of State for
Education, Michael Gove (2012) suggested,
The idea is a simple one: take the very best schools, ones that are already working towards improving
other schools, and put them in charge of teacher training and professional development for the whole
system.
There are two School Direct training options. Firstly, training programme where the student teacher is based
predominantly in school for their training but is supernumerary and is eligible for a bursary or scholarship to
support them. Secondly, a salaried route which provides an employment-based route for high-quality
experienced graduates with at least three years’ work experience, who earn a salary whilst training and are
expected to have some teaching responsibility. Whilst many on School Direct programmes will complete a
PGCE, which includes both academic qualification and recommendation for QTS, there is a growing trend for
QTS only programmes and Assessment only routes, which give trainee teachers the QTS they need to become a
teacher but not the academic qualification.
Government allocations for teacher training published in November 2013 (National College for Teaching &
Leadership, 2013) indicated clearly the government policy to shift teacher training into schools. Figures showed
that 41,100 teachers would be trained in the year starting September 2014, rising from 38,900 in September
2013. Of this number the government intends that 15,400 will be trained via the School Direct route, an increase
from 9,600 in the last year, representing an increase from 25% to 37%. Numbers trained on the postgraduate
university route will fall from 20,000 this year to 16,200 in 2014.
Whichever route is undertaken to become a qualified teacher there is extensive time spent in a school
environment. For example on a typical university based secondary or primary PGCE programme student
teachers are based in schools for 120 days out of the 180 day programme with the other 60 days typically spent
in university for academic study and training. This is a change from the model of the 1980’s where the PGCE
generally involved just two 6 week school placements over the year. The university has overall responsibility for
the training programme and quality assurance mechanisms. University staff work in partnership with school
staff to ensure the development of a coherent and consistent programme of training for student teachers that
integrates theory with practice and supports their development as reflective practitioners.
University staff and school staff have both specific and shared roles and responsibilities that provide a blended
model of training. For example, university staff act as link tutors when student teachers are on school
placements to support school mentors in implementing the training programme in schools.
Whilst there may be different routes into teaching there are common ITT criteria (NCTL, 2013), common
professional standards to meet (DfE, 2012) and a common framework for quality assurance (Ofsted, 2014).
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