A Registered Charity (No 275082)

Promoting Quality in Teacher Education

Minutes of the meeting of the School Reference Group held at 1pm on Wednesday 14 October 2020 via Zoom

Present

Chris Buckley

Jake Capper (Archbishop Holgate School)

Julie Greer (Cherbourg primary)

Spencer Hennessy (Emmanuel College, SRG Chair)

Fiona Hodgkinson

Jan Linsley (YITSA)

Nicola Lyons (Minster School TSA)

Jackie Moses (UCET)

Margaret Mullholland (ASKLL)

Trisha O’Malley (Minster School, Nottinghamshire)

Emma Rodrigues (Yorkshire Rose TLA)

James Noble-Rogers (UCET)

Keith Perera (Inspire & Bosco teaching school alliances)

Brian Rock, Ebor Hope TSA

Samantha Summerfield (Keele & North Staffordshire SCITT)

Welcome & introductions

Colleagues were welcomed to the first meeting of the academic year.

Minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 June were agreed. There were no matters arising not already included on the agenda.

UCET updates

JNR updated SRG colleagues on recent UCET activities, primarily relating to negotiations and discussions with DfE on relaxations to the ITE requirements to be carried forward into 2020/21, course extension funding for deferred student teachers, ITE placement issues and CCF resources.

Regulatory issues

UCET reported that it had (unsuccessfully) argued that both the Core Content Framework (CCF) and the new OfSTED inspection framework be delayed by 12 months to allow the ITE sector to focus on more pressing concerns. It had advised its membership that, while they should plan and prepare for both, their main priority should be in meeting the needs of their students and partner schools. Advice had also been issued about the scope providers had, within the context of the inspection framework, to cover approaches to the teaching of early reading other than systematic synthetic phonics. Some doubts were expressed about whether ITE inspections would actually begin in January 2021 as planned. Reports were give of some positive reactions to OfSTED visits to schools short of inspection that had taken place that term.

Covid 19

The following points were raised about the implications of Covid 19 and the response of the sector:

Second school placements had been curtailed by some providers. Paired placements were increasingly being used. Schools were in some instances withdrawing from placements at short notice in response to spikes in infections. Parental concerns about students being in school were also starting to have an impact. Schools impacted directly by Covid had particular issues re placement capacity.

In one case all placements had taken place during the second term to prevent cross-contamination between HE and school settings.

Different ITE providers had different policies in regards to the centre-based face to face teaching of student teachers. This could make things complicated for schools working in partnership with different providers.

Partnerships and placements were holding firm so far, but the situation was evolving. Some schools were welcoming student teachers as a valuable resource.

On-line observations of student teachers had worked well, with recordings of lessons sometimes being made, albeit with the faces of pupils ‘blurred’. Parents were sometimes asked to agree at the beginning of the year that recordings could be made. Remote observation was however less appropriate in early years settings. .

Observation of discussions between mentors and student teachers could prove as useful and informative as lesson observations.

DfE advice to schools on the benefits of offering placements, and Julie Greer’s and Margaret Mullholland’s Collective Ed think-piece, had both been helpful. It was understood that further DfE encouragement to schools was on its way.

Carrying out robust risk assessments, taking account of a variety of factors (e.g. students living in houses of multiple occupancy) were essential.

A ‘family of mentors’ model, in which different people in the school have different responsibilities to support the learning of student teachers, was suggested.

Recruitment to ITE

Interviews (including pre-interview tasks and presentations) for 2020/21 recruits had, since March, all taken place on-line. This had generally worked well but might not be as good for School Direct applicants. There was a fear that not all those now applying to enter the profession were genuinely committed. Applications for 2021/22 had only opened that day and patterns had yet to emerge, although reports were given of early interest in regards PE.

Significant concern was expressed about the implications of the previous day’s announcement on ITE bursaries for 2021/22, for which funding had been cut by about 50%. This would have a significant impact on both recruitment and retention, with particular consequences for schools in remote and rural areas.

Teaching School Hubs

Applications to become one of the 87 new teaching school hubs had to be submitted by 30 October. Concerns remained about whether some schools involved in ITE, especially those with small SD cohorts, would be able to survive with the loss of previous teaching school income. It was however felt that in order to fulfil their role, which was likely to focus on the ECF and NPQs, the new hubs would have to work collaboratively with other partners. It was agreed to invite TSC chair Richard Gill to attend the next meeting.

Early Career Framework

The invitation to tender for the national roll-out of the ECF had been issued, and ECF providers were scheduled to meet with the new Teaching School hubs in March 2021. In regards the ECF pilots, reports were given of infrastructure and delivery problems, although the ECF resources themselves were praised.

Items for information

The group noted:

Detail of the 3-4 November on-line UCET conference (registration at: www.ucet/conference)

The new UCET strategic plan.

The summer 2020 UCET newsletter.

Any other business

The group’s attention was brought to the new book from Julie Greer: ‘essential Guides for Early Career Teachers: workload, taking control of your teaching’ (Critical Publishing)

Date of next meeting

3 February 2021, via Zoom.