A Registered Charity (No 275082)

Promoting Quality in Teacher Education

Minutes of the meeting of the School Reference Group held at 11am on Wednesday 19 October 2022 via Zoom

Present

Chris Buckley

Sarah Emmerson

Spencer Hennessey (Chair)

James Noble-Rogers (UCET)

Keith Perera

Jenny Wynn

Apologies

Jake Capper; Kevin Mattinson.

Minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 May were agreed. On matters arising:

Teaching Schools Hubs (TSHs) were in several cases reported to be planning on working in partnership with accredited ITE providers in the new market, while others had secured ITE accreditation in their own right. Some concerns had been raised about TSHs requesting that schools work exclusively with them on ITE, thus potentially reducing overall placement capacity.

Administrative issues concerning ECF and NPQ delivery were reported with some contracted providers changing training days for teachers at short notice and requiring too many from teachers from the same school to attend training on a particular day. Difficulties were also reported in respect of Early Career Teachers changing school and being left in ‘limbo’ for a period without receiving any ECF support and consequently recorded on official records as ‘not in training’. Improvements to the administration of ECF and NPQs had not been made since the previous year, despite issues being reported.

The roll-out of the ECF was having a disproportionate impact on small subject departments within schools, with resulting reductions on the number of ITE placements offered.

UCET updates

UCET updates covered: the development of a new teaching qualification for the FE and skills sector; the drafting of a new UCET CPD paper, the recent UCET summer newsletter; and the forthcoming UCET conference.

ITE Market Review

The results of round 2 of the ITE Market Review accreditation process had been announced on 29 September. 179 providers were accredited over the two accreditation rounds, while 38 were unsuccessful. 32 existing providers did not apply. 83% of HEIs were successful. Regional teacher supply issues had not been considered during the accreditation process.

The impact on unsuccessful providers, and on teacher supply in the areas they operate in, was potentially devastating. UCET was focussing on supporting unsuccessful providers through the appeal process (and making representations to DfE about the shortcomings of the appeals process) and would continue to provide further support in regards any further actions taken. Workshops would be held in regards Stage 2 of the accreditation process, and to support providers diversify away from QTS provision. DfE was reported to be planning to encourage accredited providers to expand to meet any shortfalls in teacher supply resulting from the accreditation outcomes, despite the difficulties this would entail in terms of OfSTED expectations, finances and the willingness of partner schools to enter into partnerships with new providers.

The future of School Direct (fee-paying) routes was unclear, although all ITE applications would in future be made to the accredited provider rather than to the SD lead school. It was felt that existing lead schools would reduce the number of ITE placements offered if they had less influence over recruitment decisions. Once lost, the expertise of lead schools in ITE would be lost forever and ITE capacity permanently reduced. School Direct (salaried) would cease to exist, with a new apprenticeship-based programme becoming the only salaried route into teaching.

Concern was expressed about Stage 2 of the accreditation process, in respect for example of ensuring consistency and minimise duplication in regards mentor training.

OfSTED, despite the significant public expense this would entail, would continue to inspect providers who would be losing their accreditation in 2024/25. Reports from current OfSTED inspections were mixed, with some providers experiencing professional inspections and others reporting hostile, aggressive and ill-informed behaviour on behalf of inspectors.

ITE delivery issues

The issues discussed were:

Difficulties in securing school placements appeared to have eased, although it was felt that this reflected falls in recruitment to ITE, and systemic issues (such as the ECF) negatively impacting on longer-term placement capacity remained.

Applications to programmes beginning in September 2023 had begun, with one colleague reporting that about 50% of applications had been of reasonable quality. Previous indications of an increase in applications from Nigeria were confirmed.

The change of the apply system with the request for references delayed until the end of the process would make it more difficult for providers to properly consider applications, and would push the delay in securing references from the beginning to the end of the process.

Any other business

Recent changes to DBS procedures could, it was noted, lead to a school rejecting an ITE student for placement despite that student having previously been accepted by an accredited provider based on recruitment processes agreed across ITE partnerships.

Date of next meeting

1 February 2023, via zoom.