Initial Teacher Training – updates and get involved!
From September 2024 there have been some changes to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) for all providers and for schools offering placements and mentoring to support trainee teachers. We would like to thank every school and mentor currently supporting a trainee teacher. This is such important work, securing and developing our future teaching workforce for the benefit of the children and young people in all of our schools, now and over the next decade.
This year, all Initial Teaching Training (ITT) providers are meeting new DfE criteria which require trainees to spend more weeks in school and have more school-based mentoring with well-trained mentors. Intensive Training and Practice weeks in school (ITAPs) will help trainees to gain knowledge and put into practice specific skills based around granular elements of new teacher learning. Whilst some school leaders have been alarmed by the headline requirement for mentors to undertake 20 hours of training across the year, the reality is that ITT providers are delivering this in flexible and creative ways, including online, hybrid, asynchronous, and alongside the regular work of the mentor with their trainee, and so this is much more achievable than may appear at first reading. The benefit of more training for ITT mentors is realised in improved knowledge, understanding and practice for everyone in the team in school supporting a trainee, and everyone talking about teaching – professional development leading to school improvement. Even better news is that there is funding direct from the DfE for the hours of mentor training completed!
We are keen to support the government’s ambition to train an additional 6,500 teachers this year, by doing our part in the South West to continue to increase recruitment to teacher training and retention of our new teachers in their early career years. Five Counties TSHs Alliance is contributing to this through providing that essential continuum of professional development for teachers from training with our region’s ITT providers into their ECT years and beyond, also working with the mentors who skilfully support and develop our newer teachers to help them move from novices to gaining more expertise.
In order to achieve the aim of increasing and sustaining recruitment to our profession, we need to have sufficient capacity in schools, for placements for trainees and the allocation of mentors to work with them. Mentoring is a brilliant form of professional development! Revisiting the evidence base for best pedagogy in a subject or phase, and learning alongside your trainee whilst coaching them to develop the skills to put their learning into practice in the classroom, is rewarding and invigorating! We do not underestimate the time and commitment needed to fulfil this role, but we know what a difference it makes, as our trainees and ECTs tell us how their mentor is the person who makes it possible for them to thrive and succeed and often the difference between them leaving or staying.
Five Counties TSHs Alliance is keen to develop the pool of placements for trainees for all the ITT providers in our region. We have been gathering data from schools over the last year to understand who works with who, where there is untapped capacity and specialist expertise, which schools would really like to host trainees and, for whatever reason, haven’t been able to or haven’t had the opportunity to, and where this overlaps with challenges in recruiting to teacher vacancies.
We know in many areas of the region, particularly in more rural areas, recruiting new teachers can be a challenge. We would love to tap into the potential pools of teacher training recruits in the communities around our schools – support staff, parents, those volunteering in schools, those in school communities and support you with a pipeline of new staff where we can.
We would like to offer ‘Get into Teaching’ open events across the Five Counties region – if your school would like to host, we will work with you to advertise and deliver an event, which could be a drop-in information session after school, or an invitation to spend a morning or afternoon in school observing in classrooms, or a combination of these.
We know a lot of candidates for teacher training would like to spend some time in school before applying or after gaining an offer, before starting their training. Many are keen to volunteer, with reading, play, sport activities, and some are suitable for paid roles as mentors, teaching assistants, cover supervisors, graduate interns, whilst preparing to start ITT. We can help connect your school with these candidates and help coordinate a programme and training.
If this is of interest for you, do get in touch with us if you would like to be involved in Five Counties ITT recruitment, pre-training school experience, placements or mentoring or would like to find out more about our offer.
For more information about the ITT providers in our region do visit our webpage