- The rigorous criteria for achieving Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) ensures that teachers possess solid knowledge and understanding of educational values and subject matter, and can demonstrate high standards of planning, monitoring, assessment and classroom management. QTS represents a formal set of skills, qualities, and professional standards that are recognised as essential aspects of an effective educator.
- Initial teacher education(ITE) must deliver this by providing trainee teachers with grounding in teaching and learning pedagogy; a theoretical understanding of child development; and practical teaching experience.
- However, the Government’s Teaching Schools and School Direct policies fail to recognise the importance of higher education (HE) institutions in teacher education and are flawed for many reasons:
- They detract from a school’s prime responsibility to provide teaching and learning for children – an NUT survey of members working in Teaching Schools found that the majority did not believe their school had sufficient capacity to undertake their Teaching School responsibilities without compromising educational standards;[1]
- School Direct is an expensive form of ITE – it costs £25,000 to train a teacher in an employment-based route compared to £15,500 for an HE-based PGCE;[2]
- It is not always clear to participants that school-led training leads only to QTS and not to academic qualifications that are fully portable;[3]
- Head teachers are concerned about the increased risks, through the new Ofsted framework, of losing their ‘outstanding’ designation and, as a consequence, the infrastructure for supporting trainees is collapsing;[4]
- The sustainability of this quasi-business model is a challenge for almost all teaching school alliances;[5] and
- In his 2014 annual report, HMCI Sir Michael Wilshaw questioned the quality of teacher training provided in many School Direct partnerships and the capacity of the new arrangements to ensure sufficient numbers of high quality newly qualified teachers at a time when there is a growing teacher shortage.[6]
- Nevertheless, School Direct is now the main school-based training route for teachers. A large majority of the teacher training partnerships inspected by Ofsted in 2013/14were involved in School Direct. Although inspectors saw examples of good practice they also highlighted concerns aboutthe quality of training, particularly on the secondary School Direct route.[7]
- As well as practical training, trainee teachers need the time and space to develop and exchange ideas on best practice in education. The NUT believes that in-depth knowledge of child development, pedagogy and the theoretical aspects of teaching and learning should underpin all high quality initial education for teachers.
- The House of Commons Select Committee on Education agrees, stating in a 2012 report that “we believe that a diminution of universities’ role in teacher training could bring considerable demerits”.[8]
- The loss of postgraduate teacher training places allocated to universities because of School Direct has left some institutions with huge funding shortfalls. It has also led some to abandon their PGCE offer – both the University of Bath and The Open University decided in 2013 to end their courses.[9]
- In a speech on the role of universities in ITE, the Executive Director of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers stated: “For some schools, growing one’s own teachers is an attractive concept, but it carries with it potential risks: training for the here and now rather than the wider system and the future… and a lack of consistency across the country.”[10]
- The DfE itself recognisesthe value of university-based ITE routes. In evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee it noted that “Ofsted ratings of PGCE provision led by universities are positive” when compared with alternative teacher training routes. Indeed Ofsted inspections of ITT providers rate universities much more highly than school-based providers.[11]
- There is substantial evidence that research has a major impact on effective teacher education, and that in turn it improves the quality of students’ learning in schools.[12]
- A report by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (
RSA) concluded that creative, critical and collaborative professionals are required to meet the challenge of diversity and knowledge in the 21st century, and teachers need to be supported and challenged to develop forms of professionalism that meet this need.[13]
- Trainees on university-led ITE courses welcome the QTS requirement to undertake placements in contrasting schools as this gives them access to a broader range of learning contexts, teaching practices, classroom set-ups and learning opportunities. It also enables them to meet teaching staff at different schools and experience a variety of school environments and senior management styles, which in turn shapes their subsequent decisions about where they might like to teach. Training teachers to work across a range of different types of schools and learning contexts is vital as it encourages the qualities of flexibility, resilience and pedagogic reflection that are essential in the teaching profession.
- Government policies will lead to a fragmented system and loss of good high quality provision for teacher education. The current approach to allocating teacher training places does not always take account of regional needs. Whereas the South East and South West of England have a relatively high number of allocated initial teacher education places compared with the number of schools they have that are in challenging communities, other regions such as the North East and West Midlands are comparatively neglected.[14]Investment in high quality teacher education, closely linked to universities, and the expertise which they provide, is what is required to ensure a supply of the best qualified teachers for our children and young people.
- The DfE needs to promote stronger collaborative links between schools and HEIs in the day-to-day support of teacher education and ensure that schools are engaged in ITE in a structured and planned way. There should be appropriate infrastructure for CPD to build on what has been achieved in ITE. The role of universities in this infrastructure should be strengthened.
Produced by the National Union of Teachers
[1] National Union of Teachers, Survey of Members Working in Teaching Schools, May 2013.
[2] House of Commons Education Committee. Attracting, Training and Retaining the Best Teachers. Written Evidence, Million +, November 2011. Available at:
[3]Million +, Who Shall Train the Teacher? The Future of Teacher Education in England: Report of a Roundtable, House of Commons, 19 March 2013. Available at:
[4] Gu, Q. et al (2014). The Teaching Schools Evaluation: Emerging Issues from the Early Development of Case Study Teaching Schools Alliances, National College for Teaching and Leadership. Available at:
[5] Ibid.
[6]Ofsted (2014), Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2013-14, p. 19. Available at:
[7] Ofsted (2014) Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2013/14 London: The Stationery Office, p. 19. Available at
[8] House of Commons. Education Select Committee (2012). Great Teachers: Attracting, Training and Retaining the Best Teachers:Government Response to the Committee’s Ninth Report of Session 2010-2012: First Special Report 2012-13. London: The Stationery Office, 2012. (HC 524, Session 2012-13). Available at:
[9] Emles, J. (10 April 2014), ‘Schools must work with universities to ensure optimal teacher training’, Times Higher Education [online], p.10. Available at:
[10] Noble-Rogers, J. The Role of Universities in the New Initial Teacher Training Landscape. London: Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers. (Speech delivered at the Westminster Forum on Education, 1 April 2014). Available at:
[11] House of Commons. Education Select Committee. Great Teachers: Attracting, Training and Retaining the Best Teachers:Vol II. Oral and Written Evidence . London: The Stationery Office, 2012. (Vol I: Report. Vol. II: Oral and Written Evidence. Vol. III: Additional Written Evidence) Available at:
[12] British Educational Research Association and RSA (2014), The Role of Research in Teacher Education: Reviewing the Evidence.Interim Report of the BERA-RSA Inquiry. Available at:
[13] Thomas, L (2012). Rethinking the Importance of Teaching Report: Curriculum and Collaboration in an Era of Localism. London: RSA. Available at:
[14] Ofsted (2014) Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspection of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2013/14: Schools London: The Stationery Office p. 24 Available at