Desperate DfE tells teacher trainers to take all comers onto PGCEs, plus infinite chances to pass skills tests

[noblegiraffe]

The DfE seems to be starting to take some action over the teacher recruitment crisis by telling teacher training institutions to lower their standards.

schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-confirms-itt-applicants-wont-be-assessed-on-suitability-to-teach/

I'll be honest, only accepting candidates with significant school experience does seem a bit bonkers to me, expecting applicants to work as a TA for a year or whatever (as I've seen on MN) is narrowing your pool drastically and for no good reason (says the person who had one day's school experience at interview). But I am a bit dubious about allowing infinite retakes of the skills tests. They're surely not that hard and you do get to prepare for them.

I'd love to be a dt teacher! No marking!

I actually think spending some time in school should be compulsory - or, at the very least in the Staffroom on MN
You actually do need to have an idea of what you are letting yourself in for, or you are just wasting a space on a training course.
No, you shouldn't be expected to teach a lesson to get on a course, but I'd expect some experience in teaching / tutoring / training / coaching somewhere along the line - be it as a Brownie Leader or a football coach or a mentor in another profession.

The left leaning credentials of many teachers would stop me feeling at ease with them

You only want to work with people who vote the same way as you?!
Why do you think teachers are ‘left-leaning’? Maybe it’s because they see at first hand the damaging effects of Conservative policies. When you have children coming into your classroom every day illustrating the inequality in our society, then yes, you can get a bit lefty.
Maybe the politics is informed by teacher experience, rather than left-leaning people choosing to become teachers.
Having said all that, I’ve met a lot of ‘righty’ teachers.

Why do the majority of teachers not vote Conservative? Hmm, it's a real head-scratcher isn't it?

That's a really interesting point about school's-based providers having set the pace on pushing for things like teaching experience, noble. I think you're right. When I was applying for PGCE places, a lot of the school based schemes were aimed at graduates who had been working as teachers previously, and the scheme was pretty much a formality + teaching of (some) educational theory.

Teaching really shouldn't have any issues then because everyone who votes Labour, Green, SNP or Lib Dem (more than the people who are 'right leaning?') should be flocking to do it!

I work with plenty of teachers with rather wishy washy political views (they aren't leaning anywhere)

What a bizarre thing to say!! And actually a recent survey showed a surprising number of teachers do vote Conservative.

I find posters on MN who say they have virtually interviewed a teacher about whether they enjoy their job or not on first meeting a bit odd. I would ass though that hairdressers etc who ask me what I do always then say ' do you like it?' and I am polite, so I say 'oh yes, I love it, The kids are great. ' And I am usually on holiday when getting my haircut! People always say teaching feels like a great job when you are on holiday!

Notwithstanding, I'd like to know what your job your DT guy did before. Of course, some people who change into teaching find it satisfying. On the gourds that something was generally wrong in their previous job.

I don't hate my job and wouldn't put anyone off who wanted to be a teacher. But there are systemic issues recruitment and retention at the moment and voting preferences are not part of the issue.

Plus , I would say we never really discuss politics at school. No time!! We aren't all sitting in the staffroom with our copies of The Guardian you know!!

God no, except the day after Election Day when you can judge the mood by the look on their face.

That's why I come on here to talk politics, nowhere else to do it!

Going back to earlier points, I do agree that the requirements for Teach First and Salaried Schools Direct are tougher (I do know of people who have got places on Unsalaried Schools Direct posts fairly easily, but they are mostly science applicants). I do think that if you are expecting people to pay you a wage straight away, then having some level of experience and commitment is a fair expectation.

I also think the introduction of SKE courses is a good thing. They're giving people who's degrees aren't a perfect fit, or who may have a lot of relevant professional experience a route into the profession. What do others think?

I'm doing an SKE. Mainly so I can get up to A level standard in all three sciences and Maths. I think they're great.

As for the salaried positions, I assumed they were really for people already working in schools (TAs for example). It's the unsalaried SD that I was talking about when I mentioned their outlandish requirements.

The university tutor was much more accepting of my knowledge gaps and was prepared to listen to how I planned to fill them.

Of course the university is motivated by the £9250 fee...

Yes, my experience of even the unsalaried School Direct places were that they had a teaching element in the interview and were looking for people with a great deal of teaching experience.

Still, one shining light in all of this is that because they haven’t got enough recruits, the money set aside for massive bursaries is going spare. Can anyone think of anything useful to do with nearly a hundred million pounds of education funding?

How does an SKE work? Is it online or evening classes?

The SKE is done by distance learning, and you are supposed to commit around 25 hrs each week. There is funding available for shortage subjects to pay the fees and a bursary of £200 a week. This is paid monthly, and the first payment is made once you have logged 100 hours.

In order to pass you do have to complete assignments, but some of these may be useful in the future to adapt into teaching resources (e.g. a powerpoint summary of each topic).

For the record I am doing one at the moment, and finding it very useful as a re-introduction to study. I've got a place to teach biology but my degree was entirely animal based- so the unis I applied to wanted me to refresh my knowledge around plants. I think they're fairly keen for prospective science teachers to do SKE courses, as it also gives you access to resources on the other 2 sciences.

WRT Unsalaried Schools Direct places, some do seem to advertise quite demanding entry requirements BUT from talking to people at interviews etc, it seems like people can get places when they don't actually meet these requirements. I'm not sure if this means they are being set up to fail though?

I agree that the unclaimed bursary money could be put to lots of good uses. Perhaps retention bonuses or long service awards for teachers

The number of people who write posts on MN furious about a spelling mistake in a letter home (not usually even on a child's work), and yet we have people asking, 'What is the point of the skills test?' It's to make sure the people teaching children can spell.

I know plenty of people who have passed the skills test who can't spell!

Piggywaspushed

I'm sure you do. My point is that there are lots of people who believe someone who can't spell one word should be in the classroom (poor standards blah blah) - not sure who they expect to get to teach their kids, since Carol Ann Duffy and Salman Rushie appear to be unavailable, and Tolkien and CS Lewis are both dead

Damian Hinds is going to make a speech today pledging to cut teacher hours and workload www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_staffroom/a3190082-Damian-Hinds-promises-to-cut-teacher-workload-and-hours-to-improve-teacher-recruitment-and-retention

Let's see what he actually does, rather than paying any attention to what he says.

In relation to this, I've seen on another forum that some unis are actually reducing their compulsory work experience requirements for their PGCE courses. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. Work experience in schools is hard to get without contacts BUT it's also good for people going for PGCEs to have some idea of what working in a school actually involved.

Lowering the requirements could just lead to more people dropping out, or finishing the PGCE but not progressing to QTS.