10 March 2009

Schools Minister Jim Knight will today announce new steps to build on successful teacher recruitment schemes, to attract more outstanding people into teaching as a new career, and to support the best teachers to become school leaders more quickly.

Mr Knight said that outstanding teacher training applicants could achieve Qualified Teacher Status in six months instead of a year as part of the Government's Working Together Public Service Reform Paper, due to be published by the Prime Minister on Tuesday.

The scheme will further strengthen the teaching workforce, by making it easier for talented individuals to switch career into teaching from other sectors of the economy.

Mr Knight also announced the Accelerate to Headship programme, which will see those identified as future head teachers supported on a fast-track route which would see them gaining positions in school leadership within four years.

Accelerate to Headship, which will be launched by the National College for School Leadership in September 2010, will identify up to 200 outstanding new schools leaders in all areas of the country.

They build on the success of the Teach First and Future Leaders programmes, which have helped more talented people into the classroom and on to school leadership, and have contributed to unprecedented exam success for young people in England.

The new measures will see:

- A new fast-track teaching course for the highest calibre candidates, shortening the length of time it takes to achieve Qualified Teacher Status to just six months for successful applicants;

- The Accelerate to Headship programme which will set out a clear pathway with competitive entry to enable outstanding people to progress to school leadership in four years

Jim Knight said:

"Our investment in teacher training means we have an excellent generation of teachers and I want to build on that success.

"There are thousands of highly talented individuals in this country who are considering their next move, who want to do something challenging, rewarding, that is highly respected and where good people have great prospects. My message to them is to see what they can offer teaching and what teaching can offer them.

"By cutting the initial teacher training course to six months for the most able candidates, we will make teaching a more attractive choice for experienced people who want to get into the classroom quickly but need high quality Initial Teacher Training.

"I am really pleased that the number of people applying to teach science in schools is up 30 per cent from this time last year. Teaching has never been a more attractive career choice, and it will become even higher status as more highly skilled people join the profession..

"I am excited about the Accelerate to Headship programme. It will mean that people with the potential to be outstanding school leaders will have a route which allows them to make swift progress and good support in their development.

"I want to see the best possible people teaching in classrooms and running our schools. Teaching is a career for talented people and these programmes will build on the excellence already in our workforce."

The Department for Children, Schools and Families will consult with social partners and others on the details of the programmes in the coming weeks.

In addition, Jim Knight announced the next stage of development of seven Studio School proposals with the Young Foundation and local authorities in Blackpool, Kirklees, Lambeth, Luton, Newham, Oldham and South Tyneside.

Studio schools are designed to help children of all abilities who are not reaching their full potential in the traditional school environment.

They will work with pupils aged 14-19 and focus on work-related learning. The new schools will offer a range of qualifications through an enterprise-based curriculum, working in partnership with local business to improve their pupils' skills and employability.

Jim Knight said he hoped to announce the first wave of projects in the summer, and that the first Studio Schools would open in September 2010.

The Young Foundation is a consultancy that researches and develops solutions for areas of social need.

Today's announcement build on earlier commitments to:

- Raise the quality of Initial Teacher Training, by increasing year-on-year the numbers and proportion of students taking places with top rated (Category A) universities and other training providers;

- design a diagnostic tool to systematically screen applicants for skills including empathy, communication and resilience, and pilot it with a range of Initial Teacher Training providers, for possible national rollout to all providers.

- Roll-out the new Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) programme to between 4,000 and 5,000 teachers in 2009/10.

Editor's Notes

Fast track QTS - Develop a new fast-track course with competitive entry for those wishing to become teachers, shortening the length of time it takes to achieve Qualified Teacher Status to just six months for successful candidates;

This fast track career pathway encourages career changers with several years of professional experience, in areas such as financial services or high tech industries, especially into shortage subjects like science and maths. It will be one of the options available for those considering teaching through our Transition to Teaching programme.

The details of the course will be finalised over the coming months and may include aspects such as

- An offer of a short familiarisation placement in a school
- Selection for the programme by an 'agent', and recruitment interviews by participating schools
- An initial 'summer school' to prepare for work
- Registration on the Masters in Teaching and Learning course from the outset of the post (once MTL is available, from January 2010), with first two phases of MTL completed by the end of the second year
- Progression to qualified teacher pay scale as soon as QTS achieved

Entry onto the course will be through a competitive, quality focused assessment process. Teach First [which uses an accelerated training period] has demonstrated that shortening the time it takes to become a teacher can help attract new high-quality talent into the profession. The recent Teach First Ofsted evaluation found that half of the most recent cohort achieved the top 'outstanding' grade, while some "were judged by inspectors to be amongst the most exceptional trainees produced by any teacher training route".

Accelerate to Headship (ATH) - a fast track career pathway with competitive entry to enable outstanding people to progress rapidly towards school leadership in four years

AtH will enable those with the highest potential to move rapidly to headship and develop as future system leaders. In 2010, NCSL will introduce new accelerated leadership development provision (Accelerate to Headship) to enable those with the highest potential to move rapidly to headship.

AtH will offer a personalised approach to professional development - participants will receive personal support from a leadership development adviser (LDA) who will monitor progress and ensure that they are on track to achieve National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) within a maximum of four years after joining AtH.

Background

Standards are improving

Standards in education have risen across the board over the past decade. Last year saw record results with 107,000 more pupils leaving primary school with a good level of English and mathematics than in 1997, and 68,000 more gaining five or more good GCSEs including English and mathematics.

Our place in the global rankings has risen: English pupils are now amongst the top five countries in the world for science at age 14, and England is the most consistently high-achieving European country in maths and science.

The number of schools where less than 30 per cent of the pupils achieve at least five GCSEs at A*-C including English and maths has fallen from over half of all schools in 1997 to one in six today.

Ofsted tell us that the quality of teaching has already improved considerably in the last decade. But we have a once in a generation opportunity to raise the bar on the quality of applicants into teaching even further. We need to go even further to remove the barriers to top professionals, including in financial services companies, who want to switch careers moving quickly into teaching.

Our Teach First scheme is one of the top recruiters from Oxbridge universities in 2008 and working in the most challenging urban schools is now perceived as one of the most prestigious things for new graduates to do [9th in the latest Times top 100 graduate employers].

Initial teacher training - Raise the quality of Initial Teacher Training, by increasing year-on-year the numbers and proportion of students taking places with top rated (Category A) universities and other training providers;

The Training and Development Agency allocates places to providers on the basis of their category rating, so the more providers are category A rated, the higher the proportion of students will be taking places with the best providers. From September 2009 employment based training providers will be given category ratings for the first time, which will enable this quality judgement to be made.

Diagnostic tool
TDA will design to systematically screen applicants for skills including empathy, communication and resilience, and pilot it with a range of Initial Teacher Training providers, for possible national rollout to all providers.

Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) Roll-out the new Masters in teaching and Learning (MTL) programme to between 4,000 and 5,000 teachers in 2009/10.

To help fulfil our high ambitions for all children, and to boost the status of teaching still further, we want it to become a masters-level profession.

Our goal is for all teachers to achieve a Masters qualification as a result over the course of their career. This will represent a significant change for the profession that will bring us in line with the highest performing education systems in the world. We are working with our contacts in the unions, professional associations and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) to agree on how to deliver this.

Contact Details

Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

Press Notice 2009/0048