School Direct
School-led initial teacher training
Helen Woodward
June 2013
Myths and truths…
 What do you know / what have you heard about
school direct?
Key questions:
 Whose responsibility is it to train teachers?
 Who has the expertise?
About School Direct
“School Direct is the new way of training teachers which puts schools, the
employers, the customers, at the heart of the process. With School Direct,
schools can directly request training places. Schools select the provider of
teacher training they want to work with, whether it is a university or a
school-based SCITT. They agree the content and focus of the course
depending on their needs and they can negotiate directly with the provider
on how the money for training should be divided. Most importantly they can
choose and recruit the candidate they want – the candidate their school
needs.”
Charlie Taylor, CEO, National College for Teaching & Leadership
School Direct enables you to…
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…play a lead role in growing and developing your own staff.
…strategically plan and overcome local recruitment needs.
…decide who you want to recruit and train.
…take more control of initial teacher training.
…deploy and employ across your local network of schools.
Your vision for ITT:
 ‘I want school direct because I want to be 100% confident in
every NQT appointment I make and move from good to
outstanding.’ (Brendan Loughran, Head Teacher, Darwen
Aldridge Academy)
Benefits for trainees
“School Direct offers the
experience of a school
from the start, making
teaching a far less
daunting prospect.”
“You are able to embed yourself into the
school more than you would on a traditional
placement, and therefore build stronger
relationships with pupils and teachers that will
help to improve your teaching.”
“This sense of belonging is something which underpins the School Direct
experience. As a School Direct trainee I have access to the full spectrum of
school life. At a basic level, this means that I attend meetings, assist with a
form, perform duties, and teach classes. On a training level, however, this
means that I have access to a whole range of opportunities for
professional development which I can use to enhance my training
experience and my future employability.”
School Direct has two types of
training places
Tuition fee
Salaried
 Trainee is not employed by
the school.
 Trainee pays tuition fees (up
to £9,000) to the selected
ITT Provider (ITTP).
 School/ITTP decide how to
divide funding – as per roles
and responsibilities.
 Eligible trainees can access
ITT bursaries, scholarships
and student finance.
 For career changers with at least three
years’ work experience.
 Trainee is employed by one of the
schools in the partnership – if a
maintained school, the salary is a
minimum of point 1 of the unqualified
teacher scale (about £16k + on-costs) –
no requirement to be supernumerary.
 NCTL pay the school a contribution
towards training costs and salary.
 School/ITTP decide how to divide
funding – part of partnership agreement.
 Trainees cannot access bursaries,
scholarships or student finance.
Funding – 2013/14 (2014/15 TBC)
2013/14 bursaries, scholarships and school direct (salaried) funding
Physics,
Modern
Primary
Other priority
Computer
chemistry,
languages
maths
secondary
science
1
2
maths
specialist
and primary
st
Bursary - 1
£20,000
£20,000
£11,000
£9000
£9000
Bursary - 2.1
£15,000
£15,000
£6000
£4000
£4000
Bursary - 2.2
£12,000
£12,000
£0
£0
£0
Scholarship
See note
N/A
N/A
N/A
See note
below
below
25%
premium
paid
on
the
above
bursaries/scholarships
to
school
direct
FSM premium
trainees whose training is based in a school where more than 35% of pupils
are eligible for free school meals
School direct
(salaried)3 –
contribution paid
to school/ITT
provider
School direct
(salaried) FSM
premium
£19,000
£19,000
£16,000
£14,000
£14,000
10% addition paid on the above funding for school direct (salaried)
trainees whose training is based in a school where more than 35% of
pupils are eligible for free school meals
Other priority secondary: English, Geography, History, Computer Science, Greek, Latin, music, biology, PE
Do you want to join an existing
partnership?
Joining a partnership provides greater opportunities to share
expertise, meet the employment expectation, achieve more
efficient management of a School Direct programme, as well as
economies of scale in negotiations with accredited teacher
training providers.
Lead School Role
The Lead School on behalf of all partner schools:
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Completes the registration on behalf of all partner schools.
Leads development of the partnership agreement across schools.
Negotiates the partnership agreement (including division of funding,
roles and responsibilities and programme design) with the initial
teacher training provider(s).
Submits the ‘request for places’ form on behalf of all partner schools.
Receives all allocations of places from the NCTL.
Leads on recruitment and
“Because of the level of involvement
selection, including liaising with
the ITTP on managing
we have in the planning and delivery
applications.
of the programme, everyone in the
Is responsible for all reporting and network is incredibly excited about
ensuring recruitment is on target.
the potential of our School Direct
programme to create the best
possible NQT’s for our schools.”
ARK Schools, London
Partnership agreements
The following essential areas should be agreed between the Lead School
and initial teacher training provider(s):
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Do you want to award a PGCE or QTS only?
How is funding split between schools and providers?
What should be the process, timelines and deadlines for recruitment
and selection of trainees; school and provider’s lead roles and
responsibilities, process for resolving differences?
At what stage in the process do you expect trainees to have completed
their skills tests?
How much school experience you expect potential applicants to have
before applying?
Is there ITTP support for marketing and recruitment (incl. events)?
Which elements of the training will be delivered by the school and
which by the ITTP, including arrangements for assessment, quality
assurance, subject knowledge training, mentoring/mentor training?
School Direct schedule 2014/15
When
What
Key activities
February 2013 onwards
Registration for 2014/15
•
•
•
Assess how many places you will be requesting
Agree roles and responsibilities across schools
Consider ITT Provider options
June – September
2013
Requesting places
•
Agree ITT provider including division of funding
and partnership agreement
Plan and schedule recruitment and selection
dates
Prepare information about your School Direct
programme and schools (entry profile)
•
•
October 2013
Receiving places
•
•
Communicate to all schools involved
Finalise your information
November 2013
UCAS - Teacher Training opens
•
Promote your places
November 2013 –
August 2014
Recruit trainees
•
Manage applications and decision making
process
September 2014 –
June 2015
Training
•
Co-ordinate training programme
September 2015
Employment
TBC
Audit and evaluation
Timelines
 Submit a short registration form.
 Submit a request for places using the log-in details provided
following registration.
 Provide details on the type of School Direct places (salaried or
tuition fee), phase and number of places being requested on
behalf of the partnership.
 State which accredited ITT provider the school will work with.
 The ITT provider will need to ratify the request for places before
submission, to ensure that they are able to deliver in
partnership with you.
 Schools are required to use the UCAS - Teacher Training
application system to advertise School Direct places and
manage their applications with a 40 day turnaround.
 Conduct a high quality, open and transparent recruitment
process, which will be subject to inspection by Ofsted.
Partnership planning (1/2)
You may want to consider the following tips for planning
partnership work across schools:
 Start early.
 Think about which schools to work with and why – consider
diversity of placements to create opportunities for trainees;
cross phase, special schools, pupil referral units, urban and
rural schools.
 Clarify what minimum entry requirements you/your provider
may have on top of the ITT criteria e.g. academic qualifications,
school experience.
 Be clear about your shared vision and who is doing what – use
this to decide which provider you want to work with.
 Plan together to the last detail.
Partnership planning (2/2)
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Know what you want to do and achieve well in advance.
Meet frequently.
Agree costs and shared resources.
Monitor, review and adjust regularly.
Communicate regularly with everyone.
“Build a larger alliance and get Heads to develop a new vision for how they
find NQTs and why training their own (with a teaching school alliance to
support) will give them better staff in the long term. Go large; make it worth
requesting enough places that you can have a sustainable business with
funded roles for alliance staff rather than doing a small project on good will.”
Hallam TSA
Partnership agreements
The following essential areas should be agreed between the Lead School
and initial teacher training provider(s):







Do you want to award a PGCE or QTS only?
How is funding split between schools and providers?
What should be the process, timelines and deadlines for recruitment
and selection of trainees; school and provider’s lead roles and
responsibilities, process for resolving differences?
At what stage in the process do you expect trainees to have completed
their skills tests?
How much school experience you expect potential applicants to have
before applying?
Is there ITTP support for marketing and recruitment (incl. events)?
Which elements of the training will be delivered by the school and
which by the ITTP, including arrangements for assessment, quality
assurance, subject knowledge training, mentoring/mentor training?
Open and fair recruitment - guidance
As a school with allocated places, these will be publicised via the School
Direct application system. This system is school-led, but final sign-off
and accountability is with the provider.
The recruitment period must be long enough to allow open and fair
access to places and well communicated to applicants.
It is for the network of schools in conjunction with their ITT provider to
determine their own selection and recruitment processes (i.e.
timelines for accepting applications, number of applications to be
considered) based on their capacity/needs etc.
Recruitment activities should be high-quality, open and transparent and
will be subject to inspection by Ofsted. Refer to Section 2 (Recruiting
School Direct trainees) in the Guide to School Direct 2013 /14.
Recruitment (1/2)
 Your website is a cost-effective marketing tool - and the
platform for your marketing strategy.
 Make sure your school website shows School Direct on the
front page, with a summary of your training programme: PGCE
or QTS only? Who you are working with (provider and schools
in your partnership)? Will it be ready for applications opening
in November?
 Ensure funding details are on the website, with links to
bursaries and scholarship information for fee paying.
Recruitment (2/2)
 Consider your ‘unique selling point’. What do you do in key
areas e.g. behaviour management, special needs, English as an
additional language?
 Use feedback and quotes from previous trainees and NQTs.
 Do you have particular specialist areas or geographical links?
 How do you use outstanding teachers and specialist leaders in
education?
 What career and development opportunities can you offer
trainees, NQTs, RQTs, Future Leaders?
 Use school experience placements to hook in future applicants.
Quality matters
There is now an increased emphasis on the degree classification
held by postgraduate applicants to ITT. Here is a snapshot of
the evidence data behind this:
Per cent by degree class for mainstream secondary PG students:
1st class
2:1
2:2
3rd
Awarded QTS
89%
89%
85%
77%
Net employment rates in first year
81%
81%
75%
73%
For more information on this research including degree
classification statistics against provider profiles please visit the
Get into teaching website.
Support from the NCTL (1/2)
Professional Delivery Leads (PDL) in each area can help you find
out more, meet schools that are already participating or help
broker partnership arrangements.
www.education.gov.uk/schooldirectinfo is regularly updated with
advice and guidance, eg. Quick Start Guide; Top Tips; FAQ’s.
Register with us and we will send you regular email bulletins with
reminders about next steps throughout the process.
www.education.gov.uk/sdmarketing is a Marketing Resource Bank
where literature, useful presentations and advertisements are
available to use for your recruitment.
UCAS - Teacher Training (2/2)
Manage your data – it is in your interests to provide a detailed
entry profile that can be used to:
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Link to specific parts of your website.
Target particular groups of students.
Explain your training programme structure.
Outline the decision making process.
Further information will be available on the UCAS website from the
end of April.
UCAS - Teacher Training (Features)
 Applicants will be able to apply directly to School Direct
partnerships and search by the location of all schools in the
partnership.
 The system will enable either the School Direct Lead School (ie
the Lead School in the consortium) or the HEI provider to
process the applications.
There are two stages:
 Applicants will be able make three choices in Apply 1 (the initial
application stage), which will be processed simultaneously.
 If unsuccessful the applicant can move into Apply 2, where
they can apply for any course that has vacancies – at this point
they will apply for courses sequentially.
Contact us
Your Professional Delivery Lead (PDL) contact details are:
 Helen Woodward
 Email: Helen.Woodward@education.gsi.gov.uk
Please don’t hesitate to make contact if there is anything that you
need support with.
Thank you
Any questions?