School Direct Meeting
University of Bristol
23.04.13
School Direct
Context and Background
• 2010: White Paper “The Importance of
Teaching”
• 2011: “The Implementation Plan: Training Our
Next Generation of Outstanding Teachers”
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Minimum 2:2 rule
Bursaries to attract ‘outstanding potential’
More rigorous screening of candidates
Single system of applications
School Direct – as a route into teaching
School Direct Overview
• The principle is that ITE (ITT?) should be
school-led
• The National College for Teaching and
Leadership (merger of TA and NCSL) is
promoting School Direct strongly – Chief
Executive Charlie Taylor
• Schools working in groups will have capacity
and flexibility to run training programmes
• Much debate around the initiative
Allocation of ITE places
• 33,000 trained on average annually
• For 2013-14, 10,000 allocated to School Direct
places requested by schools/groups of schools
• ‘Outstanding’ providers kept allocations
• ‘Good’ or ‘Requires Improvement’ providers
allocated what was left (high impact across the
country on training providers)
• Expectation that School Direct will expand
School Direct Overview
• There are two types of School Direct routes into
teaching:
School Direct Training Programme
School Direct (salaried)
http://www.education.gov.uk/get-intoteaching/teacher-training-options/school-basedtraining/schooldirect?&gclid=CMuq0q2v3rYCFa7MtAod3hcAVA
School Direct Training Programme
• Similar to a PGCE/QTS programme at university
or SCITT:
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Tuition fees
Bursaries
120 days in school, 60 days training
University/SCITT administers and accredits outcomes
– university must be involved if PGCE is part of
qualification since universities are the only bodies
who accredit post-graduate qualifications
School Direct (salaried)
• Replacing the Graduate Training Pogramme
(GTP) employment-based route
• Might or might not offer a PGCE
• Trainee paid as unqualified teacher by school
• Does not have to be supernumerary
• Has to have 60 days’ training paid
for/provided by the school
Features of School Direct routes (1)
• Recruitment is led by the school, though
training partner (HEI or SCITT) has to agree
and recruits must meet training partner’s
current criteria
• Training Programme should be negotiated
between school and training partner
• School expected to employ the student
teacher on completion of the training
programme (though in practice…)
Features of School Direct routes (2)
• ITT Training Criteria apply
• Training partner is responsible for
administration of finances
• Training partner held accountable by Ofsted
for quality training
• Training partner accredits the work and
awards the qualifications
Bids for School Direct places 2014-15
• Expressions of interest from February to June
http://images.tarecruit.education.gov.uk/feedback/SchoolDirect_FutureInte
ntions.asp
Register and request School Direct places between June and
September
October – places allocated
November – applications open – single application process
(new for all of us)
Links to useful documents (1)
• Getting involved in School Direct
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/careers/tr
aininganddevelopment/initial/b00205704/sch
ool-direct/register
• Quick start for 2014-15
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOr
deringDownload/School%20Direct%20Quick%
20Start%20Guide.pdf
Links to useful documents (2)
• A Guide to School Direct (Oct 2012)
http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/15665/1/a%20guide%20to
%20school%20direct%202013%202014%20v0
41012.pdfA guide to School Direct 2013-14
• ITT Criteria and Supporting Advice
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/careers/tr
aininganddevelopment/initial/b00205422/itt
School Direct Pilot
UoB and North Somerset Teaching Alliance
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Recruitment
Selection
Finance
Partnership Agreement
Programme Design and EPS (professional
studies)
• Placements
School Direct and the University of
Bristol ITE Partnerships – ways
forward
• We are interested in working with a range of
school groups to develop School Direct
partnerships
• We already work in close collaboration with
our PGCE partnership schools and expect to
continue doing so, and with others, either
with our university-based PGCE route, or
School Direct, or most likely both
Our Offer – phase and subjects
• Our partnerships offer secondary, full time one year programmes in
the following subjects
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Citizenship
English
Geography
History
Mathematics
Modern Foreign Languages
Music
RE
Science
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
Our Offer
• The current UoB School Direct offer is very similar to
our established PGCE partnership, particularly while
numbers are small (remember what Carol, Sheila and
Jayne spoke about)
• We will be monitoring and reviewing the pilot this year
and next
• If numbers increase considerably, we anticipate being
able to have more flexibility while maintaining the
quality assurance required by the university and the ITT
criteria
• Funding is similar to the PGCE partnership, with the
potential for ‘buy-in’ of school staff
Our Offer
• School staff already play a significant role in the
PGCE Partnership, both in teaching placements
and in university/school training sessions – we
expect this to increase further
• The Partnership Committee is made up of equal
numbers of school and university members. The
committee makes decisions about management,
recruitment, delivery and assessment of the work
of the partnership. Currently, covers the School
Direct programme as well as the university’s
PGCE programme
What the Partnership offers
• A teaching qualification and a PGCE awarded by
the University of Bristol
• A partnership recognised as ‘Outstanding’ by
Ofsted
• Established, stable, high-quality initial teacher
education, valued across the region and beyond
• For student teachers, full student status at the
University of Bristol, including all resources and
facilities
School Direct Training Programmes
2014-15
• To be involved in SD, you will need to register as either
a ‘lead school’ or a partner with a lead school, so
getting together with others is important. You will
need to be part of a ‘cluster’ of schools although not
necessarily a Teaching School Alliance
• Before you register, you would also need a ‘training
partner’ (HEI). If UoB is your preferred partner, contact
Emma Lewis (emma.lewis@bristol.ac.uk)
• Also contact Emma if you are a ‘lone’ school and would
like to find a lead school to work with
Our School Direct partnership – web
link
• http://www.bristol.ac.uk/education/students/
ite/schooldirect.html