INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION: NUT POLICY
STATEMENT 2008
1.
The NUT believes that high standards in Initial Teaching Education,
together with high quality continuing professional development for
teachers as an entitlement, should provide the bedrock for the future
success of the education system `in England.
2.
Teachers require a good understanding of the developmental aspects of the
teaching process and how children learn. This has implications for both initial
teacher training and teachers’ continuing professional development, which
currently tend to concentrate on the what, or the content and delivery of the
Primary National Strategy, rather than the why.
3.
The QTS Standards should enable and encourage newly qualified
teachers to undertake curriculum design or innovation themselves. The
ability to exercise creativity is often cited as an attractive aspect of
teaching as a career and the lack of opportunities to exercise it is
frequently given as a cause for leaving the profession. The addition of
knowledge about curriculum design within the QTS Standards would not
only benefit practice within schools, but also recruitment and retention.
Such a Standard could also feed into those relating to developing subject
expertise further in the Standards for later stages of teachers’ careers.
4.
The current QTS Standards provide clear guidance to ITT providers,
schools and trainees that cultural, social and linguistic diversity is an
essential part of the education of new teachers. Standard 3.4 requires
trainees to differentiate their teaching with particular reference to more
able and SEN pupils, whilst 3.3.5 refers to supporting pupils learning
English as an additional language. 1.1 demands respect for pupils’
“social, cultural, linguistic, religious and ethnic backgrounds” and 3.1.2
focuses on the varying needs of “girls and boys, from all ethnic groups”.
3.3.6 requires that trainees “take account of the varying interests,
experiences and achievements of girls and boys and pupils from different
cultural and ethnic groups, to help pupils make good progress”. This
provision could be improved still further by references to issues such as
working in mono-cultural and single sex schools.
5.
There is still a need for pastoral aspects of teachers’ work, within the
context of Every Child Matters and the Common Core of Skills and
Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce, to be addressed much more
explicitly in the QTS Standards if it is to capture the essence of teachers’
day-to-day work as well as respond to these new policy developments.
6.
Whilst the primary focus of teachers’ work is unquestionably pupils’
academic progress, the QTS Standards need to reflect the actuality of
teachers’ practice, which is based on concern for the development of the
2
child as a whole. The QTS Standards could be strengthened further by
references to having knowledge about and taking action informed by
knowledge of child development. This holistic approach to the whole child
is particularly important given the need for the Standards to have
relevance to early years teachers.
7.
The Common Core has a whole strand on ‘observation and judgement’, to
reflect the importance of such skills in recognising developmental delay or
behaviour changes. These would have a direct impact on pupils’
academic progress and, as such, are therefore necessarily part of what all
teachers do, although they have received little or no training for it. The
requirement within the Common Core that those working with children
should “know that development includes emotional, physical, intellectual,
social, moral and character growth, and know that they can all affect one
another”, would appear to be a much closer definition of what teachers
need to know than what is contained within the QTS Standards currently.
8.
Employment-based ITE training routes have become increasingly popular
and now account for a significant proportion of all ITE training places. It is
clear, however, from the findings of both NUT 1 and OFSTED2 research,
however, that there is significant variation in the type, quality and
organisation of training and support experienced by trainees.
9.
There is some evidence to suggest that trainees’ professional knowledge
and understanding is not always well developed. In the NUT survey
questions which related to training needs, some respondents needed
further practical training such as how to plan, assess or differentiate and
subject specific content. Among a minority of respondents there was also
a need for more theoretical input such as in child development, teaching
and learning styles and curriculum studies. This observation would
appear to be supported by the OFSTED finding that primary GRTP
(Graduate and Registered Teacher Programmes) trainees had a good
understanding of the content of the NLNS but not of the principles or
research underpinning it.
10.
It could be argued that the GRTP gives a narrower image of the teacher as a
professional and that, with a focus on school based learning and access to
more theoretical studies from external sources limited, trainees would not
always be aware of the importance, or even existence, of gaps in their
training programmes. In order to ensure that GRTP trainees are professional
educators, rather than ‘technicians’ it is essential to ensure that all trainees
have a basic entitlement to theoretical study, which DRBs’ and schools’
current interpretation of training to meet the QTS Standards does not always
include.
11.
In primary schools especially, a substantial number of GRTP trainees
undertake a full teaching timetable in addition to their training and it is difficult
to imagine how training plans could be adjusted to take account of that. It
would be extremely problematic for all but the most experienced to take on a
1
National Union of Teachers, The Graduate and Registered Teacher Programmes: National
Union of Teachers’ Survey of Members, NUT, 2003.
2 OFSTED, An Employment-Based Route into Teaching 2003 – 06, HMI 2664, 2007
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demanding full time teaching post whilst at the same time undertaking the
necessary reading, written assignments and study specified in their training
plans.
12.
The NUT believes that ITE should be as much about acquiring pedagogical
skills as developing deep subject knowledge. The decline in the number of
first degree courses in primary education, for example, has been a retrograde
development in terms of professional knowledge about pedagogy. The
decline has been accelerated by the incentives payable to PGCE students
that are denied those on four year undergraduate courses. That decline will
now be compounded by the new arrangements for PGCE bursaries, whereby
a trainee following a secondary PGCE shortage subject course would be
eligible for £9,000, whilst a primary PGCE trainee would receive only £4,000.
Given average levels of student debt and the buoyant employment prospects
for mathematics and science graduates, it is unlikely that significant numbers
of such graduates will be recruited into primary education.
13.
These are important factors when considering the contribution of ITE to the
overall strategy to improve the quality of teaching. Students on one year
PGCE courses receive a basic preparation necessary for teaching, but they
do not receive the time they need to explore, in depth, the relationship of the
curriculum to the development of children’s knowledge, effective pedagogy,
child development and the five Every Child Matters outcomes when
compared to four year undergraduate ITE routes. In addition, as valuable as
the employment-based routes to teaching are, both the National Union of
Teachers and OFSTED research have shown gaps in the provision of high
quality mentoring and trainees’ subject knowledge and pedagogy, which need
to be addressed in the subsequent CPD offered to such teachers later in their
careers.
14.
A false dichotomy accompanied the introduction of employment-based initial
teacher training, that practical training experience in the classroom was more
important than ‘theory’. It is an absurd dichotomy. Teachers’ theoretical
knowledge should, in fact, provide the basis for effective pedagogy. It should
provide the rationale for learning and teaching, for classroom management,
for child development and for responding to pupil behaviour.
An
understanding of key research studies and methodology should be seen as
essential equipment for teaching and should certainly form part of both ITE
and on-going CPD provision.
15.
There is a strong case for Government to review ITE on the basis of whether
it should be expanded, as part of the move towards a masters-level
profession and integrated with an effective national professional development
strategy. The Government should certainly explore whether all post-graduate
ITE courses should become two-year programmes, to enable professional
matters such as pedagogy to be studied in other than a superficial manner.
16.
Any potential expansion in the length and capacity of ITT courses should,
however, be accompanied by an evaluation of the financial consequences for
students. Students face a partial and erratic patchwork of financial incentives.
These incentives should be reformulated into rational and sufficient grant aid
which applies to all students, regardless of which phase they are training to
teach in and should include equitable support for tuition fees.
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17.
The NUT has been particularly concerned to ensure that a range of distinct
ITE routes is available, to ensure that the training needs of distinct groups are
met. It is not only the overall targets for ITE that are important, but also how
they are met, to ensure that the profile of those accepted on courses leading
to the award of QTS adequately reflects the needs of schools in terms of
gender, age, ethnic background and location.
18.
The NUT has been concerned for many years at the low numbers of people
from minority ethnic communities who are entering the teaching profession. It
is not known how many teachers come from minority ethnic backgrounds:
estimates range from one per cent to five per cent. However, 12 per cent of
the school population in England consists of children from minority ethnic
communities. The Union believes that the teaching force should represent the
range of population served, and that pupils in schools should see the range of
ethnicities found in the community reflected in the teachers working in the
school. This both serves to demonstrate to all pupils that all sections of
society can hold professional status and authority, and acts as a role model of
academic attainment for pupils from minority ethnic communities.
Recommendations:

ITE should aim to equip newly qualified teachers with the skills and
knowledge necessary in order to exercise professional judgement rather
than focus on ‘delivery’ of the National Strategies.

The QTS Standards should give more emphasis to aspects of teachers’
day-to-day pastoral work and child development.

Action is needed to address the variation in the type, quality and
organisation of training and support experienced by employment-based
ITE trainees.

The current disparity in funding for trainees in the primary and secondary
ITE sectors should be addressed as a matter of urgency to increase the
number of specialist maths and science teachers in primary schools.

One year ITE courses should be extended to provide trainees with time to
explore in depth, the relationship between the curriculum and the
development of children’s knowledge, effective pedagogy, child
development and the five Every Child Matters outcomes.
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