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DfE extends Institute of Teaching’s remit to 6 years with £121m contract

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The government’s new Institute of Teaching will run for at least six years with £121 million on offer to a potential contractor for the scheme.

Plans for the new institution were announced earlier this year. Once at capacity, the government expects it to train 1,000 initial teacher training trainees, 2,000 early career teachers, 2,000 mentors and 1,000 national professional qualification (NPQ) participants each year.

The Department for Education initially allocated £6 million in set-up costs, and said during a market engagement webinar that any organisation appointed to run the scheme could be freed from their contractual obligations to the government within just four years.

But a tender notice published today states that the contract will in fact last for six years, with £121 million on offer to the successful bidder.

It is not clear how much of the £121 million is for set-up and running costs and how much is for the delivery of training, mentoring and NPQs.

The contract will run from February 2022 to February 2028, with the Institute expected to begin training teachers in a small pilot from next September before taking on 500 the following year.

In the notice, the DfE said it was satisfied that there are “exceptional circumstances related to new and unique nature of the Institute” that justify the longer duration of the contract.

The government wants the Institute to be England’s “flagship training and development provider, giving a new generation of teachers and leaders the expertise they need to drive up standards in our schools”.

The Institute will be led by “a world-leading faculty of expert teacher educators” and base its teacher development “on the best available research evidence about ‘what works'”.

The government has previously said the Institute will attempt to replicate the approach of schools that “combine high standards of pupil behaviour and discipline with a broad knowledge-based and ambitious curriculum”. This has prompted concerns from leaders that the government is trying to force its preferred model of teaching onto the sector.

Today’s tender notice also states that the Institute will also receive additional funding to “strengthen and develop the evidence base on how to train and develop teachers most effectively”.

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