teacher training | Schools Week

Ofqual investigates examiners’ experience and background

Ofqual is surveying examiners on their background amid fears from teachers that some lack the experience to mark scripts to a suitable standard. Examiners will be assessed on how long they have been marking papers, whether they have degrees in their subjects, and how confident they feel at the task. The report will be published […]

Teacher apprenticeship providers get fast-track treatment

Thirty-six teacher-training organisations have been approved to deliver apprenticeships after the Department for Education opened a secret application window just for them. Seventeen academy trusts, 11 schools, three universities, three councils and two other organisations were given special treatment after a “disastrous” first attempt by the government to get teacher training providers registered, which saw […]

Train all teachers in attachment issues, says trauma expert

School staff should all be trained to deal with emotional trauma among children in care, according to an expert. New rules that require schools to appoint a specific member of staff to specialise in helping pupils in care are “insufficient”, said Tony Clifford (pictured below), who chairs the Attachment Research Community, who insisted that all […]

Ofsted boss calls for teachers to prove subject knowledge to stay qualified

Teachers should have to prove their subject knowledge is up-to-date at regular intervals to maintain their qualified status, a top Ofsted boss has said. Professor Daniel Muijs (pictured), the watchdog’s head of research, said he supported a “periodic requirement” for teachers to demonstrate they know about the latest research and discoveries in their subject area. […]

Five ways the DfE has damaged teacher recruitment

Teacher training has always been too important to dabble with, as the implications of not getting the very best teachers in front of children in schools will affect the future of our country and society, explains Professor David Spendlove We should all be seriously concerned about the Department for Education’s two recent communications on initial […]

Cash-strapped specialist teacher training hubs struggle to recruit

Specialist teacher training hubs set up to tackle teacher shortages in languages, physics and maths are struggling to sign up recruits. One centre has even begun to target downsizing businesses in the hope that laid-off employees might switch to teaching. The national mathematics and physics school-centred initial teacher-training (NMAPS) programme, led by Wycombe High School […]

Computing teachers to get 40 hours of training to upskill

Computing teachers without qualifications in their subject will receive at least 40 hours of continuing professional development through an £84 million programme announced in the chancellor’s autumn budget. Nick Gibb, the schools minister, has shed further light on the government’s plans to “upskill” 8,000 computer science teachers. In a written answer to a question from […]

EEF seeks schools for ‘rapid-marking’ and handwriting trials

The Education Endowment Foundation is looking for around 500 schools throughout England to take part in four new trials involving teachers “rapid-marking” in maths, and using handwriting techniques that help disabled patients improve their coordination after accidents. The programmes, launched today, have spaces available for 60,000 pupils at 515 primary and secondary schools. The Realistic […]

Why we need more men to become primary teachers

On International Men’s Day, Ryan Stevens argues that we should be doing more to recruit more men into primary teaching As a 24-year-old Primary NQT, there is one thing that separates me from the vast majority of my colleagues: I’m a man. As of the last academic year, 85% of teachers working in primary and […]