teacher training | Schools Week

Drop in trainee teachers, and 4 other key findings from ITT data

The Department for Education has released provisional figures for the number of trainee teachers recruited for this academic year. With trainee places for some subjects half or less than half full, recruitment has remained below target in some key EBacc subjects, particularly computing. Design and technology had the lowest number of trainees overall, with nearly […]

Pilot ‘Teach North’ scheme to boost school performance, report demands

The government needs to improve its teacher supply model and pilot a ‘Teach North’ training project to improve school performance in the north of England, a leading academies boss has urged. A review of the role of schools in the government’s ‘northern powerhouse’, by Dixons Academies chief executive Sir Nick Weller, has found that teacher effectiveness is […]

Teach First should shun London to boost social mobility

Training provider Teach First should ditch London and instead place its top graduates into schools in the country’s ten lowest-performing local authorities, says the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. The recommendation formed part of the commission’s fourth annual “state of the nation” report, published this week. It said the government’s current approach to school-led […]

The Slightly Awesome Teacher

This hugely ambitious and passionate book attempts to distil educational research into simple practical tools to help every teacher achieve brilliant results without working any harder. All with a comforting, rather English, self-deprecating title and quotes from Arnold Schwarzenegger. It claims to be the “love child” of four hugely influential books by Doug Lemov, John […]

Unpaid DfE coaching scheme for women teachers criticised as ‘tick-box exercise’

A government scheme to encourage more women to become school leaders has been dubbed a “tick-box exercise” by those involved in the initiative. Launched by the Department for Education (DfE) and National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) nearly eight months ago, the scheme promised to link 1,000 women teachers with 1,000 coaches and school […]

How to be an LGBT+ ally in schools

Posters on walls in schools don’t cut it – it’s how teachers and school leaders deal with specific incidents that really makes a difference, says Annette Pryce. Here’s a story: it’s about a teenage girl who was 14 when she came out at school as a lesbian. After months of verbal abuse and no support, […]

Respecting teachers’ professionalism

Winning friends and influencing people are important, especially when new ministers are appointed and new policies are introduced. Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers was published in 1905 by officials very aware of the strained relationship with the teaching profession as a result of payment by results, which had recently ended. This was their attempt […]

Developmentalism vs mastery: should teachers be ‘flinging mud at the wall’?

Should teachers ‘fling mud at the wall’ or should they follow a mastery approach, asks Heather Fearn There are two teaching mindsets. First, there are those teachers that expose children to the curriculum and assume they will learn it when they are capable. They might suggest a child is not developmentally ready to learn letter sounds; […]

Greening wants trainee teachers to experience more school placements

School Direct teacher training “needs to be longer” if trainees are to get the experience across different schools that Justine Greening has said she wants to see. The education secretary told delegates at the SCHOOLS NorthEast summit in Newcastle last week that she wanted trainees to “work in a number of different settings” so they […]