Why we should welcome undergraduate teacher apprenticeships

Recent headlines about the Department for Education’s proposed new undergraduate teacher apprenticeship have focused on concerns by some in the sector about the potential for this to undermine the profession. Those concerns are based on misconceptions, and I firmly believe this is a fantastic potential new route to a career in teaching.

The first and most important thing to understand is these would be graduate teachers. They would gain a degree as part of their apprenticeship, which is a great thing – for them and for the profession. Rather than being a threat to teaching as a graduate profession it is quite the opposite. It would be equipping great practitioners with a deeper, evidence-based understanding of how to support pupil learning.

The degree apprenticeship will develop their subject knowledge, shine a light on their practice and give them an all-important graduate level understanding of how to keep improving it. We know from our other degree apprenticeships here at Sheffield Hallam University that this is genuinely high-level, robust and appropriately intellectual as well as practical way to enter a profession.

Degree apprenticeships already exist in professions from aerospace engineering to nursing, and from digital industries to nuclear. There is no reason teaching should not be on that list, and the benefits to the profession are numerous.

The proposed route opens up the possibility for many great people, already working in schools but currently without a degree, to become graduate teachers while in employment. This not only gives them an all-important licence to practice – it also gives them the higher education qualification they deserve.  Not only this, but while studying they continue to stay in employment, meaning they are able to constantly apply their learning to their practice. Pupils are the immediate beneficiaries.

We already know from teaching assistants who take foundation degrees and then top up with the final year of a QTS degree that such people make great teachers. They are some of the most committed, able and effective teachers we train. The experience and commitment they bring (usually alongside an unfounded lack of confidence in their academic ability) makes them a delight to teach. The apprenticeship route would enable many more brilliant candidates to access teaching as they can carry on working. It removes a huge barrier and gives access to people who are already making a brilliant contribution in non-teaching roles and allows them to take it to the next level.

A degree apprenticeship gives so much more time and depth to develop both subject knowledge and theoretical understanding and application. This should be seen as a high-quality route as participants will develop the depth of understanding that is such a challenge on a shorter postgraduate route.

The slightly longer length of study for a degree apprenticeship is a good thing in terms of depth and breadth of study but there must be balance.  It will be important that prior learning can be appropriately accounted for as many likely candidates will have relevant qualifications and other forms of relevant experience. This should hopefully mean that for many the length of study will not be so long as to seem unattainable and become another barrier to prevent great candidates entering the profession.

We need many more great teachers to enter the profession in the coming years and a degree apprenticeship route into teaching seems like a no-brainer. It will remove barriers and open a career in teaching to a diverse range of people who might not otherwise have been able to access it.

For many years, we have talked about parity of esteem between academic and vocational education. Now, we have a chance to model what we mean by it by opening up education itself to diverse forms of entry. This a reform and route we should get behind. After all, ensuring equal opportunities for all is what education is all about.