Baroness Donaghy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Donaghy on 2016-04-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government to what extent they will take account of (1) value for money, and (2) the impact on established training providers, when they accredit new school-centred initial teacher training providers, as envisaged in the Education and excellence everywhere White Paper.
Lord Nash
It is the Government’s priority to secure the sufficient supply of high quality new teachers to the school system. We are committed to increasing the proportion of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) offered by the best schools, while strengthening both university and school-led teacher training, so that ITT provision is properly configured to deliver the quality and quantity of new teachers that schools need.
All accredited ITT providers are required to demonstrate how they will deliver, within the funding available, high quality provision that meets the Teachers’ Standards and is compliant with the Secretary of State’s ITT criteria. In order to secure further value for money, we are expanding school-centred ITT (SCITT) provision with a particular focus on delivering training in priority subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and modern foreign languages, and in areas of the country where recruitment is proving to be most difficult . We will prioritise new SCITT provision that commits to helping meet the supply needs of both the local partnership and the wider national system, such as through multi-academy trusts.
In considering the impact on existing provision, we will prioritise and incentivise the growth of new provision in areas of the country which need it most. We will continue to require potential new providers to consider and take account of the local ITT market, and to demonstrate how the proposed new provision will add to existing supply. We will continue to require careful consideration by new providers of the likely financial viability of their proposed provision, and continue to require clear evidence it will be sustainable in the longer term.
