Lord Addington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Addington on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the announced changes to the initial teacher training criteria, whether the Teacher Standards will also be changed to reflect the increased emphasis on issues such as special educational needs and child development.

Lord Nash

The Teachers’ Standards state that a teacher must adapt teaching to respond to strengths and needs of all pupils, including by having a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils including those with special educational needs; and by demonstrating an awareness of the physical, social and intellectual development of children, and knowing how to adapt teaching to support pupils’ education at different stages of development.

Following a review of the quality of initial teacher training (ITT) by Sir Andrew Carter, the Secretary of State last year commissioned an expert group, chaired by Stephen Munday CBE, to develop a framework of core content for ITT. This will help to ensure that key areas of training identified by Sir Andrew, including special educational needs, are appropriately addressed in the initial training period for new teachers. Stephen Munday’s expert group will report to Ministers shortly.

On Wednesday 16 March, The National College for Teaching and Leadership published an updated version of the ITT Criteria, which combined the statutory guidance and supporting advice into a single document to improve clarity. Some routine and minor amendments were made to the supporting advice to assist ITT providers. These related to safeguarding arrangements, middle years programmes, and secondary subjects that are typically offered in schools in only one Key Stage. NCTL also included advice for ITT providers on the Government’s Prevent strategy.