This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Next steps in teacher training reform
22/09/2003
Ways of ensuring new teachers are
better prepared for life in the classroom and increasing
access to teacher training will be examined during the
second stage of the initial teacher education review, it
was announced today.
The review is one of the key elements
of
A Teaching Profession for the 21
st Century.
It will also help break down barriers
to teacher training and widen access, which in turn will
support the Executive's drive to reduce class sizes in P1
and in S1 and S2 Maths and English.
The review will examine:
· Whether existing teacher
training courses prepare staff as well as possible for
entry into the profession, including preparation for
classroom management and handling discipline issues
· Whether the current
undergraduate and postgraduate courses are the most
appropriate means of delivering training
· How pressures to increase the
breadth of courses and access to teacher training can be
addressed, for example by offering part-time courses and
courses in different areas of Scotland
· How courses can best
contribute towards improving pupils' experience of
education, particularly during transition from primary to
secondary school
· Whether the current thrust and
framework of guidelines, entry requirements and standards
relating to teacher training remain appropriate.
Education Minister Peter Peacock
said:
"As part of our determination to
deliver excellence in all our schools, we must constantly
look to ensure that the needs of pupils are met and that
those who deliver education are properly equipped to
provide the standard of education which our young people
deserve.
Better teachers mean better learning.
"A great deal of reform has taken
place in the teaching profession during recent years but we
must also concentrate on the crucial period of initial
teacher education. It is vital that by the time students
complete their teacher training they feel adequately
prepared and confident enough to embark on the next stage
of their development - their probationer year. That
includes ensuring that they are equipped to deal with
discipline issues and classroom management, as well as
general teaching.
"I want the review group to think
innovatively about the professional needs of teachers and
how current arrangements could be improved, and will be
happy to consider proposals for radical change if that is
what is needed."
Mr Peacock added:
"As I made clear when I launched
Scotland's first part-time, distance-learning teacher
training course in Inverness last month, we also need to
acknowledge that many mature students are unable to
undertake traditional courses because it would involve them
travelling to
institutions in the central belt or
Aberdeen.
This may conflict with family commitments or
entail them giving up current employment.
"If we can extend the range of courses
on offer and the way that these courses are delivered, we
can remove some of the barriers which are preventing mature
students from entering the profession and help make the
education system all the richer as a result.
"
Matthew MacIver, Chief Executive of
the General Teaching Council for Scotland, said:
"This second stage of the review is
very timely.
The newly accredited Aberdeen University
course which has been developed in partnership with
Highland Council points us in a direction which is as
important as it is exciting.
We are all aware that many aspiring teachers
simply cannot afford to give up employement to go on
full-time courses to universities.
We need, therefore, to widen access to help
people who want to be teachers to become teachers.
I am therefore delighted that the review is
going to examine new ways of delivering initial teacher
education.
"The review is also timely and
important because we now have to ask quite serious
questions about what teachers should actually be doing at
certain stages in their career.
We must look at a continuum of professional
development from initial teacher education, through the
probationary period and then throughout the whole of
a teacher's career.
"We hope that this review will look
radically at some of these issues and will encourage
fundamental change as we look forward to creating a new
profession for the 21
st Century."
The two main routes into the teaching
profession are the four year Bachelor of Education (BEd) or
the one year Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE).
In addition, a small proportion of secondary teachers have
pursued concurrent degrees.
Seven Scottish Universities have a
Faculty or School of Education, providing teacher
education: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paisley,
Strathclyde and Stirling. However, there is an increasing
number of mature entrants who bring many benefits to the
profession but who are less able to move significant
distances to attend courses and take available work than
they would in their early or mid 20s.
Last month, Peter Peacock launched the
first part-time, distance-learning initial teacher training
course which is being run in partnership between Aberdeen
University and Highland Council.
News release at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2003/08/SEED261.aspx
One of the commitments in the
agreement
,
A Teaching Profession for the 21
st Century, was to review initial
teacher education. The first stage of the review has
already reported on relations between local authorities and
training providers, and student teachers' placements in
schools.
The full remit of the second stage of
the review is to:
To review available evidence, identify options
for change and make recommendations in relation to the
following:
·Whether the content of existing ITE programmes and
courses draws appropriately on latest relevant research and
prepares new teachers as well as possible for their entry
to the teaching profession through the probationer
induction scheme, bearing in mind their career-long
commitment to continuing professional
development
·Whether the current range of ITE provision,
comprising BEd, PGCE, and Concurrent degree, and the
relative contribution of each, remain the most appropriate;
how pressures to increase the depth or coverage of ITE
should best be addressed and how access might be
widened
·How the structure and content of ITE can best
contribute towards improving the quality of education
around the primary/secondary transition
·Whether the current thrust and structure of
guidelines, entry requirements and standards relating to
ITE remains appropriate.
Considerable evidence already exists
about the strengths and weaknesses of initial teacher
education in Scotland, including the scoping review
recently undertaken by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of
Education (HMIE). The review group will draw on all sources
of evidence as well as their own expertise. Full membership
of the review group will be as follows:
Philip Rycroft, Head of Schools Group,
Scottish Executive (Chair)
Donald Henderson, Head of Teachers
Division, Scottish Executive
Matthew MacIver, Registrar/Chief
Executive, General Teaching Council for Scotland
James Calderhead, Vice Principal,
Dundee University
Pamela Munn, Dean, Edinburgh
University
Hirek Kwiatowski, Dean, Glasgow
University
Roy Jobson, Director of Education,
City of Edinburgh Council
John Mulgrew, Director of Educational
and Social Services, East Ayrshire Council
Sheenagh Wardhaugh, Vice President,
Educational Institute of Scotland
Greg Ingram, Headteachers Association
of Scotland
A local authority representative (name
tbc)
An industry representative (name
tbc)
Teachers Division, Scottish Executive
(Secretariat)