Students who attend “taster” courses in teaching before they finish their degree could get up to pound;600 a year and credits towards future postgraduate training.
The scheme will also allow some to start work in classrooms a month earlier than traditional recruits.
Up to 600 students could be involved in the pound;1.25 million pilots, being developed by six teacher-training bodies working with other universities, education action zones and schools. The aim is to attract graduates who would not otherwise have gone into the profession.
London University’s Institute of Education is hoping to recruit around 100 second and third-year students from three partner universities, and pay them at least pound;20 a day for 18 days of twilight and holiday courses and school placements.
Students who subsequently went on to Institute postgraduate teaching courses would be released in late May for paid school placements as unqualified instructors (prior to confirmation of qualified teacher status). Traditional PGCE recruits do not finish their courses until the end of June or early July.
Professor Michael Totterdell, the institute’s acting dean of initial teacher education, hopes the scheme will bring in more older people and more from ethnic minorities. It is expected to cost only around pound;1,000 more than traditional PGCE routes.
“We are giving these students an opportunity to test out the possibility (of teaching as a career) and, if they are successful, to accelerate the process by which they get qualified. We are really hopeful we are going to get a new cadre of people we wouldn’t otherwise have got.”
A Teacher Training Agency spokesman said the six pilots would be asked to produce evaluation reports by the end of July.
