University teacher training leaders have written to the new education secretary today to request an “urgent meeting” to discuss a “reset” of teacher training reforms.
The letter comes amid growing concerns in the sector over the impact of the reforms on new teacher supply.
Writing to the newly appointed education secretary Michelle Donelan today, James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities Council For The Education Of Teachers (UCET), said he was “extremely worried about the implications of the market review for teacher supply and the continued involvement of universities in ITE”.
The move comes after Tes revealed fears that teacher training provider “deserts” could further disrupt the supply of trainees in parts of the country.
Only just over a third of the teacher training providers that applied in the first round of the reaccreditation process were successful.
Speaking to Tes, Mr Noble-Rogers said he hoped the new ministers would “take this opportunity to press reset” on the market review, and “work with ITE providers and their representative organisations” to ensure the sector can “continue to provide schools with the well-qualified teachers they need and give prospective teachers in all parts of the country access to high-quality provision”.
He said it was also important to respect “the integrity and autonomy of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and SCITTs”.
“We need to work together in an open, pragmatic and collegiate way.”
Ms Donelan who was previously minister of state for higher and further education, became the new education secretary of state last night after Nadhim Zahawi replaced Rishi Sunak as chancellor.
In the letter sent to Ms Donelan and seen by Tes, Mr Noble-Rogers said that since the market review began, UCET had “tried to work constructively with ministers and officials” and expressed “legitimate concerns about both stage one and two of the accreditation process”.
He said that if the council’s suggestions had been accepted, they “would have done a lot to maintain the teacher supply base” and been “consistent with the broad thrust of the government’s reforms and with the principle of university autonomy”.
He added that the “key focus” should now be “for us to work together” to make sure that “high-quality provision” is maintained across the country.
Mr Noble-Rogers said that universities should be “recognised” as being able to “offer high-quality programmes” that align with the proposals under the review, “but at the same time allow the scope to exercise a sufficient amount of academic freedom”.
The deadline for the second round of reaccreditations of ITT providers under the market review passed at the end of June, with results not expected until the autumn.
Currently, for the HEIs, desert areas of concern include the Midlands, Lincolnshire and the North East, Tes understands.
The latest figures for ITT applications released by the DfE at the end of last month suggested that the number of trainees placed on secondary school teaching courses was nearly a fifth below pre-pandemic levels.
