The government has set aside £121 million to fund its controversial new Institute of Teaching, which will train 1,000 new teachers a year.

The Institute will be funded for six years, opening in September 2022, and will be managed by a “world-leading faculty of expert teacher educators”, a Department for Education contract notice says.

But James Noble-Rogers, head of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), told Tes that “what added value it will bring is unclear”.

Background: ‘Knowledge-based’ ITT for 1,000 teachers a year from DfE

ITT review: Fears of new ‘strict’ teacher training hitting supply

Teacher training: ‘Flood’ of new teachers ‘a risk’, warns DfE adviser

Exclusive: Schools probe on teacher trainee engagement

The Institute will have two “principal roles”:

• Exemplifying how to deliver initial teacher training (ITT), the Early Career Framework (ECF), National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) and the National Leaders of Education (NLE) development programmes as part of one coherent teacher development pathway from trainee through to executive headship and system leadership.
• Supporting other organisations to understand and implement best practice and evidence in teacher development delivery.

The DfE contract notice states that the Institute will begin recruitment in “early 2022”, and “operate most of its core functions” by the time it opens in September of that year.

Institute of Teaching ‘will revolutionise teacher training’

While the first ECF and NPQ cohorts will get underway in the 2022 autumn term, the ITT offer will start with a “pilot”, to be expanded the following year.

The notice says the Institute will not be based in London, although one of its four regional campuses may operate there.

At least one campus must be in the North of England.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson previously said the “cutting edge” model used by the Institute would “revolutionise teacher training” by adding diversity and innovation to the market.

When it was announced in January, the DfE said that, at “full capacity”, the Institute would train 1,000 new teachers a year using a “knowledge-based” approach.

It will also offer training to around 2,000 early career teachers and 2,000 mentors a year, together with 1,000 NPQ participants.

But Mr Noble-Rogers told Tes: “What added value it will bring is unclear, and its potential impact on existing high-quality ITT and CPD provision should be risk-assessed.

“We also need clarity on how it relates to the wider set of reforms being considered as part of the market review.”