The introduction of undergraduate teaching apprenticeships could be explored amid recruitment challenges, the new school standards minister Jonathan Gullis has said.
Speaking at an event at the Conservative Party conference today, Mr Gullis said he was “not opposed to the idea in theory” when asked what his opinion was on a teaching undergraduate apprenticeship.
Mr Gullis said that he “would like to explore the opportunity” because of the “challenge” of recruitment, but he thinks it would be best to start with the early years and primary sector.
The latest government figures, released at the end of last month, revealed that the Department for Education had missed its target for secondary teacher trainee numbers starting this September by 40 per cent, with the number of secondary trainees accepted onto courses 23 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.
Speaking about undergraduate teaching apprenticeships today, Mr Gullis said: “I am not opposed to the idea in theory. There would rightly be concerns about the level of depth of subject knowledge, partly in key stage 4 and key stage 5”.
But, he said, if an apprenticeship were to be launched, it would be best to start with the early years or primary sector, “because you still have to have the core depth of knowledge, the subject specialism that applies at secondary schools wouldn’t be as high”.
“Teaching an A level these days is pretty much like doing a first-year degree.”
“I would like to explore the opportunity because recruitment and retention - recruitment, in particular - is a challenge, we can’t just rely on the postgraduate route, we have to have variety in the marketplace to attract.”
Currently, apprenticeship is offered as a teacher training route, but only at postgraduate level.
Last week, Tes exclusively revealed that around 25 per cent of teacher training providers could be removed from the market as a result of the initial teaching training market review.
