A key part of the government’s new teacher training curriculum could lead to the “potential overburdening of schools and mentors” and put more pressure on trainees, the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT) has warned in a new evaluation report.
The Department for Education should ensure it provides “careful planning, communication and allocated resources” to avoid these risks as the curriculum is rolled out from 2024, the NIoT warned as part of its evaluation of the Intensive Training and Practice (ITAP) pilot.
The ITAP is designed to help trainees apply theoretical learning in the classroom more effectively and all providers will have to incorporate it as part of their core curriculum from 2024.
The NIoT created four different models of ITAP for the pilot, which were implemented at the end of 2022 across different initial teacher training (ITT) providers.
Two providers selected were part of the NIoT - Harris Federation and Star Academies - and two were external providers - Huddersfield Horizon and Liverpool Hope University.
The pilot was independently evaluated by Oxford MeasurEd.
The NIoT also developed a five-stage framework to help providers design ITAP models that “bridge pedagogical theory and teaching”.
While the institute has said that the evaluation “found good reasons to be optimistic that the four models were able to achieve the aims of ITAP”, it also said it identified some challenges.
Lack of evidence for best practice
The NIoT said that there was “not a lot of evidence” available to providers “on how best to deliver ITAP which the providers could draw on for their designs”.
The institute said that future evaluation and learning about ITAP should address this issue.
Concerns over ‘feasibility’
The NIoT said that while challenges relating to planning, delivery and participation were resolved during the pilot, there were three challenges to the feasibility of delivery that “may require greater focus in the future”.
These included concerns over the “potential overburdening of schools and mentors, added pressure on trainees and ensuring trainees are given sufficient support to understand how the training content can be tailored to their teaching contexts”.
However, the NIoT said that through “careful planning”, “communication” and “allocated resources for ITAP from the DfE”, these risks should be mitigated.
Barriers to scaling models
The institute also said that there was some indication of barriers to scaling the ITAP, such as upfront investment needed in design, maintaining quality, tight budgets and timelines.
However, it said the evaluation found that the “use of digital solutions aligned with school-based activities, and sharing of learning and resources, could facilitate successful scaling”.
Some concern was also raised in the report about the fast pace of the models and about whether all trainees benefited equally from the ITAP approach.
However, the NIoT said it believes these could be mitigated with “consideration of the design and delivery stages of the cognitive load of trainees and providing signposting to pastoral support”.
The NIoT has advised providers to prioritise avoiding overburdening and securing buy-in from schools and mentors to ensure their contributions to ITAP are maximised.
The institute also said that some providers may have to make decisions on “trade-offs” between effectiveness and feasibility for scaling.
However, it concluded that the “judicious use of digital elements could support here, as would the funding provided by the DfE for ITAP”.
The £121 million government institute, which launched last September, is described by the DfE as “England’s flagship teacher training and development provider”, designed to show “exemplary delivery of the government’s ambitious reforms”.
It was set up after the Schools-Led Development Trust (SLDT) won a tender process to run England’s flagship teacher and leader development and research provider last year to deliver the Early Career Framework, ITT, National Professional Qualifications and the National Leaders of Education programme.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “This report is based on an early and small-scale pilot to help the sector prepare to deliver intensive training and practice as part of their reformed ITT programmes from September 2024.
“We are providing additional funding to support the successful delivery of intensive training and practice and we are monitoring provider’s readiness to deliver; we will consider additional support to the sector if needed”.
