A campaign to ‘crowd fund’ the new College of Teaching is on course for a disappointing failure when it closes on Thursday, TES can reveal.

It had been hoped that 1,000 donors would have signed up by the end of Thursday. But at the moment, the total stands at just 204.

Fundraising goal missed

A financial goal of raising £250,000 will also be missed - by more than 90 per cent - as so far, only £20,726 has been pledged.

It was hoped that the crowd fund would pay to release approximately 500 days of teachers’ time to help work on the new college.

As the target was not met, none of the money that was pledged will be taken, and there will be no relief for the teachers currently volunteering alongside their day jobs.

‘Teachers want to be involved’

But the chair of the college, Claire Dockar, remains upbeat about its long term prospects. “Teachers want to be involved in it,” she told TES.

The crowdfunding campaign got underway in September after a survey of 13,000 teachers, commissioned by the college, found that just under a third would be willing to contribute financially to a campaign to support it.

A statement from the College’s founding trustees said: “Over 20,000 teachers have been reached through the campaign and whilst there is continued interest and appetite for the College, teachers have told us they want more detailed information about what the College will offer members before they commit funds.

“We have listened to that feedback and are concentrating on launching the membership offer in the Autumn.”

Teachers have until the end of the month to participate in the the Big Staff Meeting survey, a national consultation on what the profession wants from its college.

For more on this story, see the 26 February issue of TES magazine. This week’s TES magazine will be available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here

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