A strong advocate for reviving the profession by investing in proper mentoring for all trainees, Professor Sam Twiselton OBE is one of the most influential people in teacher education.
A well-respected teacher-training leader, she is dedicated to improving the experience of trainees right through their studies and into the early part of their careers.
But she was under extra pressure this year when she was chosen to chair the DfE advisory panel tasked with refreshing the initial teacher training core content framework - and bringing it in line with the controversial Early Career Framework, which will come into force in 2021. She also helped shape the government’s new teacher recruitment and retention strategy, which was published in January.
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In other words, at a time when teachers are riddled by anxiety over the future of the profession, Twiselton was responsible for advising the government on how best to recruit and keep them in what is, admittedly, a very difficult job.
When she took on her role as chair of the advisory panel, Twiselton said: “The focus on support for early career teachers (extending the induction period, providing an evidence-informed framework that sets out an entitlement to support, giving time off timetable to do it, with time and support also for teacher educators - all funded) is the most potentially game-changing policy move I can remember - if we manage to get it right.”
It was never going to be an easy feat, and Twiselton has inevitably has come in for criticism, but she has stood her ground.
The true test of the new framework will come in September, but Twiselton is confident big strides have been made in the field of teacher education.
And her optimism certainly shone through when, shortly after the guidance was published, she sent a clear message to her 11,000 Twitter followers.
“This is important. We can make a system-wide change here,” she said.
