Trainee teachers are being taught how to lead distance learning with their pupils as schools adapt in the face of the Covid-19 crisis, Tes can reveal.
Initial teacher training (ITT) providers who “might have only touched on remote learning in the past” have now begun to “embed it into their programmes”, according to the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT).
Emma Hollis, NASBTT executive director, told Tes that trainees “are now being exposed to training which will support them to understand how to lead distance learning with their pupils”.
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The news comes after expert groups including NASBTT called on the government to “consider the place for virtual learning” on teacher training courses in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
Asked about the inclusion of remote learning in teacher training programmes, Ms Hollis said: “One of the impacts of the pandemic - and the speed at which training providers had to adapt their programmes following the national lockdown - was a need to rapidly get to grips with online technologies and the ability to facilitate teacher training remotely.
“Providers who might only have touched on remote learning in the past have now found ways to embed it into their programmes in a way that many of us could never have predicted.
“Trainee teachers are now being exposed to training that will support them to understand how to lead distance learning with their pupils, and at the same time are experiencing distance learning through their providers modelling a range of approaches to their teacher training provision.”
