While the week following A-level results and "clearing" began with providers of initial teacher training working to confirm that all outstanding conditions have been met, it seemed increasingly the case that significant numbers were contacting them to inform them that they were struggling to meet often a final condition – passing the professional skills tests.

This wasn’t due to the candidates' ability to meet these standards, but due to a lack of available appointments at test centres across their regions. Claims of this grew quickly with more and more providers echoing this concern, leading to calls for urgent additional capacity to be added to the system, perhaps even a relaxation of the time constraints. Some even questioned the need for these tests at all. 

The week ended with a strong rebuttal of the claims that there was a problem, with the Department for Education stating categorically that there was a capacity in the test system and additional sessions were being added daily. However, a statement that 99.6 per cent of candidates were being offered a test booking within 10 days clearly didn't match experiences on the "front line", supported by the growing body of testimony from providers and applicants.

While the numbers may, or may not, "add up", it’s hard for those working tirelessly to increase the supply of teachers, at this time of significant recruitment crisis, to reassure anxious applicants who can’t find that "available" appointment within 10 days, or often significantly more, even if it involves travelling long distances.

As encouraged by the DfE, providers will no doubt be doing their utmost to strongly encourage candidates to book their tests as soon as possible and also to keep checking for new appointments or cancellations. This is done alongside the growing industry in providing support for the tests themselves, with applicants’ progress in taking the tests being tracked from application to interview, on to offer and, hopefully, enrolment. Providers are now increasingly also supporting applicants in locating potential test centres and booking appointments.

'An unnecessary barrier' to teaching

This brings us back to the wider point raised by the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) and many others in the system, questioning the need for the tests themselves. This is also the view of the vast majority of recent students, who clearly must have passed their tests prior to starting their courses and saw them as an additional and unnecessary barrier to entering the teaching profession. We are even seeing examples of applicants who are making late changes of course to similar, non-QTS courses, to avoid taking the tests, especially at the later stages of the recruitment processes. Clearly, this is a personal choice, but at the moment we need all the teachers we can get, particularly those who are assessed at application and interview as having the potential to become excellent teachers.

Given the cost of £25 million, we need to seriously consider what additional value these tests add to the process of recruiting teachers. The ITT criteria require all applicants to have GCSEs in maths and English, or equivalent qualifications. We should have confidence in these established awards, which usually involve at least two years of extremely hard work to achieve, with the standard of these qualifications facing significant scrutiny annually. Providers do also routinely assess and support applicants’ ability and potential in their basic skills, and the development of strong subject knowledge is rigorously assessed against Teaching Standard 3 as part of gaining the award of QTS.

A week is a long time in the world of teacher recruitment each summer, so in the short term let’s continue to support all our applicants with the tests and arrange appointments and ensure we pass on the DfE’s reassurances, making them aware of how they can seek its support if they are unable to book an appointment in a timely way.

Let’s hope that, for the current cohort at least, we see a significant and welcome change in what applicants say about being able to take their tests and we can help them to get over that final hurdle and be ready to begin their courses and future in the teaching profession. The proof of the pudding…

Mark Heaton is the recruitment lead for teacher education at the Sheffield Institute of Education