Teacher training is now available in school classrooms and on the trainees' home turf. Carlene Hutchinson-Norris reports
This term at Colegrave Primary School in Stratford, east London, we were delighted to welcome the first intake of 41 students on to our new primary level Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).
The school recently became accredited as a School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) provider and is taking the lead in a consortium of 14 schools involved in delivering an east London-based primary SCITT programme. We have four more schools in the area due to come on board at the start of the next academic year.
All SCITT courses lead to qualified teacher status, and trainees have the advantage of learning in a school environment. Teachers based at the schools contribute their initial teacher training and teaching expertise through course delivery and as professional and school-based tutors. Train- ees gain experience at placements in the consortium's other schools.
Local research identified, on the one hand, a shortage of teachers, and on the other, a number of interested, potential teachers in our community who could not afford to pursue a teaching career away from home. So our aim has been to attract these local graduates to our tailor-made course and to provide them with an alternative route into teaching. The course has also attracted trainees from as far afield as the USA, Spain and Ireland.
All our trainees bring varied expertise and experience to the course. They often have established careers as nursery nurses or classroom assistants. While some have degrees in Early Childhood Studies, we also have graduates from more traditional disciplines, such as law and history, who may have only had a few weeks of work experience in a school, but whose enthusiasm makes them ideal applicants.
In addition, all candidates undergo a very thorough interview process to assess their potential as teachers, which includes observing a lesson and writing up the observation.
We have been very fortunate in this, our first year, to have exceeded the target numbers for our intake and to have as many as half of our trainees specialising in early years, in the Foundation Stage or Key Stage 1.
The course content and specialist studies are relevant to the region and address educational issues pertinent to the age range. They include child development, the psychology of learning and teaching, behaviour management, inclusion, gifted and talented, working with children with English as an additional language, and working with refugees and asylum seekers.
Trainees opt to focus on either the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 1/ Key Stage 2. They are all based at Colegrave Primary but spend one day a week on teaching practice at other schools in the consortium. There are also blocks of teaching practice, adding up to 11 weeks, spread throughout the year so that trainees gain experience working with the different age ranges they have chosen.
The course is designed and delivered by experienced, practising teachers to ensure that theory is embedded in good school practice, and the collaboration of the consortium schools provides a solid support framework for trainees throughout. The quality of the schools involved is guaranteed, as they have all had to prove themselves to be leading examples of good practice and committed to ITT.
Teachers involved in tutoring and courses benefit as they become more critical and reflective about their own practice. Involvement brings prestige and professional development opportunities, and the added satisfaction of contributing to the training and development of tomorrow's teachers.
