Universities plan to drop EYT courses

The list of early years initial teacher training (EYITT) providers held by the Department for Education (DfE) has seen the University of Derby and London Metropolitan University removed as providers of EYITT courses for the academic year 2019 to 2020.

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However, a spokesperson for the University of Derby said while the future of the course would be reviewed, a final decision would not be made until May.

A university spokesperson said, 'Our Early Years Initial Teacher Training programme is currently open. The 2018-19 cohort will complete this one-year programme as planned.  However, we are reviewing our programme offer for 2019-20 due to low levels of demand for this course.

'We have contacted the very small number of applicants and interested students to make them aware of potential changes and to give them advice on suitable programme alternatives. A formal decision about the future of the course will be made in May and we will continue to work with the applicants.'

The news comes after the DfE’s latest figures on take-up of EYITT showed the number of students training to be an Early Years Teacher (EYT) had dropped by a third since last year.

In the 2018-19 academic year, 185 fewer people started the EYITT course than in 2017-18.
There were 365 new entrants this academic year, as opposed to 550 the previous year.

Among the providers which dropped the course for this year were the University of Worcester and Edge Hill University in Lancashire, which said it stopped the course due to lack of demand.

London Metropolitan University has been contacted for comment.