Risk of Teacher Shortage Due to the Number of Vacant Teacher Training Positions Available in Schools
(PRWEB UK) 2 July 2013 -- Half the places on the government School Direct training scheme remain unfilled for September igniting fears over a shortage of trained teachers for the future.
The School Direct Application System on the DfEs website has indicated that there are still thousands of places available on the School Direct teacher training programme. Schools have accepted only 5,000 trainees out of the 10,000 places the government targeted training schools to fill.
From September, around a quarter of the funding for teacher training will shift from universities to schools. The School Direct programme was launched in 2012 to replace the GTTP. This "on the job" version of initial teacher training has an abundance of places in Science and Maths with less than a quarter of training places for chemistry filled. Overall 823 schools on the School Direct applications website are still searching for a number of trainees to start in September.
The BBC reported that a spokeswoman from the Department for Education said: "The programme is proving extremely popular. By May around 22,500 people had applied for 10,000 places and applications continue to rise. Head teachers are selective and choose only the brightest graduates best suited to their schools.”
Michaela Powell, teacher recruitment specialist and managing Director of Education Recruitment Agency Aspire People said: “There will be fears that if these places aren’t filled, this will create a shortfall of teachers in the labour market. We have already seen a dramatic fall in the number of newly qualified teachers registering with our agency. When attending a recent PGCE fair, only six of the students we saw hadn’t yet found work for September.
“Recruitment of trainee teachers has become increasingly difficult as the graduate labour market has picked up. Yet our education recruitment agency has hundreds of teaching jobs for September. This means we can fill our vacancies quickly with high quality teachers but there will come a point when there aren’t enough teachers, especially if there aren’t enough graduates entering in to the market.
“We are preparing for this in advance and have invested heavily in marketing to ensure that teachers in the west and east Midlands know about Aspire People and choose our business over the other 150 agencies operating in the area."
Russell Hobby, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "Schools are more than capable of leading teacher training, and can provide highly relevant preparation for a career on the front-line of education. The principles of this initiative are the right ones.
"However, the process of getting potential recruits to schools, and of allocating funding and responsibilities, needs to be far better organised than it currently is.”
Mrs. Powell added: “The government need to speak to schools quickly to assess why places haven’t been filled. If it is lack of good quality applications then the government need to do more to promote the benefits of the scheme and what it offers compared to the traditional route of initial teacher training which is studying at University for a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate Education). Graduates want to be inspired and need to know how to get in to teaching and what route suits them the most. Perhaps schools need graduates to have more work experience in education. As the government have axed schemes like the Student Association Scheme this is difficult. In this climate graduates can't always afford to fund themselves through their degree and take part in voluntary work. If schools do need candidates to gain work experience in schools the government need to think about finding ways of helping graduates.”
Head teachers have welcomed the School Direct scheme, but some say applicants have been poorly qualified and the scheme has not been properly advertised.
Aspiring teachers can work in schools as a cover supervisor, not only will you get paid but work can fit in and around your studies. Its a great way to gain experience before enrolling on an initial teacher training course. Aspire People offer free cover supervisor training but you must have a few weeks voluntary experience before applying. For more information on how to get in to teaching head to http://www.aspirepeople.co.uk
Access the BBC Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23134979
Access the School Direct Application System: https://www.education.gov.uk/schooldirectapplications/ui/landing
Cherie-Anne Baxter, Aspire People, http://www.aspirepeople.co.uk, 0121 314 3606, [email protected]
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