This report by Ofsted looks into how the initial teacher education (ITE) sector has responded to COVID-19 and how the ITE curriculum has been developed. It finds that, while the move to remote education has, in some cases, stimulated deeper and more connected thinking about the curriculum, too few partnerships have a sufficiently ambitious curriculum that is well integrated across the partnership.
It also finds that, despite partnerships’ best efforts, trainees have had much reduced opportunity to teach in the classroom and therefore develop core knowledge and skills, such as behaviour management. Because of this, all trainees are likely to need some additional support in their first year as newly qualified teachers (NQTs), and possibly longer.
There remains more for the ITE sector to improve, particularly in relation to partnerships’ curriculum development. Many partnerships need to develop a more ambitious curriculum that is better designed around subject and phase, more integrated across the partnership, and more informed by up-to-date and pertinent research.
Trainees have had a very different ITE experience over the last academic year. Despite the best efforts of many partnerships, too few have been able to have the full, rounded education that they would normally. In primary, too few have been able to teach SSP, and more generally trainees have not had the opportunity to develop classroom management skills. They will likely require some additional support next year and possibly further into the future.
Key Findings:
- While COVID-19 has been an immense challenge for partnerships and their trainees, the move to remote training and remote teaching has, in some cases, stimulated deeper and more connected thinking about the ITE curriculum. Partnerships have generally either maintained or improved access to the ITE curriculum for those with caring responsibilities, and have worked particularly hard to support trainees in their emotional and mental well-being.
- Too few partnerships have a sufficiently ambitious ITE curriculum. For example, only a minority of partnerships could demonstrate that they had incorporated trainees’ statutory minimum curriculum entitlement into their plans, and very few had gone beyond it.
- Too many partnerships are overly reliant on the experiences that trainees gain through placements to provide ITE curriculum content in subjects and phases.
- While many partnerships have found innovative methods for enabling trainees to make up for lost time in the classroom due to COVID-19, these efforts are unlikely to be enough to provide trainees with full and rounded ITE.
- All trainees are likely to need some additional support in their first year as NQTs, and possibly longer, to make up for COVID-19-related losses.
- The ITE sector must now develop stronger and more ambitious ITE curriculums. This means developing curriculums that are better designed around subject and phase, more integrated across the partnership, and more informed by up-to-date and pertinent research.