Whither
Teacher Education and Training?
Commenting on the Higher Education Policy Institute’s (HEPI)
report ‘Whither Teacher Education and Training?’, Dr
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers
and Lecturers (ATL), said:
“The HEPI report makes some interesting recommendations
about how we can get out of the teacher recruitment and retention
crisis. We certainly recognise the confusion that the plethora of
routes into the profession is causing potential entrants. The
only way to address this is to work together to respond to the
recruitment crisis, rather than ideological focus on particular
training approaches.
“Addressing retention within the profession is also key. In 2014,
the OECD found that UK teachers rank second from bottom in terms
of their longevity in the classroom, with the average experience
level of a British teacher being 12 years. Ending the constant
reform in schools’ policy, and addressing working conditions,
especially workload, will help.
“ATL is interested in the report’s view on ‘forgiveable fees’ as
we believe that the current bursary scheme does not offer good
value for money. In fact, a recent survey of ATL Future, ATL’s
trainee and newly qualified members, showed that 86.1% thought
that such a scheme would be more of an incentive to remain in the
profession than bursaries.”
