In recent years, the proliferation of initial Teacher Training (ITT) routes has made the landscape baffling for the uninitiated. I am often approached by people who are pondering training to be a teacher but are not quite sure which ITT route will be best for them to pursue.
I’ve written here about my own entrance into the profession as an unintentional teacher, and so understand that people come to this decision with varying degrees of understanding about the way Initial Teacher Training (ITT) works in England.
This blog will try to outline some of the questions I think prospective ITT applicants can benefit from asking of providers and of themselves, as they explore the different training routes that are available, by considering the following aspects of ITT provision:
- Ideology and sense of purpose
- Curriculum design and course structure
- Different approaches to the timetable and distribution of teaching-practice and centre-based days
- Role of school-based and centre-based colleagues
Ideology and sense of purpose
A key difference between training routes is the ideology of purpose that underpins the ITT curriculum. Winch, Orchard and Oancea (2015) have described these visions for teacher education as fitting one (or a combination) of the following three categories:
- Teaching as a ‘craft’ requiring a common-sense apprenticeship/ learning on the job approach.
- Teaching as a technical endeavour requiring ‘executive technicians’ to implement research informed protocols that have been designed for them to follow.
- Teaching as a ‘professional endeavour’ requiring reflective, theory-informed practitioners who are able to ethically exercise their own judgement, using their criticality to identify and implement research as appropriate to their own phase/ subject domain and school context.
While most initial teacher training courses are a combination of all three approaches, the ratio of emphasis will vary and influence things such as whether the reading list is predominantly secondary abridged interpretations of key theorists’ ideas OR also includes the original source texts. It matters because, depending on the route a beginning teacher selects, the predominant ideology will impact the kind of teacher they will become and influence their own perspectives on the values and purposes of education and the role of teachers within the system (if you want to think about this more, I’ve written about teacher agency in a previous blog).
Question to ask yourself: What do I think about the kind of teacher I want to be?
Questions to ask of a provider: How does this ITT route understand the role of/ relationship between research/ observation/ practise in developing beginning teachers?
Curriculum design and course structure
Course structure is fundamental to the way you are taught and trained, and it is important for prospective ITT applicants to think through the implications of this for their development as a beginning teacher:
Subject-specific by design – some courses are organised around subject-specific interpretations of an overall curriculum. This means that the learning about theory and practice is primarily undertaken in subject-specific groups. In this model there will be a focus on the subject knowledge and distinctive pedagogical content knowledge and teaching approaches needed to teach that subject-discipline fully integrated into the course. One of the things students often say about this approach to learning to teach is that that they did not realise they would get to learn more about their subject at the same time.
On these routes beginning teachers also spend time learning about the wider professional responsibilities of a teacher, for example managing behaviour, safeguarding, being a tutor etc. These are often undertaken in a cross-curricular group (meaning a mix of beginning teachers from across all subjects offered by the provider).
Phase-specific by design – some secondary ITT routes are taught in a phase specific way. This means that while you will be learning to be a teacher alongside other people training for the secondary school phase, most of the course is taught in a cross-curricular group. This means that pedagogical content knowledge and teaching approaches are taught generically. Subject-specific elements of your role are learnt independently, through targeted subject top-up sessions or on the job through your teaching experiences.
Combined phase/subject by design – some ITT routes combine the primary and secondary phases and teach all subjects and phases together. In this model pedagogical content knowledge and teaching approaches are taught generically to encompass principles that will be useful in a primary or secondary classroom, and with the view that these general principles are valid for all subjects. Beginning teachers and their mentors then take these principles and seek to develop their understanding of the application of these approaches in their phase/ subject. They may also receive targeted subject top-up sessions.
Preparation to work in a range of school environments/contexts ‘v’ preparation to work within a specific school context – some ITT providers will work with a range of different schools in their locality, placing students in a vast array of different school structures (e.g. Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) schools, Local Authority (LA) schools, Free schools, Standalone Academy schools). Other routes will work exclusively with schools in one context, with both placements that make up the ITT year taking place in schools within the same closely linked family of schools. Beginning teachers on these routes area able to transfer their contextual learning between the two training schools more easily, but do not necessarily get the same exposure to the diverse ways that schools operate and design their curriculum, systems, and organisational structures.
Questions to ask yourself: Does it matter to me that I participate in an initial teacher education programme that takes account of the educational phase/ subject discipline I want to teach and/or a variety of school contexts?
Questions to ask of a provider: How is the curriculum designed to take account of the demands experienced by teachers in the distinct phases of education/ different subjects? How does the curriculum prepare beginning teachers to take on the wider responsibilities of a teacher? How varied are the two teaching practice placements beginning teachers experience and how does this help them prepare for employment?
Different approaches to the timetable and distribution of teaching-practice and centre-based days
The many different routes into teaching, and the way they organise their courses to combine in-school teaching practice with centre-based study, can feel really overwhelming. The confusing landscape is not helped by the myths that abound about different routes and the level of school experience beginning teachers receive.
For example, many beginning teachers I encounter have been told that pursuing a university-based PGCE will mean theory only for the first term with less time in school; this is certainly not true in my ITT partnership where students are inducted into their school placement in the first full week of the course. Indeed, all ITT students are required to spend a minimum of 120 days (24 weeks out of the possible 39 weeks of school term time) in two different school settings. Similarly, School-centred ITT (SCITTs), HEI-led ITT (University PGCEs) and Provider-led ITT all include teacher education elements which involve days out of the classroom (in addition to the 120 days), where beginning teachers learn about the theories and practices that underpin teaching and learning so they can put this into practice during their placement experiences.
Some providers will cluster their teacher education days; others will have a consistent day each week where beginning teachers come together to engage with the theory underpinning their experience.
All providers also must include 20 Intensive Training and Practice Days (ITaPs) in their courses – many providers group these into block weeks, but some have decided to separate these out across the year.
Linear ‘v’ spiral curriculum – some ITT curricula will take a linear approach to teaching you the theory of teaching – studying an individual topic which you learn and them implement in your practice in the classroom before moving onto the next one. Others will take a spiral curriculum approach – studying topics and implementing the ideas in practice, before reflecting and revisiting them in a deeper, more integrated way in later phases of the course. For example, courses that have spread their ITaPs out across the year have, usually, structured their courses around a spiral curriculum approach.
Front loaded ‘v’ integrated – some ITT courses will begin with a number of centre-based weeks involving getting to grips with the theory underpinning pedagogy, managing behaviour, core practices and professionalism. Other ITT courses organise their timetable around a more regular pattern, for example having 4-days a week in school and 1-day per week in the centre for the out-of-classroom element of their course. The distribution of these days across the training year can change the nature of the experience of teaching practice consistency and beginning teachers’ perceptions of the support they can access.
Questions to ask yourself: Would I like time learning about key aspects of teaching and learning before I begin gaining teaching experience in the classroom or would I like to get in-school experience early on but with regular centre-based input along the way? Do I understand the potential impact of these different approaches on my development?
Questions to ask of the provider: How is the time in school and time out of the classroom organised? What is the rationale for the way the time is apportioned across the year? How does that help beginning teachers develop and get the most out of their teaching practice experience?
Role of school-based and centre-based colleagues
All ITT courses involve school-based and centre-based colleagues supporting the beginning teachers on their ITT programme. However, the level to which they are engaged in supporting the development of the beginning teacher does differ. For example, within my ITT partnership, tutors work closely with a team of mentors based in local schools in a complementary partnership. The mentor provides day-to-day in context situational guidance, facilitating the beginning teacher’s teaching practice experience, providing support and feedback, and assessing the beginning teacher’s progress against the curriculum and (ultimately) the Teacher Standards. The subject-specific tutor then sits outside the school-context providing a broader-perspective on the beginning teachers’ development, supporting and providing professional development for the mentor to help them in their role, carrying out regular targeted observations to provide additional support to the beginning teacher, providing subject-specific teaching sessions at the centre, acting as a personal tutor to provide pastoral support and supervising and grading academic work and quality assuring the in-school experience.
Not all courses have this same division of roles – for example, the centre-based teaching observations may be carried out by a team of tutors rather than the personal tutor, or the mentor may work relatively independently of the centre-based colleagues once teaching practice is fully underway.
Questions to ask yourself: How might my development benefit from the involvement of a tutor and mentor during my ITT year? If I need support, who could I ask for help?
Question to ask: Who provides support to beginning teachers on this ITT course? What is the role taken by the tutor/centre-based colleague and how does this link to the role of the mentor? If things become difficult in the school context, how and by whom is the beginning teacher supported?
Making a decision
Choosing the right ITT course is a big decision. Teaching is the most brilliant of jobs – incredibly rewarding but also very demanding. The demands of an ITT year mean it is important prospective applicants have the opportunity to explore the courses behind the glossy brochures to work out if they are the best route for their needs. Priming prospective teachers with these questions in the past has helped them to work through this decision. I hope they may help you too.
Where to go for more information:
Get Into Teaching | Get Into Teaching GOV.UK
Find teacher training courses – GOV.UK
Always feel free to contact the Admissions Tutor of your local HEI Teacher Training provider- they will be happy to answer your questions.
Becoming a History Teacher 