Minister endorses ‘radical plan’ to transform teacher training in Wales

Plans to transform the system of initial teacher education and training in Wales will be set out today by the Education Minister, Huw Lewis.

Outlining the Welsh Government response to Professor John Furlong’s ‘Teaching Tomorrow Teachers’ report that was commissioned by the Welsh Government and published in March, the Minister said the report meant ‘radical change’ for teacher education in Wales.

The new approach includes a revision to professional teaching standards and plans to drive up the quality of initial teacher training courses by overhauling the teaching qualification and accreditation process.

The Minister said the plan needed to be radical to help prepare a ‘new generation of professionals’ with the skills to deliver the major curriculum change Wales is about to embark upon over the next few years as a result of the Donaldson review.

Professor Furlong was asked to look closely at the way current teacher training provision is organised in Wales, at the evidence to support change, and at the measures needed to support a Welsh, world class initial teacher training and education system that can compete with the best in the World.

The Minister said:

“As Estyn recently pointed out, there is a ‘new momentum’ in Welsh education, driven by our ambitious reform programme and focussed on raising standards for every learner in every classroom.

“As part of this work, we need to think carefully about how we prepare newly qualified practitioners for the major changes ahead, such as the new curriculum structure outlined by Professor Graham Donaldson.

“We will need to prepare a new generation of professionals equipped with the qualifications, skills and resilience needed to deliver our reform agenda and build a sustainable self improving education system fit for the future.

“This is going to be a unique departure for the profession in Wales and will require reflective practitioners who have the career long appetite for improving and updating practice.

“Professor Furlong in his  Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers report  set out a series of options for transforming initial teacher training in Wales.

“The steps I am setting out today, together with the plans we have for upskilling the existing workforce through the New Deal, will ensure that those recommendations are translated into tangible action on the ground and result in first class newly qualified practitioners of the future.

“It will be a challenge for professionals to rise this agenda, but there will be support for them too. We want a world class education system built on the enhanced professionalism of practitioners and I see this review as an important piece of the jigsaw in making that happen.”

To take this work forward the Minister has commissioned an internal reference group to engage with the profession,  create a vision for the future and build revised professional standards to develop and support practice for the future.

He has also asked Professor Furlong to chair a task and finish group, including  ITET, Consortia and school representatives,  that will  review the accreditation criterion to ensure that training providers are required to evidence the very  highest standards of delivery before their courses can be accredited.

Other actions   include an independent review of the  financial incentives currently available to  ensure they are the most effective way of attracting high calibre candidates into teaching, considering the introduction of a targeted trainee scholarship programme to support teacher recruitment in STEM subjects, digital competency, literacy and numeracy, and extending undergraduate provision for primary trainee teachers  to four years with the possibility of a Masters element and enhanced subject knowledge relevant to primary teaching.

Finally the Welsh Government will look at alternative routes into teaching and review the Graduate Teaching Programme to ensure it delivers a flexible training route geared to meet demand in areas and subjects where recruitment is difficult.

Professor  Furlong said:

“Initial teacher education in Wales is today at a critical turning point.   As my report makes clear, there is strong evidence that in recent years the quality of provision has deteriorated.

“Fortunately, Wales does still have a large number of individuals and institutions that remain highly committed to the provision of good quality initial teacher education. Now it is clear which options from my report the Government wishes to adopt, I am sure that the sector will seize the opportunities to give Wales the quality of teacher education that it needs for the future’.