Vice Chancellors committed to rapid improvement of initial teacher training

Vice Chancellors have signalled their commitment to working with Welsh Government to develop a radically improved system of Initial Teacher Education and Training (ITET).

The commitment was given in a meeting with Education Minister, Huw Lewis, who last month called time on the current ITET system in Wales and said that much more must be done to accelerate improvement in Wales’ ITET provision.

In a meeting with the Vice Chancellors, the Minister set out his plans for a much more collaborative ITET system in the future, focussed on rapid improvement; genuine partnership working with schools and education consortia and informed by best practice.

He also confirmed Welsh Government would be  holding listening and learning summits in December and January to ensure Welsh providers currently accredited to deliver training were  learning from the very best ITET providers from outside Wales, and made clear that those ITET providers committed to delivering provision in the future must attend.

The summits will include presentations from experts at Oxford, Glasgow, Warwick and Sheffield Hallam Universities who will share their experiences of delivering high quality and collaborative initial teacher training.

As part of its work to reform ITET provision, Welsh Government  has already established a Task and Finish group, led by Professor John Furlong, to develop new statutory accreditation requirements for ITET providers.

These will be available  next spring to inform consultation and the Minister has  called on those  ITET providers committed to reform to engage in the design of  new courses against the revised accreditation criteria and professional standards at an early stage to enable programmes to be validated and accredited for delivery from September 2018.

Speaking after the meeting, the Minister said:

“This was a positive and constructive meeting and I welcome the commitment of Vice Chancellors  to work with us to radically transform and improve ITET provision.

“As I said last month we cannot continue as we are and we simply must do more to accelerate improvement in ITET provision across Wales. This is particularly important as we continue with our programme of radical education reform, focussed on driving up standards across the board.

“The summits that we are holding in December and January will allow ITET providers to learn from the very best practice out there.

“ These  summits, along with our  new professional standards and accreditation criteria, which we will release to the sector in draft form next spring, will enable those ITET providers committed to working with us to design and validate much  stronger courses. My expectation is that these will be ready to be taught from September 2018.

“The future landscape of ITET in Wales must  change and I look forward to working with those ITET centres genuinely committed to improving provision by delivering the high quality initial teacher education and training that Wales both needs and  deserves.”