When the Teacher Training Agency decided to set up the new information line for Welsh speakers that is to be launched at the conference, it knew exactly where to advertise for bilingual staff - Chelmsford, Essex.
The two Welsh-speaking staff who are now in the TTA’s Chelmsford offices were both recruited through the situations vacant section of the Essex Chronicle.
Mandy Norris of the agency’s Teaching Information Line said: “We knew through contacts that there were Welsh people in the area. One of the people we hired was living in Cardiff but wanted to move.”
The TTA has also said that in future all its literature on recruitment andtraining will be printed in both Welsh and English. But it insists there is no shortage of enquiries about teaching in Wales.
In May, the TTA’s national information line received 1,209 calls from people in Wales. The surge of enquiries followed the announcement that trainee teachers on secondary PGCE courses would receive a training salary (unlike in England, primary trainees will not qualify for a salary next year). TTA: stand 24 The phone number for the Welsh-language information line is 01245 454 456. Ralph Tabberer, chief executive of the TTA, is to speak on the “No one forgets a good teacher” theme on Friday, July 14 at 10.45am
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