Latest NQT inspection results are good news. John Howson reports.
Newly-qualified teachers appear to be better prepared than ever. For the first time, more than half of all NQTs observed by inspectors during their induction year were rated “good” or “very good”.
Only 5 per cent of new teachers in primary schools, and 8 per cent in secondaries, were graded “unsatisfactorypoor” by the Office for Standards in Education. The percentage of “unsatisfactorypoor” NQTs has therefore reduced by a half in primary schools and by a third in secondaries during the past four years.
The proportion of “good” or “very good” NQTs has increased by around 20 per cent in the primary sector and by 15 per cent in secondaries during the same period. It is not possible to determine whether the improvement stems from better methods of selecting would-be teachers or from more rigorous training. The statistics also beg the question: “Are secondary pupils more difficult to teach?”
NQTs who were inspected during the 20001 school year and came via the postgraduate certificate in education route, were recruited on to such courses between the end of 1998 and the autumn of 1999. They represent the last group who trained before the introduction of the training grant in March 2000, and the widespread use of the additional “golden hellos”.
As those who trained on undergraduate courses do not qualify for this support, it will be interesting to see whether inspectors notice any differences between future NQTs who trained on degree courses and graduates who joined via PGCEs. Or indeed, those who gained qualified teacher status in schools via the Graduate Teacher Programme.
The gap between the percentage of “good” and “very good” primary and secondary teachers has narrowed compared with last year despite recruitment difficulties in some secondary courses.
Finally, as the number of teaching posts has increased over the past few years, are NQTs becoming fussier about where they work?
John Howson is managing director of Education Data Surveys and a visiting professor at Oxford Brookes University. john.howson@lineone.net
