The Scottish government is “shortly” to tender for a new route into teaching that could open the way for initial teacher education to bypass universities, Tes Scotland can reveal.

Teach First - a fast-track route into teaching, long resisted in Scotland - will be able to tender for the new route, which will be aimed at attracting “high-quality graduates in priority areas and subjects”.

The development sheds further light on a pledge in the government’s delivery plan, published last June, which referred to “developing a new route” that would “build on the model developed in partnership with the University of Aberdeen to attract career changers to the profession”.

The move comes as a leading academic has shared findings with Tes Scotland, which conclude that university-based training gives teachers the “critical edge” they need to succeed in the classroom.

Avoiding a ‘tragedy’

The research, by Ian Menter, commissioned by the Scottish Council of Deans of Education, is a sign that battle lines are being drawn ahead of a potentially significant shift in the way teacher education is delivered.

The emeritus professor of teacher education at the University of Oxford told Tes Scotland: “The university contribution provides the critical edge that 21st-century teachers desperately need in order to undertake their challenging work successfully.”

It would be “a tragedy” if Scotland were to introduce a route into teaching that bypassed universities, he said.

His report explores the evidence available from around the world, concluding that the most successful teacher education is based on strong partnerships between schools, local authorities and universities - with the university contribution providing the crucial input needed by 21st century teachers.

The Role and Contribution of Higher Education in Contemporary Teacher Education says such teachers are also better equipped to overcome educational disadvantage - a key focus for the Scottish government.

‘On the cusp’ of change

According to the report, initial teacher education provides “the building blocks for subsequent development, and so it is crucial that it is built on the firmest foundations, drawing on research evidence and on the breadth and depth of knowledge that can be provided by universities”.

Writing in an introduction to Professor Menter’s report, the deans said initial teacher education in Scotland is “on the cusp of profound and far-reaching change”, driven largely by teacher shortages.

Teacher recruitment problems have been plaguing Scottish schools for a number of years and the universities themselves are attempting to tackle this by introducing new routes into the profession, from a fast-track route for teachers of shortage subjects to a new two-year masters qualification.

However, the SNP government has indicated on a number of occasions that it is interested in new routes into teaching “specifically designed to attract high quality graduates into priority areas and subjects”, prompting speculation that it might introduce a Scottish version of Teach First.

In recent weeks, Teach First has been a topic of discussion at the education committee’s inquiry into workforce planning, as well as at First Minister’s Questions.

Meanwhile, the schools of education have come under criticism. In May, student teachers told the Scottish Parliament’s education committee that they lacked the skills to teach numeracy to P7 pupils, and a Scottish government report published last month criticised the “wide-ranging” number of hours that different schools of education dedicated to literacy and numeracy, and other core areas, during their teacher education programmes.

Following the Finns

But Dr Rowena Arshad, head of the University of Edinburgh’s school of education, told Tes Scotland if on-the-job training schemes were introduced, Scotland would fail to create “critical professionals able to adapt to complexity and diverse circumstances”.

She argued the aim should be for more highly qualified teachers and an emulation of the Finnish model of a master’s-level profession.

A government spokeswoman said it was essential that any new route would have to be accredited by the General Teaching Council for Scotland. She added: “The tender will be open not just to universities, but to organisations capable of delivering high-quality teacher education experiences.”

@Emma_Seith