English and maths are among the subjects that are struggling to attract student teachers, according to Scottish government figures. For maths, 112 students have been recruited for 2017-18 (47 per cent of the target), while English has 155 students (63 per cent). Other low figures - against a secondary average of 70 per cent - include technological education (29 per cent), home economics (54 per cent) and music (58 per cent). There are no student teachers for Gaelic. The government said hundreds more people were training to become teachers following the introduction of a range of new routes into the profession.
Teacher-training charity Teach First appears to have cooled its interest in setting up in Scotland. The organisation has told the Scottish government that it no longer wishes to compete for a £250,000 fund to run a fast-track course into teaching. Doubts about Teach First’s interest grew after every initial teacher education university in Scotland indicated an unwillingness to work with it.
A new “national articulation forum” will promote the mechanism that allows college leavers to move straight into the second or third year of a university degree. Universities Scotland’s Working to Widen Access report, published this week, says the move should help to increase “the range and diversity of articulation pathways”.
Speakers at the 2018 Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) conference will include education secretary John Swinney, fair-access commissioner Sir Peter Scott and Darren McGarvey - Loki the Scottish Rapper - who talks passionately about poverty. Tes Scotland is media sponsor for the event in Glasgow on 22 February.
