New initial teacher training (ITT) provider partnerships could be given more time before an Ofsted visit but the Department for Education “cannot guarantee” that they will be last to be inspected, an official said today.
It also emerged that the watchdog will be looking for a “single accountable accredited provider” for each new partnership, with new DfE guidance set to be released next week that will “outline where the accountability should be held”.
There is an expectation that the DfE’s ITT provider reaccreditation process will lead to new partnerships being created as a result of some providers losing their accreditation.
Speaking at the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers’ (NASBTT) conference this morning, Nabil Ali, deputy director of the ITT Market Reform Programme, told delegates that providers will receive the results of the long-awaited reaccreditation appeals process by the end of this week.
Following the conclusion of the second round of the controversial ITT market review, Tes revealed in September that around 25 per cent of teacher training providers could be removed from the market.
A total of 179 ITT providers were approved to continue offering courses to trainees after 99 organisations passed the second and final reaccreditation round.
Providers were then given 15 working days to submit appeals after the results of the review were announced, but Tes revealed that there were concerns around a lack of information and restrictive guidelines on the content of the appeals.
New ITT partnerships could have later Ofsted inspections
Providers that have not been successfully accredited can choose to join a partnership with an accredited provider.
And Mr Ali said today that the DfE wanted to “take into account” that “new partnerships take time”.
“We want to make sure we’re not being unfair to them in terms of inspecting them too early...The key aim here is to have a discussion with Ofsted and let them know when new partnerships are being formed and ensure that is being taken into account in deciding their timing,” he added.
The new DfE guidance will outline that the watchdog will be looking at a “single accountable provider”, and it will set out the deadline by which unaccredited providers will have to join a partnership.
Mr Ali also confirmed that the accreditation process for the ITT sector will open again in 2025-26.
Plans to review the CCF and ECF
Mr Ali also said today that there are plans to review both the ITT Core Content Framework (CCF) and the Early Career Framework (ECF).
He told the conference that there are currently discussions taking place with minsters but the idea was to review the frameworks “together” to “make sure it is more coherent” for trainees and early career teachers (ECTs).
Mr Ali said he did not know the timelines yet but it was important to “make sure that it doesn’t feel too jarring for the market”.
Grants to target possible ITT ‘cold spots’
The DfE has also said there will be grants available for new partnerships with existing delivery organisations, which will be “targeted towards regions where we have reservations on the provision”.
Mr Ali said: “We have lost some large providers and we are aware the providers are looking to work in that area.”
He said the DfE will target these areas “to ensure that we have sufficient provision for any expected demand”.
In October Tes analysis revealed that some regions could lose up to one-third of their teacher trainees after the results of the second and final round of the DfE’s reaccreditation of providers.
Teacher training sector leaders have called for a ”pragmatic and realistic approach” to ensuring that trainees can access ITT courses in all parts of the country, amid falling numbers entering the profession, which was already facing recruitment and retention pressures.
And today Tes revealed that the vast majority of school-centred initial teacher training providers (SCITTs) are concerned that the cost-of-living crisis will lead to trainees dropping out.
