An initial teacher training (ITT) provider, the University of Greenwich, has told the education secretary that discrepancies between Ofsted judgements and the results of the government’s controversial ITT market review are undermining the review’s “validity”.
The University of Greenwich, whose teacher training programme received a “good” Ofsted rating this year, having failed the accreditation process in 2022, has written to Gillian Keegan urging her to review what it describes as an “inconsistent and unfair” process.
Under the market review, ITT providers had to go through a reaccreditation process last year in order to continue delivery from September 2024. Any unaccredited provider that wishes to continue delivery after next year will have to form a partnership with an accredited provider.
Tes revealed last year that 179 ITT providers had been approved to continue offering courses to trainees.
Professor Jane Harrington, vice-chancellor and chief executive officer at the University of Greenwich, and Professor Derek Moore, the university’s pro-vice-chancellor (education, health and human sciences), wrote to Ms Keegan after its ITT provision received a positive Ofsted judgement earlier this year.
In the judgement, Ofsted said that teacher trainees at the university “receive high-quality training”.
University of Greenwich: ITT market review ‘unfair’
In the letter to Ms Keegan, Prof Harrington and Prof Moore point out that all six unaccredited universities that have been inspected since January 2022, when the accreditation process began, “have received either ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ ratings”.
The letter adds that, in contrast, several accredited ITT providers that have been inspected by Ofsted have received ratings of less than “good”.
Prof Harrington and Prof Moore say: “This clear discrepancy raises further concerns about the rigour and validity of the ITT accreditation process in assessing the quality of initial teacher training provision in higher education institutions (HEIs).”
And the letter warns that it is “inconsistent and unfair” that accredited providers rated as “requires improvement” or “inadequate” “are given the opportunity to retain their accreditation through reinspections, while unaccredited providers have been denied such an opportunity, despite receiving ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ ratings from Ofsted in the last year”.
“As this approach is inconsistent with the government’s focus on the quality of initial teacher training and goes against the core British value of fairness, we respectfully request a review of the implementation of these reforms and the accreditation process, allowing non-accredited providers recently rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted to reapply or be reinstated at the earliest opportunity,” they say.
The DfE has said that it will use early Ofsted inspections “if the department is not satisfied following completion of the checks that an accredited provider will be ready by September 2024 to deliver ITT”.
The letter from the University of Greenwich also repeats concerns about the process of the ITT market review, the “significant financial burden” of forming partnerships and “the far-reaching consequences this will have for our ability to support levelling up and disadvantaged students”.
Last year Tes analysis revealed that some regions could lose of up to a third of their teacher trainees as a result of the review.
The DfE has been approached for comment.
