There is nothing the Diary likes better than kicking off the shoes, and lounging on the sofa with a pipe and that most engrossing publication TTA News, mouthpiece of the Teacher Training Agency.
The latest issue is a masterpiece of bureaucratese, leading with an announcement that the TTA will be soon renaming itself as the TDA (Teacher Development Agency for Schools). It is not clear just how much the crucial change of letter will cost in redesigned logos and replacement stationery but rest assured that the contracts of “stakeholders” will be unchanged, there will be a “roll-out” of “pre-ITT modern languages (ML) extension courses”, and the agency will set up a new “TTA-funded web portal” to make the “ITT knowledge base more accessible”. There will also be a new “provider perception survey” and massive expansion of the “HLTA programme”, which last year awarded 742 people “HLTA status after being assessed against the HLTA standards”.
But it was this item that caught our eye: “The TTA has signed up to a set of principles for sharing data across the education sector that should help reduce waste and bureaucracy.” Perhaps the first step could be axing TTA News.
