You are right to emphasise the importance of the appropriate academic underpinning of initial teacher training. However, the impression it leaves - that school-based initial teacher training (SCITT) is “on the job” training unable to “respond to new theories and research” or somehow “raise the game” - must be firmly refuted.

SCITT offers mainstream postgraduate initial teacher training in much the same way as other higher education institutions, and the difference is more about the methodologies of management and delivery than pedagogical content.

Both SCITT and the graduate teacher programme are inspected by Ofsted under the same framework as university provision, and the results of these inspections are evidence of equally high-quality in terms of trainee outcomes. Indeed, the Good Teacher Guide shows that nine of the 10 highest-scoring ITT providers are SCITTs.

Martin Thompson, Chair, National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers, Principal, The Pilgrim Partnership, Bedford.