Snobbery in attacking undergraduate teacher training

6th March 2009, 12:00am

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Snobbery in attacking undergraduate teacher training

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/snobbery-attacking-undergraduate-teacher-training

I completed my B.Ed at Westminster College, Oxford in 1999 and am now a deputy head. Unlike Estelle Morris’s B.Ed, where “there wasn’t the opportunity to do any pedagogical work”, I recall being given a good grounding in educational theory, which I still apply and discuss with fellow practitioners today.

In 2006, I graduated with an MA in education, which for the large part built upon my undergraduate studies and further extended my theoretical knowledge.

The statement that “the average A-level grades needed to get a place are just CDD” and the comments regarding the entry qualification rile me. I entered my training course with merely three Es, but seven years later gained A and B grades for my MA modules and have been observed by Ofsted to be an “excellent” teacher.

Does that man I shouldn’t have been allowed to enter the profession?

The B.Ed gives teachers a broad and balanced foundation for the profession. It should certainly not be scrapped, rather reviewed and brought up to date for teaching and learning in the 21st century.

Emma Watson, Deputy head, Oxford.

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