Criticisms of the School Direct training programme are touching a nerve. I too am a School Direct trainee and so far I have enjoyed every minute. The support I have received from my university provider and school placement has been second to none. I can’t help but feel that the problem with the course is that too many trainees are waiting to be spoon-fed and are therefore failing to take responsibility for their own development. One of the trainees at my own school is failing and also blames this on a lack of support - because no one will provide him with ready-made lessons. On this course you are trained in the fundamentals of teaching by experiencing it first-hand. This is not a learning method that works for all, but anyone who is unhappy with it clearly did not enquire about what they were applying to. I wonder, then, how fit these people are to teach?

School Direct trainee, Isle of Wight.