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Review of Initial Teacher Training in Wales

The quality of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) provision is a key contributor to the standard of teaching and learning in Wales. The primary purpose of ITT is to provide a supply of high quality Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of every school in Wales – whatever their geographical location, medium of instruction, phase or subject needs.

There is much to be proud of in the achievements of schools in Wales today. But however successful Wales’ schools are, it is clear that the teachers of tomorrow will face significant new challenges. Some of these, like the growing impact of ICT, affect teachers everywhere; others are unique to Wales as it develops its own policy agenda – the Foundation Phase, the 14-19 agenda and the aspirations of Iaith Pawb. What is clear is that the teachers of tomorrow in Wales will need to accept and embrace change; they will need a new form of professionalism that is appropriate for the schools of tomorrow in Wales.

Initial Teacher Training (ITT) has an important part to play in helping the education service in Wales meet these new challenges. Firstly, Wales needs to ensure that it has the right numbers of high quality teachers to fill its current and future needs. It then needs to ensure that those new teachers have the right skills, knowledge and understandings to realise the full potential of Wales’ increasingly distinctive educational agenda. If ITT is going to play its part in meeting the challenges of tomorrow, then Wales needs an ITT sector that is of high quality, is strong and financially secure and is itself able to embrace and help lead change.

The aim of the Review is to consider the provision of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in Wales, and advise on how the provision of ITT may more effectively meet the current and likely future needs of schools in Wales in the context of the Welsh Assembly Government’s developing policies and aims.

Specifically, the Review should examine and make recommendations on:

  • forecasting the demand for newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in Wales and whether it is possible or practicable for ITT courses in Wales to be much closer aligned in number and type to the needs of schools in Wales alone;
  • the development of existing and alternative routes into teaching so as to attract a wider range of people into the profession, particularly under-represented groups and those able to teach in priority subjects (currently covering English (including drama), mathematics, science, Welsh, modern languages, design and technology and ICT courses at secondary level), and through the medium of Welsh;
  • securing and improving the quality of provision of ITT with particular regard to priority secondary subjects; issues relating to the foundation phase; the impact of the 14-19 agenda on the need for teachers in maintained schools; and Welsh medium / Welsh as a second language; and SEN issues related to ITT courses;
  • the implications for ITT of the new requirement for the induction of NQTs and their early professional development (EPD), and how these may be integrated with ITT;
  • the scope for strategic planning of the provision of ITT and the supply of NQTs.

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