NASUWT: Coalition government’s flagship programme floundering
Commenting on the comments by Sir David Bell that universities had to step in to prevent a teacher training shortage after the failure of School Direct to recruit enough trainee teachers, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union said:
“Higher Education Institutions have always had a fundamentally important role to play in initial teacher training. It is the Secretary of State’s determination to write them out of the script which has led to this problem.
“The flagship School Direct programme is floundering, adding to the growing crisis in teacher supply.
“The NASUWT warned that School Direct would struggle to recruit the number of trainees the Coalition Government intended, despite the aggressive marketing which has been used to promote it.
“The Coalition Government needs to think again. The Secretary of State’s concept of teacher training is fundamentally flawed.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
School Direct was allocated 25% of teacher training places but recruited only two-thirds of that number. According to the latest figures released by the DfE, School Direct recruited just 68% of its allocation of 9,586 – representing 20% of the whole pool of teacher trainees in England.
Ben Padley,
Press and Media Officer,
Campaigns and Communications,
NASUWT
Hillscourt Education Centre
Rednal
Birmingham
B45 8RS
0121 457 6269
07785 463 119
www.twitter.com/Chris_K_NASUWT
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