Asked by: Baroness Donaghy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what role accredited initial teacher training (ITT) providers and their representative bodies will have in developing national standards for ITT mentors in schools.
Answered by Lord Nash
In the government response to the publication of the Carter Review, the Secretary of State for Education committed to commissioning the Teaching Schools Council to develop national standards for initial teacher training (ITT) mentors in schools. The Teaching Schools Council will decide how best to engage with the sector to develop these standards, including their engagement with ITT providers.
Asked by: Baroness Donaghy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will announce the membership and remit of the group charged with developing a framework of content for initial teacher training; and whether the group will include a balance of representation from university teacher education institutions and school-centred initial teacher training organisations and schools.
Answered by Lord Nash
In the government response to the publication of the Carter Review, the Secretary of State for Education commissioned an independent working group, comprising of expert representatives from the sector, to develop a core framework of initial teacher training content. The Secretary of State will be announcing the membership of the group shortly, along with further details about the remit of this work.
Asked by: Baroness Donaghy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how local teacher supply needs are taken into account in decisions about the accreditation of new initial teacher training providers.
Answered by Lord Nash
As part of the accreditation process potential new initial teacher training providers are asked to provide a three-year financial plan based on the optimum and minimum number of required trainees. These projections will be based on a range of factors including the provider’s analysis of identified local need.
Asked by: Baroness Donaghy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what account is taken of the likely impact on the future viability of existing higher education institutions and school-centred initial teacher training organisations when accrediting new initial teacher training providers.
Answered by Lord Nash
The viability of providers is considered as part of the initial teacher training (ITT) allocations process which is underpinned by the allocations methodology and informed by the Teacher Supply Model.
The accreditation process was established to allow potential new providers to demonstrate in a proposal to the National College for Teaching and Leadership how its provision from the outset is likely to be at least good according to Ofsted, and how it will meet all the Secretary of State for Education’s ITT criteria.[1]
[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-criteria
Asked by: Baroness Donaghy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what value-for-money considerations are taken into account when accrediting new initial teacher training providers.
Answered by Lord Nash
All accredited initial teacher training (ITT) providers are required to demonstrate how they will deliver, within the funding available, quality provision which meets the Teachers’ Standards and is compliant with the Secretary of State for Education’s ITT criteria.[1]
[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-criteria
Asked by: Baroness Donaghy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will ensure that trainees at newly accredited initial teacher training providers receive the quality of training that schools will need.
Answered by Lord Nash
All providers of initial teacher training (ITT) are required to obtain accreditation in order to run ITT and to be able to recommend their trainees for qualified teacher status.
To be accredited, a provider must design and deliver training which meets the Secretary of State for Education's ITT criteria.[1] This includes demonstrating evidence of the procedures to be established to assess trainee progression against the Teachers’ Standards.
[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-criteria
Asked by: Baroness Donaghy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider allocating initial teacher training (ITT) places for a period of more than one year to facilitate forward planning by ITT providers; and if not why not.
Answered by Lord Nash
It is not our intention to allocate initial teacher training places for more than one year for a number of reasons; principally that the market is evolving in response to expansion of school-led provision and we require flexibility to respond to these circumstances.
Asked by: Baroness Donaghy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what account will be taken of sustaining existing high quality initial teacher training (ITT) provision when allocating ITT places for September 2016.
Answered by Lord Nash
We will publish the methodology for our allocation of initial teacher training places for the 2016/17 academic year in due course. This will include information about how we will take the quality of provision into account.
Asked by: Baroness Donaghy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any local authorities have been instructed to privatise social work services; and if so, by which Department.
Answered by Lord Nash
No local authorities have been instructed to privatise social work. Where a local authority is judged to be failing in its provision and delivery of children’s services, the Secretary of State has a discretionary power to intervene under the Education Act 1996, as applied by section 50 of the Children Act 2004. This may include directing the local authority to review its children’s services operations and commissioning procedures, and this may include the delivery of specified functions by another body.
The powers under Part 1 of the 2008 Children and Young Persons Act and associated regulations are quite different and provide for local authorities to delegate children’s social care functions to third parties on a voluntary basis. We have not instructed any local authorities to delegate their functions under these provisions.