Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are undertaking a review of initial teacher training; and if so, (1) how that review is being conducted, (2) what progress they have made in that review, and (3) when they estimate that they will publish that review and its conclusions.

As part of the government’s Teacher Recruitment and Retention strategy, we committed to reviewing the initial teacher training (ITT) market to identify improvements that reduce costs for providers and exploring how we can encourage high quality providers – including high-performing MATs – to extend their reach, deliver at scale and do more to support the wider system. We started work on this earlier this year with a series of workshops with ITT sector representatives to understand the current market better. This work was paused so that government, and the ITT sector, could focus on the challenges caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

We are now resuming the ITT market review, building on the opportunities afforded by our Teacher Development reforms, including the ITT Core Content Framework. We are in the process of scoping the next phase of the review which we expect to conclude next summer.