Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they have taken to ensure that the increase in school-centred initial teacher training and School Direct initial teacher training does not undermine existing programmes delivered by mainstream school-university partnerships.

The government is committed to the ongoing expansion of school-led initial teacher training (ITT). The move towards school-led ITT has created new opportunities for universities to grow their business: engaging directly with schools to become their chosen partner; and working with school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) to offer academic awards. In addition, the university sector as a whole has the opportunity to recruit trainees up to the same overall level as they have for the 2015/16 academic year. It is, therefore, not expected that this change of approach will have a substantial impact on the higher education sector.