ITT in Kent update

Dear colleague,

As your local teaching school hub, we are committed to working with schools and ITT providers to help address the challenges schools have in recruiting new teachers. We know that a strong ITT provision allows schools to recruit teachers more easily.

That’s why one of our aims is to support the number of trainee teachers entering the profession successfully in our region, by helping schools and providers overcome barriers to offering training. As part of this work, we will be sharing updates and information with schools in our region throughout the year. We hope these are useful whether your school is currently engaged in ITT, or is looking to develop in this area.

ITT School Survey - Initial Feedback

Back in November of last year, following a request from the DfE we wrote to all schools in Kent asking about their engagement in ITT. Over 65% of schools responded to the survey and of these, 67% said they were currently engaged in ITT. The vast majority of schools recognise the advantages of engaging with ITT, for teacher recruitment, retention and as a wider professional development opportunity.

However, many have encountered barriers to hosting trainees, citing factors such as their size, location, or their current staffing circumstances as challenges. Looking at the geographical spread, we can see that rural schools are less likely to be engaged in training teachers, due to a combination of low applications and pressures on internal staff capacity. We also found that there are many schools who would like to host a training placement but find that the supply of trainee teachers is low. This year, we are working with regional and national providers to support their recruitment efforts.

We know that many smaller and rural schools recruit trainee teachers who have some existing connection to their school. This could be as a member of support staff, ex-pupils, friends or family of pupils and current staff. Part of our work this year will focus on helping schools with practical resources and ideas to nurture potential teacher training applications within their community. We will be in touch with further details in the coming months. In the meantime, here is some example wording to publicise teacher training with your existing staff network.

Feeding into National Policy Decisions

Alongside supporting teacher training numbers, the DfE asked teaching school hubs to undertake this ITT engagement work to inform policy decisions. The information provided by schools in our region for our ITT and ITAP surveys last year formed a key pillar of this, but we do continue to share information with the DfE throughout the year. We always welcome emails from school leaders about their experiences and challenges in engaging with ITT, and offer advice and support where we can. Please email Rebecca Hunter at hunter@ktsh.org.uk with any thoughts, comments and enquiries.

ITT Providers in Kent

We are fortunate to have a number of both regional and national ITT providers operating in Kent, meeting a wide range of school and training needs. To help schools understand their options we have collated a list of providers and their offerings. Please click here to access this list.

Important Update: Changes to Mentor Training Requirements On 13/11/24 the DfE announced a relaxation for the required 20 hours mentor training, which will be effective immediately and applies to the current 2024-25 trainee cohort arrangements. Read the DfE announcement and FAQs here.

Whilst this requirement has been removed it is important to affirm that ITT providers are still required to ensure that all mentors receive sufficient training to effectively support trainee teachers. Like us you will know how important it is for mentors to be well trained. The importance still placed on high quality mentoring can be seen in the fact that the DfE are not withdrawing the funding schools can access to allow up to 20 hours of mentor training.

ITT providers are now beginning to communicate their plans for mentor training. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions about mentor training.

We also wanted to make you aware that additional guidance relating to the ITT general mentor grant has just been published. This includes further information on how ITT placement schools can access the service to make a claim for funding. Further information is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initialteacher-training-reform-funding-guidance and by clicking General mentor training:additional guidance.

Request for Case Study Schools

We are speaking with small schools who are successfully hosting trainees and engaging with ITT this year, to share insights amongst our school network. If you would be willing to contribute by having a short call with Rebecca to discuss how your small school manages ITT placements, please email hunter@ktsh.org.uk Thank you for your continued support and please do get in touch if you have any questions or queries relating to ITT, we are happy to help.

With kind regards,

Rebecca Hunter

ITT Engagement Coordinator

Kent Teaching School Hub