Getting the system right for Quality Assurance in School Direct Online seminar May Welcome to our School Direct online seminar. While we re waiting to start, why not let us know who you are and where you are based by typing in the chat box on the righthand side of the screen. 1
School Direct for academic year 2015-16 The purpose of this online seminar is to: Raise awareness and demonstrate the online community Provide advice on the process to work through with School Direct lead schools, partner schools and Initial Teacher Training (ITT) providers Outline the support on offer from the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) Give you the chance to ask questions and hear from experienced school direct leads about their experiences and insight from previous place request rounds
Our presentation and support team Introductions: Tam Mason Sonia Johnson
School Direct online community Is for Networking, meeting each other Focussed dialogue Resource sharing Exploring challenges Celebrating success
School Direct: the national picture Since 2013/14, there has been an increase in requests from schools for School Direct places from 9,580 to 17,717 in 2014/15 (resulting in 15,254 allocations). 948 lead schools (over 7,500 schools in total) 3,919 places for salaried School Direct places 11,335 for School Direct training programme (fee funded) places 6,726 places allocated to primary 8,528 places allocated to secondary
QTS All Teachers must meet the same standards whether training, NQT or mainstream so the training programme which supports a teacher training route must ensure this is in place as part of the accreditation QTS can only be confirmed by an accredited Initial Teacher Training Provider. There are a number of providers school can choose to work with: School Centred providers HEI s Other private/public organisations They have all met the same standards. However, from 2014 NCTL will only allocate places to providers with a good or outstanding Ofsted rating. So before you enter into an agreement of request place check their Ofsted rating (there are contingency arrangements for any provider or school who moves into an Ofsted category following allocation of ITT places) HEI s are the only provider who can also award a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) or masters credits as this is an academic qualification. This will be subject to QAA inspection in addition to Ofsted
Roles and Responsibilities There are a number of key considerations schools need to make in order to ensure clarity and consistency of approach, these include: Partnership Agreement between the lead school and the ITTP Partnership Agreement between the lead school and schools within the partnership/ alliance Governance Organisational Structure The above are crucial for the effective management of the ITT provision across the partnership but they should also cover the quality assurance requirements too
Partnership Agreement Lead school and ITTP (lead and partner schools) Should cover the following: 1. An outline of the programme and how it will be delivered 2. An organisational structure who does what 3. Funding arrangements 4. Legal compliance Don t forget the QAA requirement for HEI s if your programme includes a PGCE This is to protect all parties in case of significant change 5. Quality Assurance There will be certain things only the ITTP can do in order to comply with accreditation requirements, make sure these are clearly established in the agreement. However there will also be a number of tasks which schools can undertake as part of their regular monitoring process you need to ensure consistency of approach across the partnership
Partnership Agreement (Cont.) 6. Risk & Contingency Make sure you consider what might go wrong and what action needs to be taken to mitigate this Use the same approach for Lead and partner school agreement with a reduced emphasis on point 4.
Organisational Structure and Governance Organisational Structure Be clear on who does what. Break down all the required activities and agree across your school partners and your ITTP partner(s) who is responsible for each area Don t under estimate the time requirements or level accountability for each task. Allocate tasks according to expertise and compliance requirements. Eg., Student finance is very complicated and is the clear responsibility of the ITTP, however schools understand the business of teaching and what s needed to meet delivery of the curriculum. Use all of your expertise wisely there will be pockets of good practice right across your partnership but don t forget staff need release time to support programme delivery (including preparation) and that needs to be funded. Governance Can provide an impartial overview and is particularly relevant for the operational responsibilities (like finance and legal compliance, risk & contingency) aspects of your partnership agreements.
Collaboration and Relationship Management The most crucial aspect of a successful alliance is collaboration and good communication The lead school is dependant upon partner schools to host and support the training of their future workforce All partners need to understand what this means and what their level of responsibility is and they need to agree and sign up to it Don t forget to use your partner schools and their expertise do a skills audit? But also be clear on what you are undertaking on their behalf, specifically so they understand why the lead school requires more of the funding! The same goes for your ITTP. There will be some things they are better at and some things they are not. Have an honest and open conversation so the right people do the right jobs
From a school s perspective Online we also have X colleagues from schools and partnerships who can offer practical advice from their own experience.
Answers to your questions so far Tam Mason Online Community Sonia Johnson National College for Teaching and Leadership
Support from us We can help you find out more and meet schools that are already participating or help broker partnership arrangements (our details at the end of the slide) Our new GOV.UK information for schools web pages are regularly updated with advice and guidance e.g. quick start guide, top tips; FAQs, the School Direct bulletin Register with us and the lead school will receive and forward on regular email bulletins with reminders about next steps throughout the process www.education.gov.uk/sdmarketing is a Marketing Resource Bank where guidance, useful presentations and ready-to-use advertisements are available for your partnership s recruitment marketing You can learn from other schools in our case studies http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/careers/traininganddevelopment/initial/b0 0205704/school-direct/school-case-studies
Support from us (cont.) The NCTL events team also runs events in areas which may be finding it difficult to recruit, inviting potential applicants interested in teaching to come and meet with providers and schools. Find out more on www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/events You can advertise your own recruitment events for free on the NCTL Get into Teaching website which attracts c.3m visits per annum - email WhatsOn.WHERE@education.gsi.gov.uk The NCTL s School Direct online community enables members to ask questions, collaborate and share their experiences about School Direct: https://network.nationalcollege.org.uk/groups/25941 You will need to register and log in.
Continue this discussion and find out more A recording of today s seminar will be available and emailed to you together with links to the slides and to other information. Coming soon! More online seminars, join our online community to find out more to register go to www.nationalcollege.org.uk
Contact details For queries about the online seminar or online community email: TA.RESOURCEBANK@education.gsi.gov.uk For general queries about School Direct email: School.Direct@education.gsi.gov.uk