Today (Mon 5 July) the government has published plans to reform initial teacher training. Nick Brook, deputy general secretary of NAHT, which represents leaders in the majority of schools, said:

“It is impossible to fathom why the government thinks that this is the right time to mess about with the teacher training system. As the recent report by the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Teaching Profession showed, there is no crisis in teacher training that needs fixing – far from it – initial teacher training providers routinely receive the highest marks from Ofsted of all the sectors it inspects. As schools focus on education recovery post-pandemic, this is the worst possible time to embark on an unnecessary shake-up of teacher training.

“Schools are reliant on the strong and varied network of training providers across the country, to ensure sufficient supply of teachers in the subjects and communities where they are needed most. At a time when more people than ever are looking to join the profession, these proposals take a sledgehammer to the existing model of teacher training and will only serve to significantly reduce the supply of teachers for years to come.

“It is extremely worrying that warnings have gone unheeded, that many well-respected universities could withdraw from teacher training as a consequence of these proposals. This consultation proposes radical, controversial and complex changes to the way in which teachers are trained and the part that schools play in that training. There has been no substantive engagement with the schools sector. Given the far-reaching implications for ITT providers and schools to consider, a six week consultation is insufficient and a deadline of 22 August is wholly inappropriate.

"The government needs to pause and take stock, by listening to the profession and considering the evidence, before determining a more proportionate approach to supporting continuous improvement in this sector."