Initial teacher training (ITT) reform

Information for schools

February 2024

Contents

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• Introduction to ITT

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• Mentoring

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• Funding for mentors

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• Intensive training and practice

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• Teaching school hubs

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• High quality trusts

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• How to get involved with ITT

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Importance of ITT

ITT is intended to support and benefit everyone

Ensure excellent teachers for every child

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Recruit the well-trained teachers that schools need

Help teachers fulfil their potential and feel supported in their role from the very start of their career

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Pipeline of new teachers to the profession

ITT can support schools and staff in many ways

Professional development for teaching staff who provide mentoring and support for trainee teachers

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Access to support from ITT Providers and their wider networks

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Access to the latest research, practice and innovation on teaching and support for children and young people

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Opportunities to work with talented trainee teachers, who may be a strong fit for future teaching vacancies in their placement school

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School Perspectives: Supporting school recruitment

‘In our school, involvement in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) has been a valuable resource for several key aspects of our educational ecosystem. Firstly, we've effectively utilized our participation in ITT to recruit new teachers.’ – Urban/Inner city junior school

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‘It enables us, as a school to observe professional behaviours and conduct, as well as the obvious classroom teaching and helps us in our quest when recruiting. We have employed two ITT students over the past couple of years, as they have learnt their trade in our setting, and it has been a seamless transition into their years as ECTs and beyond.’ – 2-form entry, urban primary school

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‘Being part of the ITT Provider means we have the opportunity to 'grow our own' teachers by hosting several trainees each year who are then appointed as ECTs. By placing several trainee teachers in the school, it allows us to make recruitment decisions early in the year and proactively plan two terms ahead. As these teachers have been trained within the school environment, they are already familiar with the school's culture, policies, and expectations. This can lead to a more seamless integration into the school's teaching staff.’ – Large primary school academy

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School Perspectives: Enriching staff experience

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‘Hosting trainees is an essential element of our recruitment and retention culture. By welcoming these highly motivated and well-prepared individuals into our school community, we are able to work alongside the ITT provider to provide rigorous training in evidence-based teaching methods, supported by our expert teacher mentors. Our staff are enriched by the opportunity to share their knowledge and refine their own skills as they guide each trainee.’ – Community primary school

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‘While trainees are training within our school, they also bring many advantages. Trainees, although in teaching terms may appear as 'novices,' working towards the goal of becoming expert adaptive teachers, bring with them a wealth of experience in many different areas that can be utilised in various ways around the school, through extracurricular activities or even peer-to-peer support. This also supports building capacity to offer more opportunities for the children to build their cultural capital.’ – Large primary school academy

School perspectives: Investing in trainees

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‘Our school collaborates closely with the ITT provider to ensure that trainee placements align with the needs of both the trainee and the school. We specify the year groups where we can effectively support trainees, such as Year 6 placements, ensuring a harmonious match that benefits all parties involved.’ – Urban/Inner city junior school

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‘As an ITT placement school, we have always invested time in our students and included them in everything we do. They are integrated into the staff room, are invited to staff meetings and CPD and treated as one of our staff members. We feel that by doing this, they are immersed in the full experience of day-to-day life in schools. This supports professional working and the extra things that teaching involves and ensures students don’t have any illusions about the profession.’ – 2-form entry, urban primary school

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What does hosting a placement involve?

    Schools provide trainee teachers with:

Schools play a vital role in ITT, by hosting placements and providing mentors for trainee teachers

Teachers’ Standards guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)

As part of their ITT course, every trainee teacher must get experience teaching in at least two schools and receive clear and consistent mentoring during each placement.

Trainee teachers need a variety of experience in schools to enable them to meet all the Teachers’ Standards. They need to teach children and young people in their specified age range, from different backgrounds, as well as gaining experience of different approaches to teaching and to school organisation and management.

This breadth of experience is designed to equip trainee teachers with the skills they need to successfully enter the teaching workforce, and to become an asset to the schools they teach in.

Trainees are assessed against the Teachers’ Standards at the end of their course. Trainees who demonstrate all the standards at the appropriate level are recommended for QTS

ITT reform

ITT reform

• Through an expert advisory group and consultation, the Department for Education (DfE) conducted a review of ITT with the aim to make well informed, evidence-based recommendations on how to make sure:

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All trainees receive high-quality training in the ITT market

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The ITT market maintains the capacity to deliver enough trainees and is accessible to candidates

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The ITT system benefits all schools

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New Quality Requirements �

• The review recommended a new set of quality requirements to be implemented by all ITT providers, to ensure a consistently high standard of ITT provision across the sector.

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• These requirements cover a range of areas, including new mentoring requirements. These will ensure that mentors are well trained in how to be a mentor and to understand the ITT Core Content Framework (CCF) and underpinning evidence, and the ITT curriculum the trainee is following, so that they can effectively support the trainee’s progress during school placements.

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• There are also new quality requirements relating to curriculum, assessment and progression of trainees, and quality assurance which are reflected in the updated ITT criteria and supporting advice for 2024/25.

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What does the ITT reform mean for schools?

A more strategic role for Teaching School Hubs in ITT, so that they can support their local school networks to be involved

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Intensive Training and Practice (ITAP) is a new element which must be part of all ITT courses

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Mentoring – minimum of 1.5 hours of mentor time per week for trainees and mentor training requirements

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Following the reforms, from September 2024 there will be new quality requirements for all ITT courses. These include:

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Golden thread of professional development for teachers at every stage of their career

Initial Teacher

Training

Early Career

Framework

National Professional Qualifications

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3-year structured package of support

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Evidence base independently assessed and endorsed by the Education Endowment Foundation

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All courses offered by accredited ITT providers are aligned to a mandatory Core Content Framework (CCF), which sets out a minimum entitlement for all trainee teachers

After achieving qualified teacher status (QTS), all early career teachers (ECTs) are entitled to 2 years of development support and training based on the Early Career Framework (ECF)

A suite of training programmes is available for teachers and leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice, to those leading multiple schools across trusts

Fully funded training scholarships are available for teachers and leaders employed in state funded schools and 16-19 organisations

Trainee teacher

Early Career Teacher

Experienced teacher

The golden thread is ensuring that schools get the well-trained teachers that they need to ensure high quality teaching in schools.

Schools play a critical role in this golden thread of professional development.

Mentoring

Mentor requirements

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The new quality requirements help ensure that every trainee receives an entitlement of 1.5 hours per week of mentoring support. All school-based mentors will have access to up to 20 hours of initial mentor training supported by funding (followed by 6 hours of refresher training in future years). 

From September 2024, accredited ITT providers must ensure their courses meet the new quality requirements.

The accredited ITT provider will provide training to help mentors understand: 

• what is involved in the mentor role and the skills they need 
• the ITT core content framework and its underpinning evidence 
• the ITT curriculum which the trainee will be following.

Prior Learning

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ITT providers will take into consideration any prior learning that mentors might have completed, including as an Early Career Framework (ECF) mentor, to avoid unnecessary repetition of training.

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The aim of this is to avoid duplication and build on a mentor’s prior learning, which as a result may reduce the total hours of training a mentor needs to complete.

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Benefits of mentoring

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• Enhanced professional learning and opportunity to develop their professional skills
• Enhanced knowledge and understanding​ of the latest evidence on what makes good teaching
• Opportunities for CPD available from providers and within the school/MAT network as a result of being a mentor to trainees

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• Improved teaching practices and enhanced professional learning and development
• Supports trainees in developing professional skills supporting teacher development, also linked to career development opportunities.
• The role of the school-based mentor is pivotal to the success of ITT placements

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• Mentors have access to the latest evidence base of what works in teaching, that can be embedded into wider school teaching practice and continuous school improvement ​
• Schools supported to build mentor pathways into their career mapping.

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Research taken from:

National Institute of Teaching - Mentoring and coaching trainee and early career teachers: Conceptual review, published Nov 2022

Schools’ Experiences of Hosting Trainees and Employing Newly Qualified Teachers; CooperGibson research, published 2019

Mentor

Mentee

School

Mentor Training

• Each provider will need to ensure mentors undertake 20 hours of training, as a minimum (once trained this is reduced to annual top ups). Many providers will use blended training approaches of: face to face, online and self study materials to complete the training.
• In Lincolnshire, Bishop Grosseteste University and Lincolnshire SCITT are collaborating to align their two mentoring curriculums as much as they can, to save staff time.
• In reality, mentors will already be spending more than 1.5 hours a week with a trainee teacher, as they will be undertaking the following training activities across the week:
• Trainee observing others teaching – live coaching by the mentor explaining what they are doing and why (deconstruction of practice)
• Observing the trainee and feeding back/coaching
• Undertaking target setting conversations and modelling targets and deconstructing practice
• Co-planning and undertaking assessment and curriculum discussions

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Lead Mentor(s)

• Part of the new quality requirements is the introduction of a new role known as lead mentor(s). It is the responsibility of the accredited ITT provider to identify and train lead mentors to provide support across placement schools. 

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• As well as supporting the design and delivery of curriculum elements such as Intensive Training and Practice, the core role of lead mentor(s) is to support school-based mentors and play a key role in their training and supervision. 

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• Lead mentors will support the training and development of school-based mentors and ensure that all trainees are receiving sufficient mentoring, and both the mentor and trainee are supported during placements. This improved support for mentors will lead to stronger alignment between what the trainee is learning, observing and practising with their ITT provider and in their placement school. 

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School perspectives: Benefits of mentoring for the school

‘As many ITT mentors have also been ITTs/ECTs with us, we have developed a group of strong mentors who follow a consistent approach to the role. As our mentors have all experienced what a strong mentor looks like, they are then able to continue this and maintain the same strong standards in school. As a result, mentors realise the importance of giving time to their trainees and supporting them, especially in the early weeks of a placement. By investing this time to support their trainees, mentors are then able to experience the dividends of this as trainees feel comfortable and supported.’ – Inner city, all-through school

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‘It is important to not understate the value and opportunities that being a mentor brings to a more experienced teacher. Some of our mentors have been asked to be included on interview panels to help recruit new trainee teachers and they have spoken about how this CPD has been very useful in preparing them for a middle or senior leadership role within the school’ – Large, urban secondary school

‘Initial Teacher Training does not only have a positive impact from the perspective of the trainee, but it also offers a wide range of professional development opportunities for current members of staff wishing to advance their own careers. Experienced staff members can become mentors, support tutors, and even facilitate during the trainee’s professional studies days; opportunities that could be the difference between retaining that staff member or them moving onto another school for greater opportunities or even different sectors entirely.’ – Large primary school academy

School perspective: Benefits of mentoring for the school

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‘We have some members of staff, who are experienced in mentoring, and they enjoy supporting the development of others. It supports their own career development, and they say they learn things from others, so find new ways of teaching and adapting through the eyes of their students, too.’ – 2-form entry, urban primary school

‘Because we value the experience of our ITT students, we ensure the mentor is carefully selected and given time to support the trainee. They access any training provided by the course providers and complete the paperwork/meetings with tutors etc.’ – 2-form entry, urban primary school

‘The ITT Provider allows our teaching team to develop valuable mentoring experience and the training provided has been applied to working with other stakeholders. Having mentors able to visit other schools to see their trainees on placement has been invaluable; in Spring 2 a teacher is always telling me about a fantastic piece of practice they will be stealing from what they have observed!’ – Large primary school academy

‘Schools welcome the opportunity for mentors to visit their trainee whilst on their cross-phase second school experience. This supports trainees to reflect on what they have learned and are applying to their new school and enables the mentor to continue to see the trainee’s development outside of their own setting. Mentors frequently comment on how powerful this is, enabling them to be ‘context free’ and not entrenched in the knowledge of the class/cohort.’ –Initial Teacher Training Provider

Available funding to support mentoring

• To facilitate and support mentor training, the DfE has made funding available for schools.
• This is in addition to the funding placement schools receive from accredited ITT providers to reflect their role in delivering ITT (if offered).
• Further detail can be found in our ITT reform funding guidance.
• This funding will help with the cost of teachers being away from the classroom while they train. This could include:
• Paying for someone to take over lessons while a teacher is training
• Paying for someone to teach if a teacher takes time off in lieu to train
• Overtime payment to the teacher, if they are training outside of normal working hours (teacher workload should be carefully considered in such cases)
• Paying for any costs that come from reducing a teacher’s other responsibilities, so they have time to train
• This funding can be accessed by schools that offer placements to ITT trainees and have mentors working with ITT trainees who started their training any time between 1^st September 2024, and 31^st May 2025.
• For Lincolnshire, schools can claim up to £876 (£43.80 per hour) to cover the cost of mentors being released for training

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How to claim funding

• Schools will be able to claim this funding at the end of the 2024/25 academic year and will be paid in arrears between September 2025 and January 2026. When schools make a claim, DfE may ask for evidence of:
• A mentor’s employment at the school
• Arranging placements at their school for ITT trainees
• The hours of initial mentor training.
• For a school to claim this funding, the mentor must:
• Undertake up to 20 hours of initial mentor training
• Mentor at least one trainee
• Mentor training typically will commence at the start of the academic year or during the preceding summer term, and in many cases, will be spread across the year.
• Not all mentor training has to be completed before mentors can begin to support trainees. Providers operating in your area will be able to give more detail on how their mentor training programme will work.
• More information on how to apply will be available for schools from Spring 2024.
• For further information on ITT Reform funding, please refer to the published guidance. For specific information about the amount of funding available to schools, please see page 16.

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Intensive training and practice (ITAP)

What is Intensive Training and Practice (ITAP)?

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Another way that schools can get involved in ITT is through supporting Intensive Training and Practice (ITAP).

Placement schools may wish to support Intensive Training and Practice , but other schools can also be involved in supporting Intensive Training and Practice.

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Intensive Training and Practice topics will be pivotal or foundational elements of classroom practice that all teachers need, irrespective of context.

For example, behaviour management as a topic would be too broad, but a focus on how setting classroom routines can support behaviour management would be appropriate.

The trainee will receive 4 weeks of Intensive Training and Practice over their ITT course (this is 6 weeks for undergraduate ITT courses). This may be split in to 1-week blocks and only some of this time will be spent in school for structured observation and deconstruction of expert practice, rehearsal and live practice, followed by immediate structure feedback.

It is not the responsibility of schools to design and deliver the Intensive Training and Practice; this is a course requirement fulfilled by the accredited ITT provider, who will be able to discuss this element with you in more detail.

Intensive Training and Practice is a new element that must be incorporated into all ITT courses leading to QTS from September 2024.

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Intensive Training and Practice will intensively focus on analysing evidence of pivotal aspects of teaching, putting this into practice immediately, and receiving immediate focused feedback on this practice.

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Five-element framework developed by NIoT and informed by Grossman (2018). This is a fluid model and not linear. Providers have a choice of ITAP Frameworks but all offer a similar range of experiences. ITAP’s don’t have to last a week and can be split into components across several weeks to suit design of what they aim to achieve from their ITAP.

Framework for the Delivery of Intensive Training and Practice

How can schools support Intensive Training and Practice?

• Intensive Training and Practice is not part of the school placement but an additional element of the provider's ITT curriculum. 
• A typical Intensive Training and Practice block will include expert input, observation, opportunities to practice in both a controlled and live environment, and expert feedback throughout this process. Some elements of Intensive Training and Practice will take place in the ITT institution, or virtually, and some will need to take place in a school environment, such as the live classroom practice.
• Many schools will be well placed to welcome individual or groups of trainees, to allow them to observe strong practice in the area being examined and give them the opportunity of live classroom practice. 
• Intensive Training and Practice will be supported by an appropriate range of experts, which can include lead mentors from the ITT provider and other experts within the school. 

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What is your school an expert in?

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Could you use this expertise to support an Intensive Training and Practice? If you would like to be involved, please contact charlotte@leadtshub.co.uk to discuss options.

Teaching school hubs (TSHs)

Role of Teaching School Hubs (TSHs)

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• From September 2023, all TSHs are delivering new strategic roles to support local ITT delivery across their area. TSHs will play an important regional role in their area working with schools and accredited ITT providers to understand the local market, context and challenges.

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• TSHs will also be able to offer information and support to schools wishing to engage in ITT for the first time or increase their engagement in ITT.

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Need more information on TSHs?

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Visit:

www.leadtshublincs.co.uk

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What does this mean for schools?�

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High-quality Trusts

Trusts and ITT

• It is a core responsibility of trusts to make a positive contribution to the wider system by delivering high quality training and/or placement for trainee teachers.

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• We want to encourage high quality trusts to deliver training and offer a range of placements (general and the Intensive Training and Practice element) and mentors for trainee teachers, to support system wide sufficiency. 

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• Ahead of September 2024 when the new ITT requirements are implemented, it is important that trusts start to consider how they interact with ITT, including:
• How to offer ITT placements if not already doing so?
• Your capacity to be involved in ITT? 
• How to prepare for the new mentoring requirements?

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• Trusts should discuss their approach and involvement in ITT with their delivery officers. 

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Commissioning high-quality trusts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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How to get involved in ITT

How to get involved in ITT

• DfE accredits a range of organisations to deliver primary and secondary ITT, this includes HEIs, charities and school-based providers. To offer an ITT placement in your school for a trainee teacher, you need to partner with an accredited ITT provider.
• If you already offer ITT placements, you’ll need to check that your existing ITT provider is part of a partnership accredited to offer teacher training courses from September 2024. If they are not, contact your local TSH to get advice and help you find a local accredited ITT provider to work with.
• Your local TSH will be able to provide relevant information including:
• The different ways to be involved in ITT
• Information on accredited ITT providers within the area
• The new ITT reforms and requirements due to be implemented from September 2024 and what that means for you, including the new Intensive Training and Practice opportunities for trainees

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Please see more information about providers operating within Lincolnshire on the L.E.A.D TS Hub website:

https://www.leadtshublincs.co.uk/

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Further changes to ITT beyond 2025….

In late January 2024 the DfE announced further reforms to Initial Teacher Training that will take place from Septmeber 2025. This includes:

• Currently there is the CCF (for ITT) and ECF (for post ITT) – these will be amalgamated to form the ITTECF as a three year framework, this single framework should help cut ‘unnecessary repetition’
• A greater focus on subject specific content: The Oak National Academy will work with providers “to enhance their existing provision with more subject-specific content”
• A greater focus on how to support SEND learners: the new ITTECF will have “significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND”.
• An evolving evidence base to draw on: ITT providers and ECF lead providers will be able to integrate additional analysis and critique of theory, research, and expert practice as they deem appropriate for their curriculum, as part of the ITTECF.
• Changes to ease the workload for mentors: ECF mentors will see their training shortened from two to one year under a new provider-led programme aimed at combining the “elements mentors found most valuable” while also removing “unnecessary workload”. ITT providers will take into account prior experience and training, to reduce mentor workload

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For more information, visit:

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Offer a trainee teacher placement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)��L.E.A.D TS Hub website: https://www.leadtshublincs.co.uk/page/?title=ITT%2FRoutes+into+Teaching&pid=15 �