Press release
MillionPlus comment on the UCAS Teacher Training End of Cycle 2016 figures
23 Mar 2017
MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities, has today (23 March) commented on the UCAS Teacher Training End of Cycle 2016 figures.
Pam Tatlow, Chief Executive of MillionPlus, said:
“The confirmation from UCAS that applications for initial teacher training courses in England in 2016 declined by 7% is further evidence that Ministers need to rethink their strategy for teacher recruitment and retention.
“All the indicators suggest that 2017 will be another tough year for recruitment and we warmly welcome the recognition by Justine Greening in her speech to the ASCL conference, that a new approach is required to support teachers, not only in their initial training but throughout their careers.
“Modern universities are key to high quality teacher education and the early years career development that helps to support teachers to stay in the profession. As the Education Select Committee has pointed out, teachers also need to have clear entitlements to professional development that goes beyond the immediate pressures of managing curriculum and exam change.
“It will be more important than ever that universities, schools and the Department for Education work together. We are therefore disappointed that the Department has not yet published the full list and information about the initial teacher training numbers that were awarded to universities for recruitment in the 2017 admissions year. These allocations were made in October 2016 and a small number of universities are known to have been given three-year allocations. These universities are able to plan on a more strategic basis but the majority of universities have been left to manage and resource teacher education year by year. We strongly feel that an effective teacher education strategy should be underpinned by transparency and we have asked the Information Commissioner to review the reasons given by the Department for not publishing this information.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
- MillionPlus is the Association for Modern Universities. More information can be found at www.millionplus.ac.uk
- The UCAS Teacher Training End of Cycle 2016 figures are released on Thursday, 23 March and will be available here
- For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact Dan Blows on 020 7717 1658 or email press@millionplus.ac.uk