Cardiff Met and Bath Spa to train teachers
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Education charity partners with Cardiff Met and Bath Spa to train teachers for Welsh schools
Tuesday, 27 June, 2017Education charity Teach First Cymru has announced it will partner with Cardiff Metropolitan University, supported by Bath Spa University’s Institute for Education, to deliver its innovative teacher training programme in Wales, placing around 25 teachers in Welsh schools this year.
Teach First’s Leadership Development Programme (LDP) is a two-year salaried route into teaching which places participants in schools serving low-income communities. Teach FirstCymru launched in 2013, and has since placed 159 participants in 51 schools in Wales.
The Programme is delivered in partnership with universities and schools, and following a competitive tender process, Teach First Cymru has announced it will partner with Cardiff Metropolitan University, supported by the Institute for Education at Bath Spa University, to deliver the Programme from 2017.
Owen Evans, Director of Teach First Cymru, said:
“I’m delighted to confirm our partnerships with two of the leading universities for developing teachers. They will be essential partners in our mission to support schools serving low-income communities.
“This innovative new model is firmly rooted in the vision for teacher training in Wales set out by Professor Furlong's "Teaching Tomorrow's Teachers". Our university partners’ expertise will help us develop not just great teachers, but great leaders for the Welsh education system, who can help deliver our vision of ending educational inequality.
“Together with our university partners and schools, we believe teaching should have the same expert status as other top professions, and our partnership with these universities and schools will help encourage that.”
Professor Kate Reynolds, Executive Dean of the Institute for Education at Bath Spa University, said:
“The Institute for Education builds upon a long history of teacher training and excellent education research, and teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
“We have been educating students, teachers and other education professionals since the 1940s and we are delighted to announce our partnership with Teach First and Cardiff Metropolitan University to deliver the Leadership Development Programme across Wales in our 70th anniversary year.”
Participants on the LDP undergo five weeks of intensive training over the summer, before going on to teach in schools in Wales while working towards a Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) over two years, with university involvement across both years.
The LDP focuses on building participants’ leadership skills and developing them as research-informed teachers so they can tackle educational inequality in low-income schools. ThePGDE will be worth 120 credits towards a Masters, reflecting the value of university accreditation and the role of higher education providers.
Each participant will receive support from an in-school mentor, a university tutor and a Teach First Participant Development Lead for the full two years. In addition to the school in which they teach, each participant will also be assigned to a ‘base school’ that will provide ongoing training and support. The base schools - Fitzalan High School and Hawthorn High School - will make a vital contribution to the partnership in this innovative new model.
As announced at the end of last year, the Leadership Development Programme in Wales will be funded by the Central South Consortium (CSC) for the 2017 and 2018 cohorts. TheCSC is a school improvement service working on behalf of five local councils: Bridgend, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Vale of Glamorgan.