Content area
Full Text
New FE teacher-training route could help colleges access £20m in levy payments
Getting enough talented people into teaching is a challenge for the whole education sector. But yesterday, applications opened for a new apprenticeship that could see thousands of new graduates become school teachers.
The postgraduate teaching apprenticeship, which education secretary Justine Greening said would "provide another pathway for talented graduates into [the] profession", will be available from September 2018 (see box, above right), and will be funded directly through the apprenticeship levy.
FE providers, though, will have to wait before a FE-specific teaching apprenticeship is available. The FE learning and skills level 5 apprenticeship standard, currently awaiting approval from the Institute for Apprenticeships, has been in the pipeline since 2014. It has been designed as a teaching-based standard, and will be a route for current members of staff who aspire to hold a teaching qualification.
There are already a number of ways to become a qualified teacher in an FE setting - completing a level 5 diploma in education and training, or taking the Cert Ed or PGCE routes, for example - but it is hoped that the new apprenticeship will help to increase the number of qualified teaching staff...