Graduate Teacher Programme

The Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) is a programme in England and Wales for graduates who want to gain Qualified Teacher Status while working. A person must work in a school as an unqualified teacher in order to participate in the programme, which can last from three months to a year.

This means that the school must be willing to employ an unqualified teacher, with a minimum wage of £14,751. The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) can pay the school up to £14,000 to cover employment costs, though it is not guaranteed. The TDA can also provide a training grant of up to £4,920 depending on the subject and length of the training.

Getting a place

To obtain a GTP place, a candidate must usually secure a training placement themselves at a school willing to support them as an unqualified teacher. However, some institutions organise this for them. The school will then offer to employ the student in a role similar to a teaching assistant. The student must be supernumerary (i.e. not being used as substitute for employing a qualified teacher). With the school's backing, a formal application must then be made to a Designated Recommending Body. These are normally universities, colleges, local authorities or private educational companies. The DRB administers the application process, making the formal selection of successful candidates, and the payment of the TDA grant to the school, and provides tutor support for the student. Numbers are limited by the money made available by the TDA.

In some cases it is possible to make a self-funded application. In these cases, an application must still be made to a DRB but the school provides the entire salary for the trainee.

Applications are normally made towards the end of the calendar year up to February for entry to the school in September, but every DRB has its own arrangements and dates for application deadlines. Sometimes a second competition for places is held within the year if some spaces have not been filled. Places are awarded according to the quality of the candidate, and also the supporting school which the DRB must believe is capable of offering the appropriate standard of support.

Availability of the GTP

The GTP is not available evenly across England and Wales though places available broadly reflect regional population densities. Competition can be very fierce since the salary-based training is much better paid than a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course, and is especially attractive to mature entrants. Subjects available also vary greatly both regionally and by DRB.

GTP students normally train in a single subject in which they must have a degree. Places for Primary and Secondary Shortage (e.g. Mathematics, Science and English) exceed those available for Secondary Non-Shortage (eg History). Some DRBs only offer places for Primary and Secondary Shortage.

The training

Training commences by working a small portion of a normal timetable (around 30%), and this gradually builds up over the year to 90% in the the third term. The GTP must be supernumerary, which means that qualified teachers must already be employed by the school to teach the classes allocated to the student. School policy varies on how day-to-day teaching by the student is allowed. Some schools will leave students to teach whole classes from the outset, supervised at a distance by the qualified teacher whose class it is and by the school-based mentor and senior tutor. Some schools will insist that the student only 'team-teach' with the qualified teacher present at all times until it is felt the student can cope on his or her own.

The GTP student normally trains on a more limited age range than the PGCE. At secondary level an example would be to train in two Key Stages, such as Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9 ages 11-14) and Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11, ages 14-16), rather than the full age range of 11-18. Along with the reduced academic content, this has limited its validity outside England and Wales. However, it is also true that the GTP student teaches far more in those two Key Stages than a PGCE student would.

The student has to compile dossiers of evidence to record lesson plans, observations and other experiences. These must prove reaching each of the Training and Development Agency for Schools' 33 Standards (called Q1 to Q33) required to achieve Qualified Teacher Status. The quantity and quality of evidence considered necessary to fulfil each Standard varies from DRB to DRB, since the DRB has to interpret the TDA's requirements. In England only, the student must also complete the QTS Skills Tests which fulfil Q16 of the 33 Standards. This is not required in Wales.

A placement of several weeks at a second school is normally also required, and this is usually a school of a different type (a trainee at a single sex grammar school for example would perhaps have a second placement at a mixed comprehensive). Trainees who have failed to pass the QTS Skills Tests were formerly allowed a five-year grace period to pass. This has been removed. After 31 August 2008 trainees must past these tests during their training year or expect to have their contracts terminated.

Throughout the training year the student is regularly inspected by the school-based senior tutor and mentor (usually departmental colleagues). A number of inspections of teaching and the portfolio are made by staff from the DRB.

Students also have to produce evidence of research in the form of written assignments. The number of assignments and their individual length and content varies between the DRBs.

GTP students who joined the scheme in the academic year 2007-2008 or before attended a number of taught days administered by their individual DRB. This varies from DRB to DRB. Some, for example, offered six taught days distributed throughout the year. Others offered fortnightly taught days. From September 2008 this will change though at the time of writing the exact details are not yet available. However, GTP students joining in September 2008 should expect to have to attend around 60 taught days. It seems likely that these will be shared between the DRB and the school.

The reason for the change is to make the GTP a more academic-based qualification which will enjoy broader recognition, and also provide a basis for credits towards a Master of Education degree (MEd). Since the principal appeal of the GTP has been the very high level of practical experience enjoyed by trainees before starting their first jobs, both to the students and the increasing numbers of schools employing them, it is a moot point whether the change will prove attractive to the mature entrants who have in many ways been the GTP's greatest success.

Completion of training

On completion of the training year, the successful student is recommended for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) by the DRB. This is then normally awarded through the General Teaching Council for England or the General Teaching Council for Wales, allowing the student to work as a teacher in England or Wales. In exceptional instances QTS can be awarded in less time, but this is rare. QTS may be withheld if the relevant teaching council is unhappy about the standard of training offered by the DRB. This, too, is very rare.

Unlike academic-based teaching qualifications such as the PGCE, the GTP is not well recognised outside of England and Wales, with countries such as Scotland [ [http://www.gtcs.org.uk/Registration/QualifiedOutsideScotland/Eligibility/qualification_not_recognised_scotland.asp#uk Qualifications not Recognised in Scotland ] ] , Australia [ [http://www.teachingaustralia.edu.au/ta/go/home/pid/438 Frequently asked questions ] ] and New Zealand [ [http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/for-international/qual-eval/ Qualification Recognition Services [ NZQA ] ] considering the GTP to be an inadequate qualification for school teachers. In Scotland's case the rationale is that the General Teaching Council for Scotland requires all trainee teachers to have followed a course which covers the full age range for primary or secondary. Since the GTP covers a more restricted age range this is deemed not to fulfil that requirement. However, certain exemptions exist and these can include people who have been teaching for a number of years.

History

The GTP was first offered in 1998 [ [http://www.tda.gov.uk/about/mediarelations/2002/20020318.aspx TDA - News release - 18 March 2002 ] ] . It was originally aimed at mature entrants to the teaching profession, who could not afford to give up work and undertake a traditional method of teacher training such as the PGCE. Because of this, the programme was restricted to those aged 24 and over. However, the age requirement was dropped in 2004 to avoid breaking new European Union discrimination laws [http://www.tda.gov.uk/upload/resources/doc/d/drb-12-09-03.doc] .

References

ee also

*Registered Teacher Programme

External links

* [http://www.tda.gov.uk/Home/Recruit/thetrainingprocess/typesofcourse/gtp.aspx Graduate Teacher Programme] - TDA website
* [http://www.tda.gov.uk/partners/ittstandards/guidance_08/qts.aspx the QTS 33 Standards on the TDA website]
* [http://www.tda.gov.uk/partners/ittstandards/qts_skills_tests.aspx - up-to-date information on the QTS Skills Tests]
* [http://www.tda.gov.uk/partners/recruiting/ebr/drbs/drbregions.aspx?loc=emids Designated Recommending Bodies]
* [http://www.gtcs.org.uk/Registration/QualifiedOutsideScotland/Eligibility/Secondary_Education/secondary_education.asp General Teaching Council for Scotland registration requirements]