IT is no surprise that the Scottish Government has held discussions with Teach First about establishing a new fast-track teaching course north of the Border.
Ever since First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited the London Challenge in 2015 she said she would “draw heavily” on the programme, which has significantly improved performance of deprived pupils in the UK capital.
One element of the project was Teach First which encourages high-flying academic graduates into the profession and was subsequently expanded to Manchester and then the rest of England and Wales.
Documents released under freedom of information legislation show Ms Sturgeon met with representatives of Teach First in March last year to discuss how they might operate in Scotland. Subsequent meetings have taken place with John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister.
These are not just meetings for the sake of it. The government has already announced plans to put out to tender a new fast-track teacher training course which would be suitable for Teach First to bid for, amongst other providers.
In addition to the First Minister’s interest the reason also appears to be that Mr Swinney does not to believe current programmes of university teacher education are flexible enough to get new recruits into the classroom quickly.
Although Scotland does not have a problem attracting teachers to schools in areas of urban deprivation in the same way as London did it does have an issue with shortages in rural areas and a lack of teachers in the so-called Stem subjects including sciences and maths.
The documents released under freedom of information show Teach First is proposing a two year postgraduate course which explicitly targets shortages in Stem and rural areas.
However, there are significant issues with the programme which will prove hugely controversial if allowed to progress in their current form.
Teach First are at pains to highlight that the proposals thus far are simply that - an indication of how they might operate in Scotland and no more. The government has also said any organisation which wins the contract must partner with a university to maintain standards.
Despite this, the idea teachers could be working in schools after a five week summer school would be completely unacceptable to teaching unions. It is also highly unlikely to pass the standards expected of the General Teaching Council for Scotland, which has to sign off any new course.
In addition, paying trainees under one scheme and not another would set up a hugely unpopular “them and us” dynamic which has never existed in Scotland. There is also currently no pay scale to cover an unqualified member of staff.
The idea that hard-pressed schools have the capacity to give the intensive support and leadership opportunities required under Teach First is also stretching reality.
There is also the issue of whether it is politically sensible to use Teach First if it shatters the established high quality university route and alienates teachers without a guarantee that it is able to provide a long-term solution to recruitment problems.
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