Attracting under-represented groups to train to teach in Wales

Sarah Stewart and Catherine Bleasdale, The Open University

Email: sarah.stewart@open.ac.uk, catharine.bleasdale@open.ac.uk

Session recording

Presentation

Click to download the presentation Attracting under-represented groups to train to teach in Wales (.pptx)

Abstract

Recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers is of significant importance to all and is fast-becoming an urgent policy issue in many countries, including the United Kingdom. Wales has seen a recent shift from university-based teacher education to school/university partnership programmes. Wide educational reform in Wales emphasises the recruitment of ethnic minority teachers, bilingual teachers and attracting candidates to fill rural school vacancies. However, options for part-time and employment-based routes into the teaching profession have until recently been limited in Wales. These routes can offer a more flexible teacher education for those who wish to change careers and/or have existing commitments they wish to continue with while they study.

This seminar will present the progress of two unique teacher education routes that have been delivered by the Open University since 2020 in Wales. It is informed by programme data and student teacher survey responses along with data from student teacher interviews. The part-time and employment based routes, studied over two years, has to date graduated more than 100 new teachers. The profile of these new graduates and those currently enrolled on the programme will be examined. Comparisons will be made to the gender, ethnicity, age and previous work experience profile of others training to teach in Wales. The proportion of student teachers enrolled on the new routes who declare their ethnicity has been higher each year for those enrolled with the Open University than those following other routes into teaching in Wales. There is strong evidence that for many, without the new routes into teaching they would have been unable to train to teach. Many of those on the programme are more mature than the traditional student teacher and consequently bring with them many beneficial skills from their previous careers/roles; all of which prove impactful during their training and for the schools they work in.

Sarah Stewart

Senior Lecturer (ECYS), The Open University

Sarah Stewart (BA Hons; PGCE with QTS; MA Education; FHEA) is a Senior Lecturer at The Open University in the School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport. She has worked in Higher Education (HE) for over ten years, developing a wide expertise across phases and sectors and drawing on a multi-disciplinary approach to her work. She has a particular interest in supporting initial teacher education and teacher education for practising teachers. As founding Chair of the OU ITE Partnership Committee, Sarah established the new Partnership leading to the initial regulatory accreditation of the OU routes into teaching in 2019,contributing her expertise in providing university-based alternative, pioneering forms of initial teacher education, including employment-based routes.

Catherine Bleasdale

Senior Lecturer (ECYS), The Open University

Catherine Bleasdale is a Senior Lecturer at The Open University in the School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport. Catherine supports student teachers across two routes of study as part of the pan-Wales OU ITE Partnership routes into teaching. Catherine is the module leader of the first year of the programme, in addition to playing a key role in the support and development of approximately one-hundred Practice Tutors from across the Primary and Secondary sectors across Wales.  She has recently completed her doctoral studies, where she focused on professional teacher identity development during Initial Teacher Education. Catharine’s interest in this aspect of a student teacher’s development has emerged from over two decades as a teacher educator in Wales.