31st July 2019 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The government has announced plans for qualifications to continue career progression for teachers who do not want to take on leadership roles. Reported on the BBC, the idea is to allow teachers to train in areas such as behaviour management or the curriculum rather than looking to become a deputy head or head teacher, the traditional way for teachers to advance their career.
A panel of experts has been appointed with a view to introducing the new qualifications in 2020-21, but this has drawn criticism from teaching unions. A spokesperson from the National Education Union said that the government has failed to take the profession with them when creating these qualifications and that there is a lack of transparency about how the experts have been selected.
The School standards minister, Nick Gibb, has outlined these plans as part of the teacher retention and recruitment strategy which was launched in January this year. He said that the training and qualifications available to teachers needs to reflect modern education and what teachers want. For many teachers this means staying in the classroom.
The news comes shortly after Gibb revealed that the existing skills test for teachers will be removed and replaced by a better system to test the basic skills of trainee teachers. The teacher training providers will now be responsible for ensuring that new teachers’ numeracy and literacy skills meet the required standard.