Organisation is a leading light for our teachers
AT A TIME when schools across the country are struggling to recruit new teachers one organisation is fighting to buck the trend in Portsmouth.
Government has missed its teacher recruitment target, with 3,300 places unfilled.
And in September 2019 there were 940 vacant teaching positions in England up from 380 in 2010.
There are currently 350,000 qualified teachers not teaching and every year, on average, 9.9 per cent of teachers leave the profession.
Yet during the same period, the Portsmouth Teaching School Alliance (PTSA) has seen the number of qualified teachers taking part in its initial teacher training course increase nine fold. The course sees prospective teachers learn on the job.
Alliance director and former English teacher, Sophie Venables, said: ‘The first year we had six people qualify and by the second it had gone up to 24.
‘In recent years we are providing an average of 45 teachers who are entering the school system here in Portsmouth.’
For Sophie and training course director, Lynn Nicholls, it is not just about numbers but ensuring the right calibre of people are educating the city’s children.
The course is for graduates who may be changing career and want to ‘learn on the job’ rather than going the traditional university route.
Lynn said: ‘We get the right people in the first place and only accept around 50 per cent of applicants onto the course.
‘Not everyone is cut out for teaching and it’s about ensuring we have the best people in the classroom.’
The quality of applicants, including those destined to teach children with special needs, has been recognised by city headteachers.
Ashley Oliver-Catt, headteacher at Cliffdale Special Academy, said: ‘The ITT programme has allowed us to train our own teachers specifically for special schools, which alongside the high quality support that they get from the Teaching School throughout the year, has meant that we have been able to recruit high calibre, highly skilled, newly qualified teachers directly into special school.’
Sara Spivey, headteacher at Springfield School, added: ‘Springfield School has worked closely with the PTSA over a number of years and has found their professional development and teacher recruitment programmes to be of great value to the school and to the teaching profession.’
One of PTSA’s biggest successes is not just the number of people being
Portsmouth Teaching School Alliance is leading the way in teacher recruitment and driving up standards, reports education reporter
recruited to Portsmouth classrooms but in keeping them in schools.
Retaining new teachers is a national problem, with almost one in three leaving within the first five years.
But over the last five years an average of 92 per cent of ITT teaching recruits are still teaching in Portsmouth.
The last three years have seen retention rates of 94 to 95 per cent.
Overall, 97 per cent of newly-qualified teachers in
Portsmouth – including those who go through university or the more vocational ITT – complete their induction year.
The PTSA is also aiming to develop senior leaders, especially as in 2018 figures show 27 per cent of schools in England failed to fill their senior positions.
Sophie, who works closely with Portsmouth City Council, said: ‘It’s all part of the Grow your Own initiative for the city to develop its own senior leaders and headteachers.
‘We’ve been heavily involved in running the National
Professional Qualification for Headship with middle and senior leaders.
‘The first year we had five people whereas last year it was 50, and this year another 27.
‘We now have a whole cohort of teachers involved in developing as senior leaders and potentially headteachers of the future.’
Key to this success is working with the local education authority and schools