Background and overview

What are Centres for Excellence in Teacher Training?
What is happening in the East of England?
What is the EECETT doing in the first year?
How can people get involved?

Background

In response to the 2006 White Paper, Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances, the government introduced regulations on initial teacher training, and continuing professional development (CPD) which came into effect in September 2007. The regulations apply to all FE colleges and other providers that are publicly funded. The reforms were heralded in Equipping our Teachers for the Future in 2004 and seek to address systemic weaknesses in the national system of teacher training identified by Ofsted in 2003.

From September 2007, all new entrants to teaching in the sector will be required to complete an award which will be mandatory for any new teacher of provision that is publicly funded. Teachers will progress to either, Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) for those in a full teaching role, or to Associate Teacher Learning and Skills (ATLS) for those in an associate teaching role. The qualifications have been developed based on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) model, offering core and optional units at different levels.

What are Centres for Excellence in Teacher Training?

Part of the government’s agenda for reform has been to establish a national network of Centres for Excellence in Teacher Training (CETTs). CETTs are partnerships working with QIA to raise the quality of teacher education through pooling resources and developing and sharing effective practice. Eleven partnerships across England have been awarded CETT status to identify and disseminate good practice and to bring people together to support quality improvement for all teacher education in the sector. All CETTs are operational from September 2007.

What is happening in the East of England?

The aim of the EECETT is to create a network of ITT providers and representatives of employer groups across the Region, to ensure that expertise is shared, capacity is increased and quality of provision is improved. The EECETT will:

1. Support capacity building across providers to support the delivery of the new regulations

2. Provide opportunities for all trainees to observe and co-tutor in different contexts

3. Provide access to support from and networking with high quality provision across all subject areas

4. Support quality improvement for all teacher education provision and seek further funding to ensure sustainability of the support

5. Develop and evaluate innovative practice in the region

6. Disseminate good practice from the region and nationally from other CETTs

7. Support high quality delivery of teacher education with clear progression routes across the full range of learning and skills contexts.

What are we doing in the first year?

1. Develop and implement a research and development strategy with clear priorities for research and strategies for dissemination

2. Develop and embed a strategy for equality and diversity across CETT practice

3. Establish a VLE for the EECETT to support the capacity building of best practice in e-learning and ICT and to facilitate dissemination of good practice and provide access to resources for teachers and trainees across the region

4. Promote high quality mentoring at all levels of the partnership and build capacity to meet new national standards for Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status

5. Improve the quality and consistency of Individual Learning Plans in use across the CETT

6. Develop and implement a coherent and effective communication and dissemination framework across the region and nationally.

There is an EECETT Advisory Board that meets three times a year and an EECETT Management Group which meets monthly and organises the plans and activities necessary for implementing the approved business plan.

Activities and support include:

Dissemination events locally to inform all providers in the Learning and Skills sector of the requirements for Initial teacher Training and how the CETT can support them
Specialist networks for trainees across the sector
Dissemination for teacher trainer providers through the ACER Teacher Education Forum.
Training Mentor trainers
Training for new mentors, especially for subject specialists and providing a database that all providers can access.
Support for developing Individual Learning Plans
Establishing a site on the ACER Moodle for holding specialist resources and providing support for e-learning.
Chat rooms on the moodle for specialist areas of ITT.

Further information about CETTs nationally can be found on the QIA website.

How can you get involved?

There will be opportunities for teacher education providers, employers and trainees to access information and gain from the work of EECETT from September 2007:

1.This website will hold information and resources for employers, teacher educators and trainees

2. Links to all other CETTs nationally and to QIA for ITT resources

3. Dissemination events in each county for employers and teacher educators

4. Sharing emerging ideas and practice with Teacher Educators through ACER’s Teacher Education Forum that meets three times a year

5. Specialist networks for trainees in priority areas.