Correspondence

Teacher Recruitment Bulletin: September 2018

Updated 5 November 2018

Welcome to the September 2018 edition of the Teacher Recruitment Bulletin, which contains vital information to support your initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment. Your colleagues can subscribe by emailing teacher.recruitmentbulletin@education.gov.uk.

1. Initial Teacher Training 2019 to 2020 - opening the recruitment cycle

We’re pleased to confirm that the Department for Education will launch its new search service for potential teachers, ‘Find postgraduate teacher training’, on 2 October. UCAS will accept applications to courses from 9 October.

We contacted all providers delivering teacher training for 2019 to 2020 on 6 September 2018, with instructions on how to publish their courses on ‘Find postgraduate teacher training’ and all required actions.

To ensure courses are published in full, all providers must do the following by Tuesday 18 September:

1. Update the status of their courses in UCAS web-link. To add content to a course in ‘Publish teacher training courses’ (the publishing tool for the search service), it must first be set to ‘New’ or ‘Running’ in UCAS web-link. Only those courses set to ‘Running’ will be published in ‘Find postgraduate teacher training’.

2. Complete their course information in ‘Publish teacher training courses’. This allows providers to give a more thorough description of their courses.

This activity is in preparation for the launch of the new search service, and does not yet mean providers have permission to recruit. The DfE Allocations team will confirm permission later in September.

For support on enriching course content, please email becomingateacher@digital.education.gov.uk.

For support on allocations, please email itt.allocations@education.gov.uk.

2. Train to Teach events 2018 to 2019 - apply for an exhibition space by Friday 14 September

The Train to Teach events for autumn 2018 are now confirmed; we’d like as many providers as possible to access our events schedule.

Last year saw 8,500 potential candidates for initial teacher training attend an event. By securing a stand, your organisation will meet high numbers of candidates exploring the benefits of a career in teaching and discovering opportunities available to them through your programme.

To maximise your chance of being allocated a stand at your preferred event, we encourage you to collaborate with other schools or providers in your network or alliance, and apply to host a shared stand.

Please complete all sections of the booking form, with your top 3 preferences by 5pm Friday 14 September 2018.

3. Teaching advocates sought to support Get Into Teaching events

We’re seeking enthusiastic teachers to support Get Into Teaching events across England and act as teaching advocates.

The role of a teaching advocate is to promote the profession and talk to visitors on a one-to-one basis, and share impartial advice based on first-hand experience.

This opportunity is most suited to trainees or NQTs, though more experienced teachers are also welcomed. It offers you the chance to showcase your ITT programme as the teacher can provide a personal account of their training.

We particularly need teacher advocates in the following areas: Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Derby, Exeter, Hull, Lancaster, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Oxford, Reading, Sheffield, Stoke, Sunderland and York.

If you know teachers who may be interested in this role, to find out more and register interest please email whatson.where@education.gov.uk by 5pm Friday 28 September 2018.

4. Recruitment campaign launches 1 October 2018 - register for marketing workshops

Our new recruitment campaign launches on 1 October 2018. Through national media including TV, radio and press, we’re working with teachers to show the lasting impact they have on young people’s lives.

We’ll share a link to the new TV advert in the October bulletin. To help you align your own marketing to the national campaign, we offer a range of promotional resources, including our marketing toolkit, which will be refreshed to reflect the new campaign by 1 October.

You can also attend one of our marketing workshops. Please register:

Leeds – Monday 8 October 2018, 9am to 3pm

Birmingham – Monday 15 October 2018, 9am to 3pm

London – Monday 29 October 2018, 9am to 3pm

5. Case studies sought to support the Get Into Teaching PR campaign

The Get Into Teaching PR campaign is looking for new case studies for a variety of media opportunities, highlighting teaching as an attractive and rewarding career.

We are searching for a range of primary and secondary school teachers, from graduates and career changers to those who have returned to teaching after a break, who would be willing to share their stories with our PR agency.

Positive media coverage from case studies can benefit the individual, the school and the general profile of teaching.

If you have any trainees, newly qualified or more experienced teachers interested in getting involved, please email getintoteaching@kindredagency.com with their name, age, contact details, subject or subjects taught, and school.

6. Teacher workload reduction toolkit

Teachers in the early stages of their careers frequently report excessive workloads, and cite workload as a cause to consider leaving the profession.

The workload reduction toolkit has been published to help schools address workload issues through advice, tools and case studies. It has been designed by teachers and school leaders and is split into 3 stages:

• identifying the issues
• taking action
• evaluating the impact

The toolkit covers 6 areas, including supporting Early Career Teachers, and schools can tailor the tools to suit their own context.

Please visit reducing workload in your school to explore the toolkit for your own needs, and share the toolkit with your schools.

Please send any comments to workload.solutions@education.gov.uk.

7. Chartered College of Teaching - promote the benefits to your trainees

The recently formed Chartered College of Teaching (CCoT) is an independent professional body championing high teaching standards and effective, evidence-based practice. They currently offer free membership to ITT trainees and discounts for those in their NQT year.

Membership benefits include:

• access to the College’s Impact Journal and The Profession publications
• exclusive access to a continuous professional development (CPD) knowledge-base of 2000+ articles and ebooks
• opportunities to join membership networks (regional, thematically focused, or collaborative hubs)
• potential to join the College’s 14-month Chartered Teacher Programme, CTeach, for advanced teachers (5-years’ teaching practice) looking to develop pedagogically

We would encourage providers to promote CCoT’s offer to their trainees, so they start their teaching careers with professional pride, and greater understanding of developmental opportunities open to them.

Find out more at Chartered College of Teaching.

8. Recruit a Spanish language teacher - no recruitment fees to pay

If you are looking for a Spanish language teacher, why not recruit from our pool of qualified teachers from Spain? There are no recruitment costs to your school.

All teachers have been rigorously assessed and interviewed by English head teachers and have Qualified Teacher Status; our teachers all receive an acclimatisation support package and will have an in-school mentor for day-to-day support.

To find out more, please register at Spain’s Visiting Teachers programme.

9. Advice for EU citizens and employers

The UK is due to leave the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019. If you are an EU citizen, have teaching colleagues from the EU, or are recruiting from the EU, we encourage you to read and share this information.

• the main campaign page, EU citizens’ rights and settlement scheme, provides information on the citizens’ rights agreement and the settlement scheme for EU citizens in the UK. You can also sign up via this page to alerts from the Home Office
• if EU citizens want to stay in the UK beyond 31 December 2020, they and their close family members will need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. The scheme will open fully by March 2019. Please visit Settled and pre-settled status for EU citizens and their families for more information
• the EU Settlement Scheme: employer toolkit has been launched to equip employers with the tools and information to support EU citizens and their families on the EU Settlement Scheme

10. School experience - provider requirements

We would like to remind ITT providers and lead schools that they must not reject candidates who are suitable to train to teach due to a lack of prior school experience. They should also ensure entry criteria on provider websites is clear and concise.

This requirement is outlined in section C1.3 of the ITT criteria, which states: ‘Prior experience in a school is not required. However, where candidates have been able to gain experience in schools, providers might find reports from those schools helpful. Lack of school experience should not be a reason for rejecting an otherwise suitable applicant’.

To view the criteria, please visit ITT criteria and supporting advice.

For further information, please email itt.accreditation@education.gov.uk.

11. ITT funding updates

Training Bursary, Early Years and School Direct (salaried) funding for academic year 2018 to 2019 will commence from September 2018.

To ensure payment from October, please return outstanding Grant Funding Agreements to gfa.ittfunding@education.gov.uk by 5pm Friday 14 September 2018.

Following a recent consultation, eligible teachers must submit their Golden Hello claims to their employing academy or Local Authority on or before 30 September 2019.

We also advise ITT providers and lead schools to read the 2018 to 2019 funding manuals. The Training Bursary, Early Years, School Direct (salaried) and Golden Hello funding manuals can be viewed at Funding: initial teacher training (ITT), academic year 2018 to 2019.

If you require assistance, please email itt.funding@education.gov.uk.

12. Postgraduate teaching apprenticeships webinar

In case you missed the extra July Teacher Recruitment Bulletin, the postgraduate teaching apprenticeship team held a webinar on Friday 6 July 2018 covering all aspects of teaching apprenticeship for schools and local authorities.

You can access the recording of the webinar. To hear the audio, please fast-forward 3 minutes 30 seconds. You can also access a copy of the slides accompanying the recording.

For further information, please email teaching.apprenticeships@education.gov.uk.