Teaching Apprenticeships: What has been announced?

Teaching Apprenticeships: what has been announced?

Overview

It has been announced by the Department for Education (DfE) that a new teaching apprenticeship will launch this autumn. The motivation seems to be to improve recruitment to the profession providing another route in. One key aspect is to allow people to earn while they study for a degree.

The DfE describes the  teacher degree apprenticeship as offering a high-quality, alternative route for people to become qualified teachers. An important feature, they say, is to draw in people who may not be able to take time out to study full-time for a degree. One target group could be staff already working in schools. 

The program to be launched will see those on the new teacher degree apprenticeship spending around 40% of their time studying for their degree. This would be with an accredited teacher training provider. The rest of the time will be in school with details of the arrangements to be announced.

A successful conclusion of the apprenticeship comes with both a degree and qualified teacher status. All tuition fees being are paid for, so trainees won’t be saddled with the student debt.

More generally, apprenticeships are designed for people of all ages and backgrounds to build successful careers in a huge range of professions. There are opportunities available at all levels up to a degree level. In preparation for the employment market, apprenticeships are a cornerstone of the government’s plans to provide people with a route into a new career.

What are education people saying about teaching apprenticeships?

Government sources say: “It will be a game-changing opportunity for schools to nurture and retain talent from the ground up, helping apprentices to gain the knowledge and skills they need to teach future generations”.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ACSL) have said: “We think this is a good idea in principle, but it is unlikely that teacher degree apprenticeships will provide anywhere near the number of qualified teachers required to solve the recruitment and retention crisis. The plan to run a pilot scheme is a sensible first step as delivering these apprenticeships will be a complex undertaking for schools and it will be important to understand how they will work in practice and the resources and time required”.

This recent announcement complements existing post graduate Apprenticeship routes into Teaching.

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