With teacher recruitment below target, Anglia Ruskin University launches an innovative programme to train and retain teachers in the East of England
East Anglia has a shortage of teacher training opportunities, causing aspiring teachers to leave the region and meaning that local schools are unable to benefit from a large pool of newly qualified teachers graduating from local universities.
ARU, the Times Higher Education University of the Year, aims to address this imbalance with its new Primary Education with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) course, which is the first new BEd degree to be introduced in the UK in the last 30 years.
The course, which will welcome its first students this September, has already received over 300 applications and ARU is now calling on more primary schools in the region to join the partnership and provide important local placement opportunities to ensure the East continues to have a pipeline of talented teachers for years to come.
ARU’s degree course incorporates the most up to date government requirements alongside an intensive course of in-classroom experience working in partnership with local schools. Students studying with ARU in Chelmsford, Cambridge and Peterborough will build up their classroom responsibilities, taking up to 80% responsibility for a class in a local school for their third-year studies. Assessed in teaching at both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, the course has been specifically designed to produce some of the most confident and professional teachers in the country.
Jenny Fogarty, Director of Initial Teacher Training and an Associate Professor at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: “The sheer number of applicants that we have had for the inaugural year of this course shows that there is real desire for future teachers to train and stay within the East of England area. We are ranked 7th out of 89 providers in the UK for Education in the latest Guardian University Guide League Table and proud to be the only provider in the East of England to offer the BEd with QTS from September 2024.
“Since being given the opportunity to provide this qualification, we have worked closely with local primary schools, but we are keen to extend our partnership with an even greater range of schools providing them with local talented teachers.
“An extensive amount of time in a real-world classroom environment is required for students to receive their qualifications so we really need as many schools as possible to work with us if we are to achieve our goals of training and retaining talent in the East of England. Schools really benefit from resilient local teachers and our course has been designed to accommodate the needs of the modern education system in the region. I would encourage any schools who might be interested to speak to us and find out how they can be part of enhancing the skilled teachers on their doorstep.”
Steve Bowsher, Headteacher at Larchwood Primary School in Brentwood, Essex said: “This is a brand-new degree and I can’t think of anywhere better than ARU’s campuses to teach it. It is incredibly exciting to think that a new group of primary school teachers will be trained in local schools ready to shape the future for local children. If we can engage even more schools across the East of England to be part of this process, we can give potential teachers a positive experience of learning locally and retain that talent for the benefit of children across the region.”
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