S1E26: Rachel Lofthouse on exams, workload and the government's assault on ITT providers

Rachel Lofthouse is a Professor of Teacher Education in the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University. Rachel has a specific research interest in professional learning, exploring how teachers learn and how they can be supported to put that learning into practice. The first part of the conversation - roughly the first hour or so - focuses on a controversy that is unfolding in England at the current time (summer 2021) which can reasonably be described as the government’s assault on providers of University-based Initial Teacher Training. If you are listening in Summer 2021 and would like to help, you can respond to the government’s online consultation to share your views (deadline August 22, 2021). The consultation is long, and life is short, so there is also some guidance below on how you might wish to respond to the consultation without spending your entire summer holiday doing so. LINKS: The ITT Market Review: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review/initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review-overview University of Cambridge website providing further information about the review and its implications for their ITT programmes: https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/news/itt-market-review-facts-figures-information/ Statement from the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of Faculty at the University of Cambridge: https://www.cam.ac.uk/notices/news/statement-on-the-uk-government-initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review-report Blog looking at recent ITT inspections, but Terry Russell and Julie Price-Grimshaw: https://www.teachbest.education/a-look-at-recent-itt-inspections-by-terry-russell-and-julie-price-grimshaw/ Article in Times Higher Ed: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/universities-refuse-slavishly-follow-teacher-training-plans Online consultation (deadline August 22, 2021): https://consult.education.gov.uk/itt-policy-unit/initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review-recomme/ What can you do to help? Respond to the online consultation before the deadline of 22 August. Write to your local MP and explain why the continued delivery of university-based PGCE courses matters. You could approach completion of the online consultation in one of several ways: Give as full a response as possible based on your knowledge of the market review and your understanding of the sector. This is the best possible form of response, but it might include quite a lot of ‘not applicable’ responses to specific questions, because there is no way that you are able to answer some of them. This does not matter. What is important is giving your perspectives on elements of the consultation on which you do have expertise/views. The last question of the survey is of particular importance, as it asks you to summarise your views and asks about anything further you want to add. Where you have access to the responses of institutions, and you wish to mirror specific question responses with which you agree, use quotes acknowledging the source. Give a response that is a mixture of 1 & 2. Give a response in which your answer to every question is ‘Please see the views presented in response to the final question of the consultation’ (unfortunately you cannot simply leave a question blank). Then give a response in the final question which is an overview of your perspectives on the Market Review. The Rethinking Education podcast is hosted and produced by Dr James Mannion. You can contact him at https://rethinking-ed.org/contact, or via @RethinkingJames on Twitter. You can join the Rethinking Education Mighty Network here: https://rethinking-education.mn.co Buy James a coffee here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/repod