The following materials were developed by the Partnership Development Schools project. This partnership involved schools from various counties and their link HEI tutors. It was funded and supported by the TDA with the aim being to support the integration of ITT/ITE more fully into school life.
Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Partnerships in the East Midlands
Initial Teacher Education (ITE) has a long and successful history in the East Midlands and this is founded on close-working partnerships between ITE providers and schools. The region has a wide range of ITE providers who cover all phases and most subjects, with a great variety of routes (see ITE provision in the East Midlands). In the last comprehensive survey of schools involved in ITE most were found to be involved, through trainees working with them on placement, involvement in curriculum and training groups, and participating in a wide-range of education initiatives. In some cases schools were found to be very heavily involved, taking trainees on a regular basis year after year across many of their departments or years. Schools working in partnership tend to remain in partnership because of the benefits partnership brings to their pupils, staff and curriculum. In the East Midlands ITE providers (especially university PGCE providers) are particularly keen to hear from secondary schools wanting partnerships with their mathematics and/ or science departments and early-years settings.
If you would like to find out more about becoming a partner school please contact providers directly. You will also find useful information on their websites.
The benefits of being a partnership school:
IMPROVED PUPIL LEARNING: Having more enthusiastic adults to support learners increases support, reduces wait times, and provides scope for targeting individuals and groups (e.g. D->C, A->A*, Gifted and Talented, pupils with SEN, specialist clubs)
RECRUITMENT: There is no substitute for observing ITT trainees working with your school’s pupils when you are considering appointing new staff
DEVELOPING MENTORING AND COACHING SKILLS: All ITT providers provide mentor training which usually includes opportunities to have skills recognised and improve qualifications (see Mentor Personal Development)
TEACHING AND CURRICULUM REFRESHED: Working with ITT trainees provides school’s with new opportunities to develop their curriculum and try new approaches to teaching and learning
FINANCIAL: Being a partnership school brings many benefits including financial and/or ‘in kind’ resources.
How can a school join an ITT partnership?
Becoming involved in ITE couldn’t be easier.
Step 1: Decide the subject/ phase of ITE that your school can offer
Step 2: Find an ITE provider that you would like to work with and contact them about their partnership, what it offers schools, and the training they can provide to support your school develop successfully its ITE partnership.
Click here for the contact details for ITE providers based in the East Midlands.
Please find out more by visiting the individual provider’s website, and contact the provider’s partnership manager to discuss ways in which your school could join and benefit from being in an ITE partnership.
Mentoring & Coaching
and school performance management
Mentoring and Coaching are different but linked. Skills
gained through mentoring ITT/ITE students are transferable
to mentoring and coaching colleagues, which is a requirement
at all levels of professional development. The relationships
between these, together with support links, have been explored
by the PDS Project and can be found in the section Mentoring & Coaching.
This shows where mentoring and coaching occurs at each
level on the professional development ladder and how the
mentor/coach role may shift from mentor to coach to specialist
coach over time.
Experience and training gained thorugh mentoring ITT/ITE
students can transfer into each teacher's continuing
professional development at all levels. Therefore ITT/ITE
should be
part of every school's Improvement Plan and a policy
for ITT/ITE should be developed as part of the school
CPD Plan.
A general model which has been found useful by schools
in the Region is attached for you to adapt and incorporate
in your school policies if you wish to do so.
One PDS cluster produced two examples of primary school
lessons with mentor feedback, as examples of practice,
which have been found useful for training other mentors.
They are real examples, complete with documentation. None
of the participants would claim they represent perfection
- but they have proved useful for discussion of issues
around the mentoring processes of Observation and Feedback
with ITT/ITE trainees. To view or download please select
a case example below:
Background information on each lesson - the school context;
a lesson plan; and mentor feedback report - can be seen
by clicking on the appropriate link below:
The examples shown here are of contrasting mentor approaches
- the first is more of a 'dialogic review' approach, whilst
the second is more of a conventional 'feedback' approach.
Before viewing these examples it might be useful to read
the following attachament which gives guidance on how to
record lesson observation notes, and then turn them into
feedback and target-setting.
Attached below are a set of materials produced to support
mentors in two areas identified as needs: lesson observation
feedback and target-setting for monitoring, assessment
and record-keeping (MARRA) work. These could constitute
about one hour's CPD in total, but are broken down
into separate activities which could be done at different
times. Handouts and Case Studies to accompany the activities
are included.
The following attachments present how these contrasting schools have valued ITT
mentoring as part of their overall mentoring and coaching strategy. Click on
the school name to see the report:
The following attachments might also be of use to you
if you are thinking of having trainee teachers in your
school for the first time. Click on its title
to access each.:
Teacher
Survey - a survey of the
views of teachers at Waddington All Saints Primary School
on the value of
having ITT/ITE trainees in school.
Governor
Report - a report made
to the Governors at Waddington All Saints Primary School
on the value of having ITT/ITE
trainees in school.
