It offers personal and professional development opportunities for teachers.

·         Mentoring a trainee increases expertise amongst staff.

·         It provides an additional adult in the classroom

·         Employing a trainee enables teachers to have more non-contact time once the trainee is competent to take responsibility for whole classes

·         Many of our Partners use the GTP as part of a long-term strategy to address teacher shortages (‘grow your own’), with many trainees gaining employment in their training school, once qualified.

Applying to the Programme - Trainees

The STTP GTP programme is highly competitive.  Successful applicants are usually highly qualified and have some prior school-based experience, either as a teaching assistant or as an unqualified teacher. Others will have other relevant experience of working with children and have spent time working voluntarily in school.

·         The programme usually lasts one year, full time.  In exceptional circumstances trainees may complete in a shorter period or undertake this programme part-time

·         There is usually one entry point for Primary trainees: at the start of the Autumn term. There are two entry points for Secondary trainees: in September and January.

All trainees accepted on the programme will:

·         have achieved a standard equivalent to a grade C in the GCSE examination in English and mathematics, and that all who intend to train to teach pupils aged 3-11 additionally have achieved a standard equivalent to a grade C in the GCSE examination in a science subject.

§   hold a first degree of a United Kingdom higher education institution or

equivalent qualification. Equivalency of any qualifications gained overseas must be established by NARIC confirmation of equivalency

A first degree comprises 300 HE credit points of which 60 must be at a level 6 of the national qualifications framework (NQF)  (original certificates are checked at interview).

·         have been through a selection process which includes an individual interview, completion of Maths and English tasks and assessment of the ability to communicate in Standard English.

·         have completed a Self Declaration for registration with the GTCE at the point of application.  However, they will still be required to obtain full CRB clearance and medical clearance to confirm they are fit to teach.  – this is the responsibility of the school.

·         From November 2010, applicants will have to be registered with the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

 From September 2009, all applicants to the programme will have completed a school-based assessment of potential to teach prior to being invited to STTP selection. Moderation of this will be undertaken by STTP and the results of school-based assessment will contribute to STTP recruitment scoring. 

Applying to the Programme – New Schools

What are the practical implications for schools of committing to train a Graduate Trainee?

The Graduate Teacher Programme is an employment-based route into teaching and the school undertakes to offer a minimum of 150 hours of training. The school employs the trainee for a year as an unqualified teacher.  A GTP trainee must be paid on the unqualified teacher’s salary scale.  The minimum salary from September 2009 is £15,461. Those who are given a salary funded place on the programme must be supernumerary.  This means that the salary-funded GTP trainee must not be filling a teaching vacancy at a school. The school bears all on-costs, making a total financial commitment of around £5,000 over the training period.

For those on training grant only places the school and/or local authority is expected to meet all of the trainee’s employment costs. Trainees pursuing this option must be paid in accordance with either the qualified or unqualified teacher scales. Training grant only funded places can be given to those who are filling a teaching vacancy but this is not an assessment only route to QTS. Teaching commitment must be reduced to allow the trainee to meet their own development needs and complete a minimum of 60 days of training.

 ·          A School ITT Co-ordinator and/or GTP Manager must be nominated (ideally not the same person who will be the trainee’s day-to-day Mentor).  The Co-ordinator needs to be a senior member of staff who will take overall responsibility for the quality of the training and support the trainee receives at the school and also to ‘line manage’ the work of the Mentor in that aspect of their work. Therefore the ITT Co-ordinator and/or GTP Manager has responsibilities for:

Ø    Trainee recruitment and selection

Ø    The school –based training programme

Ø    Mentor development

Ø    Quality assuring the school-based programme.This includes

           moderating assessment of trainee progress; monitoring trainee

           entitlement to training in school; ensuring the timely return of all 

           monitoring documentation to STTP and recommending the

           trainee for STTP final assessment.

·          The Co-ordinator will be required to attend two half-day training and development meetings at STTP.

 ·         A GTP trainee requires regular support from their Mentor and other school staff.  This includes a formal timetabled mentor session at least weekly and written observation of the trainee at least weekly once they start teaching (observations may be shared with other qualified colleagues who are familiar with) and one visit to the trainee in their second school.

·         The School Mentor will be expected to attend STTP training sessions, one at the start of the trainee's first term, and another towards the end of that term.

·         The School Mentor will be expected to be available at some point each time the STTP Tutor Assessor visits the trainee and be willing to undertake joint observations of the trainee, for mentor training and moderation purposes.

·         A trainee will need the school to provide the learning opportunities set out in their Individual Training Plan, so that they can meet the Standards for the award of QTS.

·         All trainees are required to train across two consecutive key stages.  Secondary Trainees must have the opportunity to teach their subject specialism at both KS3 and KS4 (age ranges 11-14 and 14-16).  Primary trainees must have the opportunity to teach the full curriculum to two consecutive age ranges from the following: 3-5 year, 5-7 years, 7-9 years, 9-11 years.

It is possible for a trainee to be placed in a school that does not offer the full age-range for which they are training but in such cases the trainee will need to be released to obtain an appropriate level of experience in the other age range: some of this can be during their second school placement (a compulsory feature of all initial teacher training), but it is likely that the trainee will need to spend additional days in other schools to ensure compliance.

In addition, training programmes should engage trainees with the expectations, curricula, strategies and teaching arrangements in the age ranges immediately before and after the ones they are trained to teach. STTP requires 3 days cross phase visits during induction and additional visits to schools and other settings with a focus on progression in the subject (secondary) and in core subjects (primary) throughout the programme.

For example:

·         A trainee working in a 13-18 Independent School will need to gain appropriate experience of teaching their subject to Years 7&8 in a state maintained school.  It may be necessary to release the trainee for more than the 15 days of the second school experience to ensure compliance.

·         A trainee training for 3-5 and 5-7 years and working in a school without a Nursery will either need to carry out their second school practice in a Nursery operating within an Infant / Primary School OR they may carry out their second school practice in a Reception or Year 1 class and then spend an additional three weeks working in an Early Years setting (either within a school or in a private nursery / early years setting.

·         Trainees wishing to train for 5-7 and 7-9 years should either train in a Primary School or could be based in two schools (one Infant and one Junior) on an equal time basis.  In such cases, the trainee will require a mentor in both schools.  If the schools are within the same catchment area, a trainee will still be required to undertake a further contrasting second school experience.  Schools interested in partnering in this way should contact STTP for guidance on timetabling and funding.  The minimum amount of time a trainee will be required to spend in each of their chosen age-ranges is 8 weeks (40 days).

What are the financial implications for state-maintained schools?

·         Each accepted salary funded trainee placed in a state-maintained school comes with a £13,500 grant (or £14,400 if in Thurrock and eligible for fringe payment (September 2010)), as a contribution towards salary costs. This would be paid direct to school by STTP in termly instalments in arrears (December, March, July).

·         A GTP trainee must be paid on the unqualified teacher’s salary scale.  The minimum salary from September 2009 is £15,461 for Southend schools and £16,477 for schools in London fringe areas.  The school bears all on-costs, making a total financial commitment of around £5,000 over the training period.

·         In addition, the school will receive £500 per term from the Training Grant received by STTP as a contribution towards mentoring costs.

·         The school will need to cover the costs of releasing the Mentor for tutorials with the Trainee (at least weekly, one hour) and for releasing Mentors and the ITT Co-ordinator and/or GTP Manager  to attend training and development sessions at STTP, as specified above.

What are the financial implications for Independent schools?

·         There is no Salary Grant for trainees in Independent schools.

·         A GTP trainee must be paid on the unqualified teacher’s salary scale.

·         The school must pay STTP for the costs of training. This will be £3,000 for 2009/10

·         The school will need to cover the costs of releasing the Mentor for tutorials with the Trainee (at least weekly, one hour) and for releasing Mentors and the ITT Co-ordinator / GTP Manager to attend training and development sessions at STTP, as specified above.

What does STTP Provide?

·         Documentation including Initial Needs Analysis and Individual Learning Plan and Handbook

·         Tutor Assessor visits (5 per year)

·         Mentor and ITT Co-ordinator and/or GTP Manager training and support

·         Central training in both professional and subject studies. The core central training is around 150 hours a year. Additional personalised training is also provided through visits and trips

·         Tutorials for trainees

·         Directed activities

·         Help in equipping trainees to work in multi-cultural settings and with learners with disabilities by facilitating visits to London schools and special schools

·         Co-ordinated trainee visits to Partner Schools for diversity, curriculum development and subject studies

·          Arranges practice interviews with Partner Schools

·         Additional trainee support as required

How often will the trainee be away from school for training events?

The trainee will be away from their main school on several occasions to attend courses or to fulfil other training requirements.  This will include:

·         Central training days

·         Second school teaching experience -  minimum 15 days (usually during term 2)

·         Cross -phase school visits (3 days) + other visits to schools and other settings  

·         Release time to take Skills Tests (one day or 3 half days)

·         Communities of Practice – subject study tutorials (secondary only)

·         Other day visits to the Education Show and Betts Show

·         Trainees should be given occasional study days to complete directed activities, work on their individual training plan or build their portfolios.   The recommendation is 3 days in total, the timings of which should be agreed between the trainee and mentor to meet academic deadlines.

It is possible for a trainee to be placed in a Special School?

All the above requirements still apply but, in addition, a trainee is required to undertake 50 days' training in a mainstream school, covering the two key stages for which they are training.  Trainees wishing to train in a Special School are expected to have had prior experience of Special Educational Needs, for example, by having worked as an LSA. The trainee should have a mentor in each school and roles and responsibilities of each mentor and the training programme should be clarified before the start of the programme. Any salary grant will be paid to the employing school. Similarly the training grant will be paid to the employing school and both schools should agree any training grant that will be payable to the mainstream school. If the trainee is receiving a salary-funded place, they are required to be supernumerary in both schools. Trainees undertaking the programme in a special school and a mainstream school will also be required to complete a second mainstream school placement unless it can be clearly demonstrated that the two schools can ensure coverage of the full breadth of the Standards in terms of development of Subject Knowledge for Teaching. Exemption from a second main school placement is at the discretion of STTP and will be decided on the basis of evidence supplied in the completed Request for Exemption from Second School Placement pro-forma.