Alex Ford Profile picture
Jul 6, 2021 23 tweets 9 min read Read on X
Right. Back to the ITT Market Review. What delights does Part 2 hold?

First on reorganisation it is interesting that HEIs are presumably lumped under this category of "other" desspite HEIs accounting for 75% of all training and being the most effeciently organsied already /1
Let's talk efficiency for a moment. 70 accredited (!!) HEIs already train an average of 443 trainees each. The average SCITT trains just 59. It feels like there may be an obvious instrastructure advantage to one model here... /2
This seems like a major push to TS hubs being central to ITT delivery and monitoring the design and delivery of curriculum. This is a strange choice if we are to believe that research evidence is menat to drive practice. Will schools be defacto unis? /3
Another stumbling block for HEIs. Some TS hubs are already aggressively expanding to deliver a joint ITT/ECF package. HEIs are being asked to work with TS Hubs who are currently battling them for training places, local influence etc. /4
I am already noting a world in which smaller schools and trusts who value their independence are about to be swallowed up by TS hubs who have their own teaching approaches to promote via their role in ITT as providers or supporting providers. Can't imagine that going down well /5
So the DfE think Ofsted are capable of monitoring the new system but doesn't trust their judgment on the current system. Seems bizarre....
The grounds of which accreditation could be withdrawn by the DfE will be important to see. How far will this stifle academic freedoms? /6
This suggests transition will be easy becaue ITT providers already do CCF etc. yet Part 1 suggested the lack of CCF being delivered was a reason for change.
"Market warming" sounds ominious. Have already seen how this govt do contracts! Anyone got's Gav's Whatsapp? /7
I wonder if Cambridge threatening to pull out of ITT is a sufficient risk?! /8
There's no money to extend contact time, have more intensive palcmeents, train mentors more thoroughly and ensure consistency....
It would be good to see where current providers spend their money. Vast bulk of ours goes on placements and subject specific training. /9
It's almost like the current govt have not been in charge for 11 years! Schools find it confusing because a confusing system was created in the name of markets. Schools are struggling to fund mentoring because they are already very stretched - What has DfE done since 2010? /10
This is a problem I have been bangin on about for years. But schools are asked to deal with less money, continue to perform in high stakes accountability systems, redesign their curricula to meet a new set of inspection criteria, deliver TAG/CAGs with no time or money etc. /11
One thing I agree with! Now fund it! /12
The real question which the DfE should be asking is why, despite 10 years of reforms and deliberate attempts to promote school-led training, more trusts have not taken the training of teachers on fully. My view: many are happy with their HEI partnerships. /13
I am still unclear how these things will be acheived when the vague mess which is the CCF is the required starting point for ITE curric planning. Real subject sensitivty should begin with what research reveals about teahcing that subject, not shoehorning it into a cog-sci box /14
The phrase "accepted evidnece" is intersting here when it mainly refers to Sweller et al (defintiely not "accepted") and not much else.
Ofsted demanded regualr use of TS at one point.
Good partnerships already exist and have close uni-school links. /15
And now the Framework: There are well over 200 overlapping and sometimes confusing "know that" and "know how" statements in the CCF. They don't lead to curriculum coherence and they cetrainly don't support a subject specific and subejct sensitvie ITE curriculum. /16
This is absolutely the ideal but this kind of work takes investment, time, trust, stability and a committment of schools and HEIs to work closely on course development. Easy to champion and much, much harder to do when turnover in some regions is huge /17
The fundamental model of training is so weak. Input->Practice is so far from how we know people learn to teach. There are absolutely some basics which can be taught, but so much comes from the interaction of beliefs, input and specific experiences at specific points. /18
And of course much good ITE sows seeds which will be useful in a few years. I am constantly contacted by ex-trainees who find things we did in PGCE have become clearer and v valuable 3 years down the line as their beliefs and experiences cause them to rethink their training /19
I am genuinely terrified a whole generation of trainees will be staning wagging fingers in a stern way at a virtual class, or reciting scripts as a cohort to get students safely into a room en masse. "In Loehne, Umsteigen!" /20
On a side note, doesn't "intensive practice" fly in the face of the cog sci view about spacing and interleaving? /21
I don't mind much of this but it looks expensive. It's also a lot of taught time for a course which is supposed to promote deliberate practice and reflection. We tend to build from 6hrs contact (teach/coteach) to 12-15 over the course /22
And ironically there is no minimum entitlement to subject specific traning and input. For all the talk of the importanc eof subject it doesn't even get a mention in the time planning, either for trainees or mentors. Tells you everything really... Fin. /23

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More from @apf102

Jun 6
So if you are a certain age and went to a CofE school you’ll almost certainly remember singing “When I needed a neighbour.”

But did you know Sydney Carter’s 1965 hymn actually has a much more radical message?

My inner historian was curious!
🧵🪡

/1 music.apple.com/gb/album/when-…
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First a little context. I’ve always found “When I needed a neighbour” to be perfectly fine as a hymn but just a little lacking. It’s not especially uplifting and its message is very simple - a moral lesson for small people. But the school and live versions are quite different /2
You may remember the school song going along the lines:

When I needed a neighbour, were you there… and the creed and the colour, etc.
I was hungry and thirsty…
I was cold I was naked (always a giggle point in Y2)…
When I needed a shelter…

So far, so catechistic /3
Read 17 tweets
Dec 11, 2023
So after a full year of messing about @educationgovuk have decided to release more guidance on what an ITAP actually is. Always good to have more guidance when we are already interviewing for these courses! So what jumps out? /1
First, we are reminded why ITAP exists and the links to the Carter Review. What jumps out immediately is that ITAP as isolated blocks of “intensive practice” are at odds with their own evidence base – creating an artificial “other” category for learning. /2 Image
Second, it is clear that ITAP retains the notion that teaching is a hierarchical set of knowledge – a series of techniques to be learned and practiced, rather than a mixture of hierarchical and cumulative aspects which are intricately linked to specific subjects and contexts. /3 Image
Read 20 tweets
Oct 5, 2022
This year I am exploring the things I wish every new #historyteacher knew in their first years . andallthat.co.uk/blog/some-thin…

In part 4 I want to talk about developing knowledge in history classrooms - something which has been a hot topic for a while. #PGCE #ECF
The ECF and CCF have quite a lot to say about how pupils learn. However much of this stops at the point of considering knowledge transfer and the role of memory. If you are not aware of these basics however it’s worth reading @mfordhamhistory in @histassoc TH166 ImageImage
Fordham is a good starting point for moving us from some generic principles about learning to something more specific about history.

Do a little task now: what have you seen great history teachers do when they develop new knowledge in class? Image
Read 25 tweets
Sep 28, 2022
NEW: Welcome to part 3 of “Things I wish every new #historyteacher knew”. Today I want to explore what all new history teachers would benefit from knowing about the way history works and how we can open this up for young people. As ever I am drawing on @1972SHP Principles 🧵🪡
Before we begin, a little exercise. If you drew a diagram to show how historical interrogations are created, what would it look like? This is a task I get trainee teachers to do every year. If we want to explain our discipline we need to have a sense of how it works.
This is not just a “nice to know”. The National Curriculum actually demands that we introduce young people to the content of history as well as the concepts which underpin it and how it operates. Fulfilling our basic duties as history teachers requires engagement here.
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Sep 17, 2022
OK Part 2 of my @1972SHP “things-I-wish-every-new #historyteacher was-taught” thread.

Last time we looked at how new teachers learn. Today I want to think about why we are teaching history at all. /1 Image
Marc Bloch’s “The Historian’s Craft” opens with a child’s question: “Tell me, Daddy. What is the use of history?” It is a question deceptively simple because it requires an exploration of deep truths about what history is and is for. /2 Image
At the age of 4, my own daughter asked me a similar question when I told her I trained history teachers: “Why do they want to teach history, Daddy?” Interestingly, this is the exact way I tend to open my course…by asking that question. Because purposes matter! /3
Read 24 tweets
Sep 8, 2022
A new year means 100s of history PGCE / ECT teachers starting prof. journeys.

Our current (& future) ITE system, means many get very limited subject specific input.

This year I’m using a @1972SHP lens to explore the core things I wish every new history teacher knew. 🧵/1
Before we get there I want to begin by thinking about how we learn as professionals, and new professionals especially. It really helps to ensure we are open to growth and less likely to run into potential barriers /2
The first thing to recognise is that professional teaching is a constant process of growth. The teacher we start out as will be substantially different to the one we develop into. Just like Ibn Battuta’s odyssey , it’s a long term journey where we need a curious & open mind /3 Image
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