School Direct Update

One of our core goals as a TSA is to recruit and train high calibre trainees that can be employed by member schools. The current pressures on teacher recruitment make this an urgent priority. One primary school I spoke to this week had 4 applications for a permanent teaching vacancy, compared with over 100 three years ago. 

Dartmoor TSA has applied to become a Lead School for School Direct. Our plan is to recruit both primary and secondary trainees from September 2016 for September 2017 start. Our partner HEI is the University of Exeter. We have requested from the National College for Teaching and Leadership up to 12 primary placements and 16 secondary places (covering Maths, English, Physics, Chemistry, MFL, History and PE). 

There are two models for how we plan to deliver the primary and secondary programmes. For primary, Sally Huxton, from Okehampton Primary, will provide leadership for the General Primary PGCE programme. The taught QTS component of the course will be delivered at Okehampton Primary one day a week. Trainees will spend the rest of the course with their long and short placement schools. They will access the PGCE qualification through the Distance Learning pathway that UoE provide. 

For secondary, Jo Payne, from Okehampton College, will lead the programme. Like the primary programme, trainees will spend more time training in schools than the traditional PGCE route through a HEI. But unlike the primary programme, they will access the taught QTS components by attending the course at UoE during the Autumn Term. For more information visit our Get into Teaching page on the Dartmoor TSA website. 

Our marketing campaign will be crucial if we are to attract outstanding people to apply. We plan to run paper ads, develop a promotional video and run a social media campaign. But by far the most effective form of marketing will be through schools and the effectiveness of how they communicate to their staff and the wider community. In September we will be sharing with member schools a Schools Direct pack and ask for your support in helping us launch our campaign.

​Thanks to schools who have replied expressing an interest in having trainees in September 2017.