Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the initial teacher training market review, whether her Department is taking steps to support the reaccreditation of the University of Plymouth.

The Department appointed an Expert Advisory Group in 2020 to consider how the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) sector can provide consistently high quality training, in line with the ITT Core Content Framework. A central recommendation of the ITT Market Review report, accepted by the Department, was that all ITT courses leading to Qualified Teacher Status should have to adhere to a set of Quality Requirements, and that all providers of these courses should go through an accreditation process to ensure they can meet the new requirements from September 2024.

179 providers have been accredited to deliver ITT from September 2024, following a rigorous accreditation process. These providers cover all regions of the country and include new entrants to the market. Safeguarding teacher supply is a key priority, including in Plymouth, and the Department will continually monitor provision levels to ensure that there are sufficient ITT places to meet teacher recruitment targets. The reforms aim to ensure every trainee experiences high quality, seamless and coherent ITT programmes and quality will not be compromised.

The Department is now actively encouraging partnership and expansions in areas which may have fewer providers following the accreditation process and where unsuccessful providers, such as the University of Plymouth, wish to stay involved in ITT delivery. To support these partnership conversations the Department published guidance, as well as information on funding support, on 12 December 2022 which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-itt-forming-partnerships.

The accreditation process concluded in September 2022 and was followed by an appeals process which concluded in December 2022. The Department does not intend to run any further accreditation rounds before the first delivery of reformed ITT in September 2024. The next round of accreditation is expected to take place during 2025/26, after the reforms have embedded into the system.