Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to support accredited initial teacher training providers to support their new delivery partners.

Ahead of the delivery of reformed Initial Teacher Training (ITT) from September 2024, the Department is working closely with accredited ITT providers to facilitate partnerships, to help them build their capacity to cover areas that require greater provision.

The Department is encouraging accredited providers to partner with those who were unsuccessful in gaining accreditation, as this will bring together high quality provision with local expertise, connections and experience.

In December 2022, the Department published ITT Partnership guidance which contains detailed information on how accredited providers can work with unaccredited organisations to form strong partnerships. This work is also supported by the Department’s dedicated Provider Relationship Managers.

Accredited providers were also able to apply for a grant of up to £20,000 to develop partnerships to deliver ITT provision in target regions of historically low provision.

The Department is reviewing the readiness of accredited providers’ partnerships for 2024 delivery through the Stage 2 process. In this stage, ITT experts, who have experience of ITT delivery and a thorough understanding of the ITT reforms, review partnership arrangements and provide additional support to providers and their delivery partners.

The Department’s priority is to ensure that the new standards and expectations will continue to be met by all institutions delivering ITT within a partnership.