Lincolnshire schools step up to the plate after trust cuts teacher training scheme

An alliance of schools in Lincolnshire is promising to take on the role of training the next generation of teachers after the county’s education trust announced it will cut its services.

The Lincolnite revealed this week that around 20 members of staff would be made redundant when CfBT Education Trust stops its provision for improvement support and teacher training services on July 31.

The trust also confirmed its contract to deliver improvement services to struggling schools on behalf of the county council would not be renewed when it expires on August 21.

The loss of the teacher training scheme, which brings in up to a hundred teachers a year, sparked fears opportunities in the county would be significantly reduced.

CfBT and its parent company The Education Development Trust said the shake up in provision comes from a ‘firm belief’ that government appointed Teaching Schools should take the services forward.

Teaching Schools are schools that work with others to provide training and development to new and experienced school staff. They need to be rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted before applying for the status.

There are currently nine Teaching Schools in Lincolnshire, including multi-academy partnerships.

Following the announcement this week, teaching schools partnership the Lincolnshire Teaching Schools Alliance (LTSA) has said it will take up the training baton passed to them.

LTSA is made up of 22 member schools and already works closely with three other alliances in the county (Kyra, Equate and Connect).

So far more than 80 trainee teachers have been recruited onto LTSA’s primary and secondary courses for September 2016 – more than three times the number who signed up for the inaugural year in 2015.

LTSA’s school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) programmes are delivered in partnership with the University of Lincoln.

LTSA Director Andrew Chisholm said:

“The schools are united in their support of a Lincolnshire- focused teacher training programme.

“Collaborative work is fundamental to our ethos as a Teaching School and we are delighted that so many teachers are benefiting from what we do.”

LTSA, which includes schools in Lincoln, North Hykeham, Sleaford, Gainsborough and Boston, is accredited to lead and deliver the government-backed programme across a range of secondary subjects.

Andrew added: “One of the most exciting things about running a SCITT is that we can identify special areas of need within our participating schools and then advertise for, interview and train the outstanding teachers that we require.”