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As DfE realise that initial teacher training may have been 'spread too thinly', hope for a clear plan grows
Initial teacher training is in a state of flux. Over the past few years, the system - responsible for channelling some 30,000 recruits a year into schools - has been on a journey away from university-led courses.
But what began as a hell-for-leather dash towards school-led training has slowed to a crawl. As TES revealed last week, university teacher training - not long ago denigrated by ministers as being part of "the blob" - now appears to be back in favour (bit.ly/DfEblob).
Ben Ramm, head of teacher supply at the Department for Education, told a conference in London: "We now have an approach that I would describe as pragmatic rather than focused on any specific structural preference for school-led or university-led ITT."
The official said education secretary Justine Greening recognised "the importance and value of high-quality university involvement in teacher training" and that this would be "sustained and increased in the coming years".
So why the switch from abuse to praise? It could be pragmatic - one reason for the proliferation of routes, from Teach First to Troops for Teachers, is that they were intended to suit the...