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Birmingham City University bucks national teacher training trends

5104/SA 23rd July 2008

Recent newspaper headlines have been concerned about drop-out rates on teacher training courses and about the number of teacher training graduates who do not actually progress into teaching as a career. (see this article from the Independent)
 
Colin Hill, Director of Staffing and Resources at Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Education, comments on this.  He said: “Whilst I am sure that these concerns are based on accurate sets of national statistics, they are not statistics that applies to teaching graduates from Birmingham City University.

The Good Teaching Training Guide, 2008, compiled by Alan Smithers and Pamela Robinson, was published last Friday (25th July), and makes particular mention of Birmingham City University. It states: ‘Birmingham City University in 13th place is the first of the former polytechnics and that by dint of its excellent record of trainees entering teaching.’

“The University has always done well in terms of teaching graduates finding jobs.  We like to think that this is because the training is of such a high standard that schools are eager to employ our graduates.  Of course, this is true but there are other local factors to take into account: there is traditionally high teacher mobility within large conurbations and this gives our graduates better employment prospects if they apply within the built up areas of the West Midlands rather than to schools in rural settings.

“I know how difficult it is to be appointed as a newly qualified teacher in small towns and villages. One short term contract for maternity cover in a primary school attracted over seventy applicants. For newly qualified teachers who are not flexible about where they apply, the prospects can be daunting.

The second news item to appear in the press in recent weeks is also linked to the ‘The Good Teaching Training Guide.’  The BBC News website on July 25th states: ‘The proportion starting postgraduate courses with at least 2:1 degrees rose from 49% in 1996 to 58% in 2006.’

This is another statistic that is undoubtedly true at a National level but does not apply across the range of subjects.  At Birmingham City University all students accepted for a primary PGCE normally need a 2.1 honours degree or better as do secondary Drama PGCE students. There are some subjects where it is difficult to attract applicants; secondary maths, science, food technology and modern foreign languages specialists are such subjects.  Here students are offered placed with lower degree classification.”

For further information please contact Birmingham City University Media Relations Office on 0121 331 6738, email press@bcu.ac.uk or out of hours on 07967 271 532.

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