Teacher Training in England and Wales - the potential impact of Curriculum 2022 on QTS by Dr Jane Dorrian

Teacher Training in England and Wales - the potential impact of Curriculum 2022 on QTS

by Dr Jane Dorrian

The attention of the Welsh education workforce is focussed firmly on the introduction of the new ‘Curriculum for Wales 2022’ that will replace National Curriculum.

Consultations have been held, briefings have been delivered and content is being designed and scrutinised. The wholesale replacement of a curriculum impacts on every aspect of the education system, from the practicalities of recording pupil progress to philosophical considerations of the purpose of education. Discussions and debates about all aspects of the process are taking place, but the conversations connected to certain areas are louder and more urgent than others due to pressures of impending timeframes. As the date for the initial implementation of the curriculum approaches the focus currently is on the changes this will bring about in the classroom and how existing teachers and other staff will be supported to deliver the different pedagogical and professional principles underpinning it. Whilst these aspects are clearly and rightly the main priority, an issue that has not yet been given due attention is the impact that the divergence in curriculum design could have on initial teacher education (ITE) courses in England and Wales and the transferability of qualifications across the two countries. In the current system students who gain their Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in Welsh institutions are able to teach in England with no need to undertake any additional training related to the English curriculum, and the same applies to students who qualify in England and go on to teach in Wales. This differs from students who gain their teaching qualifications in Scotland or Northern Ireland who have to complete an additional QTS qualification to teach in England or Wales, and likewise teachers that hold QTS need to complete an equivalence qualification to teach in Scotland or Northern Ireland. One of the reasons for this requirement has been that the curricula delivered in Scotland and Northern Ireland are distinctly different to that delivered in England in Wales, but the introduction of Curriculum 2022 annuls that argument. Since devolution in 1999 there has been a quiet determination by the Welsh Assembly Government to create an education system ‘made in Wales, for Wales’. Rhodri Morgan, then First Minister of Wales, stated in 2002 that the Welsh Government would place “clear, red water between Cardiff and Westminster”, and subsequently differences have emerged. The introduction of Foundation Phase to replace Key Stage 1, the development of the Welsh Baccalaureate, the abolition of SATs and the introduction of Teacher Standards specific to Wales have meant that the educational landscape in Wales is becoming distinctly different from that in England and Curriculum 2022 can be seen as the culmination of this process. The Welsh Assembly Government website states that the overhaul is necessary because ‘since it was created, the (current) curriculum has become narrow, inflexible and crowded, limiting creative approaches in schools’. This statement refers to the National Curriculum that continues to be delivered in English schools, which returns us to the question of how the same initial teaching qualification can equip teachers to deliver curricula that are increasingly divergent, particularly when the teaching qualifications in the other home nations are deemed to be non-transferable because of the different curricula designs in those countries. It could be argued that the Northern Ireland curriculum is closer in design to the proposed structure of Curriculum 2022 than to National Curriculum as that is organised into areas of learning rather than subjects, so if teachers who trained in Wales need to gain additional qualifications to deliver the Irish curriculum then it would seem logical that the same requirement would be needed for those who come to

teach in Wales if they trained in one of the other home nations. There are already some inconsistencies between the initial teacher training system in England and that in Wales, with the most noticeable being related to the Welsh language. Primary trainee teachers in Wales must learn basic, incidental Welsh as part of their course in order to complete the language requirements in the current Welsh curriculum. This is regardless of whether the students come from Wales or not, whether they have any previous Welsh language experience, or whether they intend to teach in in Wales in the future. Welsh domiciled trainees who gain their qualifications in England do not have to learn any Welsh, and this can have implications for their employment if they return to Wales to work. Students who undertake their training entirely through the medium of Welsh are able to teach in England without undertaking any English language requirements. Despite the differences associated with the Welsh language provision in ITE courses, the QTS qualification that trainees achieve in England or Wales on graduation allows them to work in either country. The issue is perhaps thrown into sharpest focus when considering PCGE primary programmes, which have a limited timeframe in which to cover pedagogy, subject knowledge, classroom management and professional practice. On PGCE courses students spend a significant amount of time in the classroom, and students who are working in Curriculum 2022 primary school settings in Wales will be dealing with a very different curriculum structure and design compared to those in National Curriculum classrooms in England. At the most basic level, one set of trainees will be teaching subject disciplines whereas the other will be teaching across areas of learning of experience but there are more significant professional issues that need to be considered too. Curriculum 2022 is dependent on teachers’ abilities to develop, contribute to and maintain effective communities of practice which will be used to support the creation of a curriculum that suits an individual setting. Students on PGCE course in Wales will be immersed into this approach to planning and designing the learning events that take place in their classrooms. They will be required to interpret the general principles outlined in the curriculum guidance (the ‘What Matters’ elements of the areas of learning) to create content that relates specifically to the locale they are working in, rather than using subject content as a start point and devising activities to deliver that. Whilst this might appear to be a subtle difference it is significant as the approaches require trainee teachers to develop a set of skills and working practices that would not necessarily be as effective in the planning and delivery of a different curriculum. Clearly initial teacher education is not solely about curriculum knowledge, it has to equip students with the skills and understanding of how to teach not just what to teach but the stated aims underpinning Curriculum 2022 and National Curriculum suggest that the pedagogic approaches that best fit their delivery are quite different. One of the aims of the National Curriculum is to ‘embody rigour and high standards and create coherence in what is taught in schools’. This aim contrasts noticeably with the principles underpinning the Welsh curriculum which is striving to eliminate one coherent approach by encouraging teachers to take the curriculum and design it to fit their own setting’s specific situation creating a more bespoke approach. The stated purposes of Curriculum 2022 are ‘to help learners to be ambitious and capable; enterprising and creative, ethical and informed, and healthy and confident’. National Curriculum aims to ‘ensure that all children are taught the essential knowledge in the key subject disciplines’. Again, these statements indicate a divergence in the fundamental philosophies underpinning the different curricula and this impacts upon the pedagogies that best enable their delivery. Stated simply, one curriculum wants to ‘help learners to be’ which appears to lend itself to co-constructive, shared learning pedagogies and other wants to ‘ensure that all children are taught’ which could be interpreted as favouring a more didactic style. Whilst this is a blunt and unnuanced distinction to make, and the National Curriculum clearly allows and enables effective shared learning and discovery-based approaches to be utilised, there is still a disparity evident in what the curricula are trying to achieve and this will impact upon the methods that are best suited to delivering them. Initial teacher training programmes need to produce employable graduates that can deliver the curriculum effectively. If their training has been based on the principles and pedagogies associated with one country’s curriculum is it

feasible to expect them to be able to switch to another without any additional training or development? This question applies to NTQs and experienced teachers alike and links back to the fact that there is a requirement to undertake an equivalence process to move to any other UK system. As the #IndyWales movement gains momentum, more and more attention is being paid to the extent to which policy and practice needs to be Wales specific rather than cross border and this has resulted in a variety of wider issues beginning to impact upon the education sector. There are funding implications for students who opt to train to teach through the medium of Welsh. Recent research for the Education Workforce Council (Egan, Longville & Milton, 2019) showed that the bursaries and additional financial support offered to encourage students to train through the medium of Welsh meant that, that in some instances, they could be worse off when they started work. The introduction of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure in 2011 made Welsh an official language of Wales and established a legal framework to impose duties on public organisations to comply with one or more standards of conduct related to the Welsh language. This means Welsh must be treated no less favourably than English and there are minimum requirements that all organisations must meet, such as answering the phone with bilingual greetings. In conjunction with this agenda the Welsh Government has made a commitment to support the aim that there will be a million Welsh speakers by 2050. In schools the introduction of the standards and the associated commitment means that the expectations and requirements of teachers’ Welsh language skills are increasing. Previously some schools have used planning, preparation and assessment cover arrangements to deliver Welsh language teaching, particularly in areas of Wales with traditionally low numbers of Welsh speakers such as Torfaen and Monmouthshire, but as children’s language skills improve and expectations around language provision increase delivering discrete lessons in PPA sessions will not be a suitable or appropriate approach. Welsh will need to be embedded and used throughout all aspects of school life rather than taught in isolation. These examples of wider political and social issues impacting upon education in Wales further illustrate the potential challenges that could be faced by teachers training in one country and moving to teach in the other without any transitional professional development requirements. This is not to suggest that Wales is unique in having region specific issues that impact on teaching and learning, or that these issues should preclude teachers from training in one system and teaching in another. As mentioned previously, all teacher training programmes should equip students with the skills and knowledge to develop a wide range of pedagogical approaches and the teacher standards underpinning training programmes in England and in Wales require students to be able to demonstrate this range. However, the current transferability of the QTS qualification between the two countries must raise concerns about whether teachers are being adequately supported if they make the transition between Wales and England, particularly when compared to the requirements associated with moving to work in the other home nations. As the consultations, preparations and training events related to the implementation of Curriculum 2022 begin in earnest this is surely the time to consider the impact the change will have on the current transferability of teaching qualifications and to explore whether the existing arrangements will work in the future. Without this consideration there is a risk that teachers moving from one country to another to work will find the transition a stressful, complex and challenging experience which they have to navigate as an individual, compared to the systems in place to support the transition into teaching in the other home nations. Having a similar requirements or systems across the whole UK could allow for easier movement and more effective preparation for their new role which is more likely to have positive outcomes for teachers and for their learners.

References Egan, D., Longville, J. & Milton E. (2019) Graduate Recruitment: Teaching and Other Professions: A research report for the Education Workforce Council Cardiff: Cardiff University Press Dr Jane Dorrian is a Regional Academic Staff Tutor with the Open University based in Wales.

National Association for Primary Education

NAPE promotes the very best opportunities for children's learning through:

• sharing exemplary teaching approaches • bringing together groups of colleagues for support • developing a strong professionalism • providing conferences with speakers of national reputation • publishing Primary First, a reflective and informative journal • enabling debate about innovative teaching

NAPE is an important national voice for early and primary education. We influence government and its agencies through:

• engaging with consultations and formulating responses • participating in discussions at the highest level with other organisations • Issuing media releases and influencing public opinion • responding to media enquiries • participating in radio and TV interviews

Members are kept up to date and fully involved through the NAPE website www.nape.org.uk

By joining NAPE you become part of a nationwide movement to improve the status and resourcing of early years and primary education. You will gain not only from a fellowship of shared aims and expertise but also from an increasing range of benefits available to members and school communities.

Join us now through our website or by emailing to nationaloffice@nape.org.uk

The office administrator at 01604 647646 will be happy to answer any queries. Payment can be made through BACS, Paypal or cheque.

• Individual membership £30 • School Community membership, Group 1 £40,

Group 2 and above £55 • No fee is due from student teachers.