Billericay Educational Consortium

The programme aims to:

* Increase the supply of appropriately trained, suitably qualified and inspirational teachers in Essex primary schools
* Exploit the potential of school-based training with mentor support, linked to in-depth knowledge of relevant theoretical frameworks and exceptionally well-developed practical teaching experiences in Key Stages 1 and 2
* Provide access to outstanding quality training and professional development for potential teachers
* Enable trainees to achieve recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status and gain the award of Professional Graduate Certificate in Education

Programme Learning Outcomes

Participants who complete successfully all the requisite components of this programme will demonstrate:

* Outstanding professional attributes, knowledge and understanding and professional skills in teaching commensurate with a person who has exceeded the normative TDA Standards for the award of QTS (L01)
* Secure and detailed subject knowledge of the National Curriculum, other national guidance documents and current educational research (L02)
* Professional reflexivity in their approach to learning (L03)
* Personal capacity to acquire, review and extend as needed, their subject knowledge (L04)
* High expectations, respect and commitment for the learners in their care working with school policy and practices (L05)
* Effective use of ICT as a teaching and learning tool (L06)
* Well developed ability to critically analyse, reflect and evaluate theory/policy linked to practice to implement improvements and engage effectively in professional debate (L07)
* Ability to motivate, inspire and challenge learners (L08)
* Effective use of assessment to support individual learning (L09)
* Initiative to take personal responsibility for their own professional development (L010)

The course focuses, during the early stages, on the acquisition of a repertoire of basic classroom management competencies to develop the confidence of trainees to work with children in the inside and outside classroom. There is progressive introduction both to theoretical ideas that underpin professional practice and to the various dimensions of the professional debate. Trainees receive extended and focused support and tuition in the three National Curriculum core subjects:

* English
* Mathematics
* Science.

The work emphasises the importance of reading, numeracy and investigational science.

There is also support and tuition in other curriculum subjects:

* Art
* Citizenship
* Design and Technology
* Geography
* History
* I.C.T.
* Music
* P.E.
* R.E.

By the effective combination of learning, practice and reflection, it is our aim that, by the end of the course, trainees become proficient and reflective classroom practitioners. They will have the confidence to start their teaching careers with a firm foundation for future development.

Outline Learning Outcome

What is the structure of the course?
There are six main elements to the course:

Orientation Day - held in July for trainees to meet their mentors. Trainees receive an outline of the course, and pre-course work which needs to be completed before the course commences.

Induction - the course begins in September. Trainees are based in one specific school for the whole course, with a six week placement in the alternative key stage during the Spring term. Placements in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 3 are also provided during the year.

Structured mentoring - to develop classroom skills and to support the application of skills, knowledge and understanding gained by trainees as they progress through the course.

Core Subjects - extended and focused tuition on the three core subjects, English, Mathematics and Science.

Other Curriculum Subjects - focused tuition in Art, Citizenship, Design and Technology, Geography, History, I.C.T., Music, P.E. and R.E.

Broad Professional Studies and the Foundation Curriculum - an introduction to issues relating:

* to the child, to groups of children, to the class and to the school
* to the National Curriculum, including planning teaching strategies, monitoring, assessment, reporting, recording, accountability and cross curriculum themes and dimension.
* to aspects of the broader educational debate including Excellence and Enjoyment and Every Child Matters

The course meets the requirements of the Professional Teacher Standards for the recommendation of Qualified Teacher Status.

How much reading and study? How will the course be assessed?
There is tuition for two days per week. Each module is assessed, and a formative, competency based teaching folder is compiled. Trainees need to pass four written assignments in English, Mathematics, Science and Child Development and two teaching practices, one in the Spring and Summer terms. There is a resource centre at Oakfield Primary School for use by trainees. There is a weekly focused group tutorial with the school lead mentor to cover the professional standards for recommendation of Qualified Teacher Status and a weekly individual tutorial with the class mentor. During the course trainees are continually assessed against the Standards in the following ways:

* Through observation of lessons during school practices
* Through examination of the trainee's personal development portfolio, lesson plans and teaching files
* Through written assignments or assessment tasks

There is a formal review of the trainee's process at the end of each of the first two terms. Trainees will receive early warning if their performance is likely to be judged unsatisfactory.

The final assessment towards the award of QTS takes place in the third term and takes into account the evidence provided by the previous reviews.

Will the trainees be thrown in at the deep end?
The answer is 'No'. Trainees will spend a considerable amount of time in the early weeks on structured observation. There will be a phased introduction to small group teaching, part lesson teaching and full lesson teaching, all under the direct supervision of a trained and experienced mentor.

How is the Billericay Educational Consortium course different?
There are several aspects that make the course offered different from most other courses:

* Head teachers are responsible for the course, its management and organisation.
* It is designed and delivered by schools working in collaboration with experienced teacher trainers.
* There is practical classroom experience throughout the course.
* Trainees spend three days most weeks in their base school, where they are involved in the day to day routine of the school. This includes staff duties, staff meetings, parent evenings and school in-service programmes. Expectations of trainees are those applied to the teachers working in the school where the trainee is based.
* Trainees are allocated trained and experienced mentors who are responsible for helping them to develop their classroom management skills and also to monitor and support their overall professional development.
* Trainees will spend a period of 6 weeks in the Spring term at a school in the alternative Key Stage and gain experience of the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 3.