Blackpool teaching: call for more people to become teachers as Blackpool teacher training centre is applauded by Ofsted

Fylde Coast SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) based at Blackpool Sixth Form College, was reinspected on January 16-19.

It was classed as outstanding for ‘leadership and management’ and good for ‘quality of education and training’, giving it a good rating overall. This was only its second inspection since opening, having received an outstanding rating in 2017.

The SCITT has been providing teacher training in the secondary-age phase since September 2015, and the primary-age phase since September 2018.

What does Fylde Coast SCITT do well according to Ofsted?

The report reads: “Leaders and governors have exceedingly high aspirations for trainees in the primary- and secondary-age phases at the Fylde Coast SCITT. Only the very best teacher training is acceptable in this partnership. As a result, leaders have designed ambitious ITE programmes [Initial Teacher Education] that go well beyond the requirements of the DfE’s ITT [Initial Teacher Training] core content framework.

“Leaders’ vision and aims are extremely well communicated. They are accepted and embraced by all partners. Leaders are quick to act when they find any weaknesses in trainees’ experiences. Consequently, trainees’ education and training are strong in many areas and rapidly improving elsewhere.”

Teachers are described as “passionate subject and age-phase experts” who have “quickly” got to grips with the new requirements of teacher training, and use “carefully designed assessment systems to help trainees to understand their progress”.

Trainees are said to be “enthused by the momentum that leaders have created”, they “benefit from school placements which are suitably matched to their individual learning and developmental needs”, and their “well-being lies at the heart of the ITE programmes.”.

Inspectors noted that the core curriculums are “high-quality”, designed using expert input, and “trainees benefit from phase and/or subject-specific training which builds purposefully on what they have previously learned.”

Leaders also “carefully select a broad range of partner schools to provide rich and contrasting experiences across the programmes.”

What does Fylde Coast SCITT need to improve on?

Inspectors wrote: "One or two parts of the ITE curriculums do not set out the component knowledge and skills that trainees must learn in sufficient detail. This means that some mentors in both age phases do not always have a detailed understanding of what trainees should know and master. As a result, some trainees are set targets that do not precisely identify gaps in their knowledge.”

What does Fylde Coast SCITT say?

Head of ITT, Aly Spencer said: “I am absolutely delighted to be celebrating the success of our teacher training programmes here in Blackpool. Under the new framework, Ofsted inspectors were left absolutely convinced that ‘only the very best teacher training is acceptable’ at Fylde Coast SCITT.

“We know that providing our young people with high quality teaching is the critical catalyst for improving their chances in life. As such, being a teacher is so much more than a job. It takes a special person to be a champion of children and to give them their passport to a better life.

“I encourage any graduates, especially those who have grown up in our town, to train as teachers with us now in your local schools and to have that privileged opportunity to inspire our future adults.”