Revealed: 54 colleges and providers chosen for second wave of Taking Teaching Further funding

The colleges and training providers chosen to recruit new FE teachers and improve links with industry for the second round of the £5 million Taking Teaching Further programme have been announced.

Forty five providers are being tasked with recruiting 160 experienced industry professionals to work as post-16 teachers in four key sectors: childcare and education, digital, engineering and construction – areas that will be covered by T-levels from September 2020.

Additionally, the government is splitting £900,000 between 22 projects, including nine by providers not included in the recruitment drive, which will be looking at ways to improve links between FE providers and industry.

Skills minister Anne Milton said she was “thrilled” to announce the winners from the second round, following “fantastic stories of success” from the first round.

Following the programme’s unveiling last June, the first wave of winners was announced the following October and led to 47 new teachers being recruited, including five at East Kent College.

The college’s head of teaching academy Simon Bigrigg said the programme had provided EKC Group, to which East Kent College belongs, with a range of opportunities to develop its recruitment and training of teachers in “hard to fill” areas.

Robin Smith, curriculum manager at another winning provider from the first round, Calderdale College, said the TTF programme had enabled them to deliver “cutting-edge” digital skills to current and future students, and provide a “talent pipeline” for employers in the Leeds City Region.

The second round of the TTF programme was launched in December 2018, with nearly £20,000 up for grabs for each provider to train up to five “experienced industry professionals” in a level 5 diploma in education and training.

Several providers have been successful in both rounds of the programme, including Bridgwater and Taunton College, Calderdale College, Lakes College, Oldham College and St Helens Chamber.

TTF was designed in partnership with the Association of Colleges and the Education and Training Foundation.

The foundation’s chief executive David Russell said there was a “vital need” to bring industry talent into the sector to pass expertise and experience on to learners, teachers and trainers.

In his review of post-18 education, Dr Philip Augar wrote the most important barrier to improving the college workforce is “simply a lack of money”, as FE is directly competing with schools, universities and businesses which can offer more “attractive” rates of pay to experienced industry professionals.

According to the Augar Review, full-time FE teaching professionals in the UK earn, on average, around £2,500 less than secondary school teachers, and approximately £13,000 less than higher education lecturers.

The report, which was launched by Prime Minister Theresa May and Education Secretary Damian Hinds yesterday, recommended prioritising investment in the FE workforce so it can draw in more expertise from industry.

The recommendation came after the government scrapped FE teacher bursaries for subject knowledge enhancement funding and initial teacher education in February of this year, as it moved over to investing in programmes such as TTF.

A DfE spokesperson said they are evaluating the programme before any third round.

FE providers to host TTF teachers:

Activate Learning

Ada, the National College for Digital Skills

Boston College

Bridgwater & Taunton College

Bromley College of Further and Higher Education (trading name London South East Colleges)

Bury College

Calderdale College of Further Education

Cambridge Regional College

Chelmsford College

Chichester College Group

City of Wolverhampton College

Derby College

Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College

East Sussex College

Furness College

Grantham College

Harlow College

Havant and South Downs College

Huddersfield Textile Training Ltd

Lakes College

Leeds City College

Lincoln College

Myerscough College

New City College

Newham College London

North Hertfordshire College

Oldham College

PTP Training Ltd (Performance Through People)

RNN Group

South Devon College

South Essex College

Sparsholt College Hampshire

St Helens Chamber

Stockton Riverside College Group

Sunderland College

The College of West Anglia

The Cornwall College Group

The Isle of Wight College

The National College for High Speed Rail

The Trafford College Group

Wakefield College

Waltham Forest College

Weston College of Further and Higher Education

Wigan and Leigh College

Windsor Forest Colleges Group

 

FE providers to run innovative projects:

Activate Learning

Chesterfield College

Chichester College

City College Norwich

Derby College

East Kent College

Evolve your Future

Farnborough College

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Greater Manchester Learning Provider Network

Havant and South Downs College

Lakes College

Leeds City College

Lincoln College

Myerscough College

North Hertfordshire College

South Devon College

The Cornwall College Group

The Isle of Wight College

The Lancashire College Group

The Sussex Council of Training Providers

Windsor Forest Colleges Group

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