The Education and Training Foundation has announced that the taking teaching further (TTF) programme will now be able to support colleges and training providers to recruit for more hard-to-recruit teaching posts.
The programme’s fifth round of applications has opened today. Providers can apply funding worth up to £18,200 per recruit to cover the costs of level 5 teaching qualifications and mentoring while on the programme.
TTF has to date focussed on supporting providers recruit to teaching posts in the 15 technical route subjects. However the ETF have introduced a ‘core skills’ stream which they say will support the recruitment of “experienced business and industry professionals as English, maths or SEND teachers for technical subjects.”
Training providers and colleges have warned of significant staffing recruitment problems in recent months.
The Association of Colleges published research last month indicating that there were around 6,000 vacancies in the college sector including for teaching posts in key priority sectors such as construction, engineering and health and social care.
At the Annual Apprenticeships Conference last month, training providers similarly warned that funding for standards was not keeping up with rising delivery costs and was creating recruitment challenges for teaching, training and assessment posts.
The taking teaching further programme was launched in 2018 and has so far supported the recruitment and training of over 700 business and industry professionals. It’s now in its fifth recruitment cycle and applications can be made under two routes; one for FE colleges and sixth form colleges, and another for independent training providers, adult and community learning providers, employer providers and university technical colleges.
The programme is funded by the Department for Education and delivered by the ETF. Funding for a full-time recruit covers the level 5 diploma in education and training (DET), 144 hours of “intensive support” and 140 hours of “reduced teaching workload.”
Part-time recruits can also access the programme. They will also receive funding for the level 5 diploma but receive half the hours of additional support.
South Essex College assistant principal Nicki Kelly said that “The taking teaching further project has enabled us as a college to promote our vacancies to attract highly skilled industry professionals to join the college with an excellent support package for their journey into teaching. This package has provided additional support and incentive to applicants into the unknown territory of teaching.”
EKC Group Broadstairs College lecturer in plumbing Shaun McDonagh, a TTF recruit, said that “Taking Teaching Further has provided me with an excellent chance to be fully supported in making the change from industry to FE teaching. The extra time to learn, prepare and gain essential skills during my first year of teaching since leaving the plumbing trade to become a lecturer has been invaluable.”
Applications for the TTF programme are open now and have to made to ETF by December 15, 2022.
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