DfE urged to set-up teacher training advisory committee

Teacher recruitment experts are calling for the creation of an advisory committee to work with the Department for Education (DfE) and to introduce coherence to the “recruitment, training and retention of a world-class teaching force”.

The call has been made in a paper written by Professor John Howson, a leading expert in teacher recruitment, and education policy analyst Chris Waterman.

The pair have previously been critical of the direction in which ministers have taken teacher training, which has shifted substantially away from universities and higher education institutions and been placed into the hands of schools through the School Direct programme.

In their report – entitled The Future of Teacher Education in England: Developing a strategy –  Prof Howson and Mr Waterman, write: “What is currently lacking, presumably by the design of the secretary of state, is anything that looks like an overall strategy for the recruitment and retention of the top-quality teaching force that all agree is needed.