Qualifying to Teach: Professional Standards for Qualified Teacher Status and Requirements for Initial Teacher Training, published jointly today (31 January) by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), takes effect for most trainee teachers in September. The revised Standards streamline the existing requirements and make them simpler, while maintaining the high standards that trainee teachers are expected to meet. They will apply to all entrants to the profession regardless of how they train.

The Standards set out the minimum amount that trainee teachers must know, understand and be able to do before they are awarded QTS. They follow extensive consultation with schools, colleges, universities and trainee teachers. They ensure that all new teachers are well prepared for the wider professional demands of the job, taking account of new work practices, including working more closely with other teachers and teaching assistants.

After skilled guidance from their tutors, trainee teachers will be expected to set high expectations for pupil achievement of all abilities, and promote a clear framework of discipline, which promotes self-control and independence among their pupils.

The new Standards form a key part of the Government's drive to improve the quality of teacher training and replace those in DfES Circular 4/98, which were written four years ago. They have been published alongside new requirements that ITT providers must meet.

Together the ITT requirements and QTS Standards include:

• a clear statement of professional values and practice derived from the General Teaching Council for England's Code of Conduct, reflecting teachers' status as a key profession;
• greater freedom for ITT providers to accept a wider range of applicants and give them training more tailored to individual needs;
• revisions reflecting recent developments including the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies, the Key Stage 3 Strategy, the introduction of the Foundation Stage, and Curriculum 2000.

A handbook offering further information and guidance for trainee teachers and providers of training will be published later this year.

Education Secretary Estelle Morris welcomed the new standards and requirements for Initial Teacher Training. She said:

'I am particularly pleased that the new requirements will offer greater flexibility, which enables ITT providers to tailor programmes much more closely to trainees' needs but without compromising on the high standards we expect of all newly qualified teachers. Providers will be able to take account of prior experience when selecting and training candidates for ITT courses. This will encourage a more diverse range of people to consider teaching as a career. It will also support our drive to encourage more good quality people into the teaching profession. I am grateful to the TTA for the way they have worked closely with ITT providers and other partners to produce the new Standards.'

Chief Executive of the Teaching Training Agency, Ralph Tabberer said:

'Newly qualified teachers can look to the future with confidence as these revised Standards come into effect. The Standards are demanding but our job is to make sure that new teachers entering school hit the ground running. From the first day in post, new teachers in England will be better equipped to do the job than ever before.'

Notes to Editors

1. The new Standards and Requirements relate to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in England only.
2. The Standards will come into effect for all courses and all trainees starting from 1 September 2002 with the following exceptions:
   • those on their final year of a full-time or part-time undergraduate degree from 1 September 2002;
   • those on part-time postgraduate programmes starting before 1 September 2002;
   • all those continuing trainees on 7-11 programmes;
   • those trainees whose programmes were due to finish before 1 September 2002 but have been extended, due to:
     • failure and the need to repeat one aspect of training (including the skills tests);
     • switching to part time training;
     • decisions by the ITT provider to allow trainees to complete any aspect of the programme at a later date (including examples such as trainees taking a year out of their training);
     • those on employment-based routes who started training before 1 September 2002.
3. The revised QTS Standards and revised ITT Requirements can be viewed on the TTA website www.canteach.gov.uk from 31 January. Hard copies of the Standards will be available from the TTA Publications Unit by the end of February (tel : 0845 6060 323 or e-mail ttapublications@iforcegroup.com for details).
4. The Teacher Training Agency was established under the Education Act 1994. Its purpose is to raise standards in schools by attracting able and committed people into teaching and by improving the quality of teacher training.
5. The Agency is responsible for a wide range of initiatives to promote recruitment to the teaching profession; for funding initial teacher training, which is linked to the quality of the training provision as identified through OFSTED inspection; for supporting initial teacher training providers to improve their provision; for developing the standards for award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS); and working with the New Opportunities Fund for the provision of training in the use of ICT in subject teaching.

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