Another very successful year for recruitment to ITT signifies that teaching continues to be a top choice of career. Our annual census of trainee teachers shows that more than 32,600 are starting on mainstream routes, fully meeting our mainstream target. A further 7,000 have started training on employment based routes such as the graduate teacher programme.

Mathematics, science and modern languages, traditionally the most challenging subjects to fill, all recruited a higher proportion of their target this year. All other priority subjects (design and technology, English and drama, ICT, music and engineering) fully met or exceeded their targets.

The diversity of trainees has increased, enabling the teaching population to become more representative of wider society, with:

• 11.6 per cent of trainees from a minority ethnic background, up from 11.1 per cent last year, and
• 4.7 per cent of trainees declaring themselves to have a disability, up from 4 per cent last year.

How does the census work?

The census is part of the TDA’s ongoing monitoring against our key performance indicators and targets set by the DfES. An online system has been developed to record recruitment at provider level and compare it against targets. It enables the TDA to capture key data on the characteristics of new entrants registering to undertake ITT courses.

This in turn enables ITT providers and the TDA to benchmark their progress against performance in previous years. Providers are able to identify the impact of improvements to their recruitment processes and gather evidence that they are meeting their individual targets.

The information gathered is used to check providers’ funding and ensure funding is well-distributed. To that end, the system allows for a distinction between actual headcount registrations and those forecast to register on an ITT programme throughout the remainder of the academic year.

Chief executive Graham Holley is delighted with the census results. “These figures demonstrate the ongoing success of the TDA’s teacher recruitment campaign in attracting the 40,000 trainees needed each year. Although the number of training places has decreased, it is still essential that we continue to provide schools with the high quality new teachers Ofsted has judged to be the best trained ever.”

Each year an intensive review of the system is undertaken to ensure that the data collected meets the needs of our customers. This includes a round of consultations with data providers/users (mostly internal TDA colleagues). Providers are supported throughout the entire collection period by the helpdesk facility, to ensure that data returns are accurate and timely and meet TDA reporting needs.

For more information about this year’s results and the data collection methods, go to:

www.tda.gov.uk/partners/datasurveys.aspx  

View more tdaNews for January 2007