Hull’s employer-led school is leading the way as a centre of excellence in teacher training in the city.
Ron Dearing University Technical College (UTC) is working with leading training provider Gorse School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) to help attract new teaching talent to Hull and the East Riding.
Gorse, the only Ofsted Outstanding Provider of teacher training in the region, has teamed up with Ron Dearing UTC and four other local secondary schools to provide apprentice-style teacher training for post-graduates.
This is the first time a Gorse SCITT training course has been organised in East Yorkshire, with previous training primarily focused in Leeds and Bradford, and Ron Dearing UTC is the only Hull school involved in the first local cohort, helping to attract the next generation of outstanding teachers to the city.
An induction day will take place on Friday, July 12, which will see next year’s trainee teachers gather for the first time to find out what the year-long training course has in store for them, meet their new colleagues and listen to speakers, enabling them to hit the ground running when the new academic year begins in September.
Out of 22 trainee teachers registered for the 2019 intake across the five schools, up to eight will train at Ron Dearing UTC, undergoing hands-on training, including observation, teaching, planning and marking, in a classroom environment for a range of disciplines, such as English, maths, science, art and design and computer science.
Each of the trainee teachers have passed the interview and selection stage and visited the schools they will train at, stating their preferences for the subjects they would like to specialise in.
Once qualified, they will receive Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) qualification, awarded by the University of Sunderland.
Chris Berry, School-Centred Initial Teacher Training Co-ordinator at Ron Dearing UTC, with Rachel Charlesworth, who has pioneered the training partnership and has now qualified as a Science Teacher at the employer-led school.
Chris Berry, Lead Practitioner and SCITT Co-ordinator at Ron Dearing UTC, said: “We want to use our expertise to encourage more people to come into teaching.
“Ron Dearing UTC was established to fill key skills gaps and produce more engineers and young people with advanced technical and digital skills. In order to do that, we need teachers who can develop these skills in young people and we need to grow our own teaching talent.
“We’re not just interested in producing successful students, we’re committed to training and developing successful teachers as well. The two go hand in hand.”
The other four schools involved in the scheme are Bridlington School; Headlands School; Hessle High School; and Baysgarth School in Barton-upon-Humber.
Rachel Charlesworth, who was originally a Science Technician at Ron Dearing UTC, was the first trainee teacher to undergo the Gorse SCITT training course at the school, with her course running from Leeds.
She has now qualified as a Science Teacher at Ron Dearing UTC and said she has never looked back.
Rachel said: “There is no better way of learning to teach than doing it and watching others.
“You learn how to deal with behaviour, how to engage with a class, you’re around other teachers and you learn so much.
“This is definitely the most flexible way to do it and I love it here. Everybody is so friendly and like-minded.”