Will the Minister make a statement on Teach First including any evaluation of its effectiveness and the rationale for the recent decision to discontinue the scheme?
Our current cohort of Teach First participants will continue until July 2018. We thank Teach First for their work on the Additional Training Graduate Programme, which was a pilot scheme.
As part of our Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Change Programme, it is a key time to consider how we develop a unique offer for people entering into teaching in Wales, considering all aspects of teacher recruitment, retention and development. This reflects our intention not to re-tender for the Additional Training Graduate Programme at this point – we have examined closely the performance of this pilot and whilst there has been some success, we have decided not to proceed with the programme in its current form.
Two separate evaluation reports on the impact of the programme on learner outcomes have been published. Welsh Government commissioned Estyn and Teach First commissioned ARAD Consultancy. Both reports were published earlier this year and the Welsh Government’s response to the Estyn report at that time was published in February 2016.
In summary, the report findings suggest that whilst there have been some excellent graduates with high levels of knowledge and the personal qualities to become excellent teachers involved in the programme, the retention of these teachers in Wales is low.
Teach First have offered their continued support and we continue to be in talks about future options on working together.
Link to Estyn report:
https://www.estyn.gov.wales/thematic-reports/impact-additional-training-graduate-programme-teach-first-wales