Commenting on changes to the calendar of teaching apprenticeships, Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary of the National Education Union, said
“From September postgraduate teaching apprenticeships will last for nine months over one academic year, instead of 12 months over two academic years. Bringing the length of postgraduate teaching apprenticeships in line with the school year is welcome and an act of common sense.
“National Institute of Teaching executive director of programmes Reuben Moore said: ’trainees can become fully qualified teachers in less time, without compromising on the quality of teaching or educational outcomes.’”
Shreeve: Fully fund any pay awards
Mr Shreeve went on to add,
“However, supporting trainees in school is never easy, made even more challenging in the current schools funding cuts environment.
“How can trainees be successfully supported,
- if pay awards are not full-funded? Redundancies will follow and more schools will be at risk of closure.
- if there are fewer experienced teachers to support trainees?
- if workload is too high, how can experienced staff find free time to mentor trainees?
“There have already been Island redundancies throughout the year ready for the new school year in September. There have been and are schools at risk of closure. Next year we expect greater pressure.
“The education secretary is refusing to fully fund any pay award for 2025/26. This will only make matters worse.”
Schools Minister, Catherine McKinnell said: ‘Our schools are crying out for more expert teachers, and this government will continue to pull every lever it can to plug the gaps.’
Mr Shreeve finished by saying,
“We have always said the most effective action would be to tackle workload and to have a fully funded pay correction to reverse the huge pay cuts against inflation suffered by teachers since 2010.”
