PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Climate Change and Ecology: Education (24 March 2021)

The Department know the biggest in-school influence on pupil outcomes is the quality of teaching. We are clear that high quality teaching is the surest way to raise standards overall and to close disadvantage gaps. This is more important than ever as we focus on recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The new ITT Core Content Framework is an ambitious core of mandatory content that must be included in the training curriculum by all ITT providers of courses that lead to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) from September 2020. The Framework is designed to cover the content required by trainee teachers irrespective of subject or phase. The Department expects providers and their partnerships to use the revised ITT Core Content Framework to craft a coherent and well-sequenced curriculum. Further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-itt-core-content-framework.

QTS will continue to be awarded at the end of ITT against the Teachers' Standards. The new ITT Core Content framework does not replace the Teachers’ Standards and should not be used as an assessment framework. The Teachers’ Standards are available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards.

Courses must be designed so that teacher trainees can demonstrate that they meet all of the Teachers' Standards at the appropriate level, including Standard 3 ‘having a secure knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas’.