{"id":212592,"date":"2024-09-08T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-08T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=212592"},"modified":"2024-09-09T12:30:40","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T11:30:40","slug":"trusts-target-sixth-formers-in-recruitment-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/trusts-target-sixth-formers-in-recruitment-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"Trusts target sixth formers in recruitment drive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Academy trusts are \u201cgrowing\u201d their own talent by training sixth-form leavers for central team roles and encouraging them into the classroom with teaching masterclasses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools face severe teacher shortages and often struggle to spend their apprenticeship levy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent study <\/a>by the National Foundation for Educational Research found Generation Z \u2013 those born after 1997 \u2013 are \u201cslightly more likely to fit the motivational profile of a future teacher than millennials\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It led to calls for more schemes to entice them into the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Education Alliance (TEAL), which runs 12 schools in Yorkshire, has developed what it says is the \u201cUK\u2019s first virtual work experience programme\u201d for sixth-formers and undergraduates considering teaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Barley, the alliance\u2019s director of employability who launched the online virtual work experience programme during lockdown, said attracting sixth-formers could help ministers meet their commitment to hire 6,500 more teachers.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designed for pupils aged 16 to 18, it includes five modules that take 10 hours focusing on areas such as lesson planning and how to build a learning resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pupils who complete the course can download a certificate guaranteeing them an interview at TEAL\u2019s SCITT, Yorkshire Wolds Teacher Training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barley also delivers face-to-face teaching masterclasses at local schools as well as virtual sessions to those further afield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has visited about 15 schools and recently held a national event watched remotely by some 1,000 pupils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Growing our own talent’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The 54-school Harris Federation is piloting a chartered manager degree apprenticeship team in partnership with the University of Kent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wira
Wira Gitonga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Three of the trust\u2019s sixth-form leavers will start the four-year apprenticeship this month to hopefully bag a BA in business management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trust will pay them \u00a320,000 a year while they study and use its apprenticeship levy funds to cover each pupil\u2019s \u00a322,000 course fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is growing our own talent,\u201d said Wira Gitonga, the trust\u2019s apprenticeship manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause they already understand the Harris culture, it will be good for them to transition into working with us and then [becoming] our future leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apprentices will spend four days a week learning on the job, attending lectures on Fridays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will rotate regularly to work in different departments of the trust\u2019s central team and its academies, such as in finance, human resources and project management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheme could see cohort of 30<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sir Dan Moynihan, the trust\u2019s chief executive, said this was \u201cjust the start\u201d. The trainees could then be supported through professional qualifications in their chosen specialism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A finance officer-starter could become a management accountant, for instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris plans to start a second cohort in September next year. If the scheme goes well it hopes to reach an \u201cinterim target\u201d cohort of 25 to 30 within four to five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employers with an annual wage bill of more than \u00a33 million must pay 0.5 per cent of that bill into the apprenticeship levy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can then draw down funding to pay for apprenticeship training, but schools have complained of limitations to what they can use it for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moynihan said pupils were often \u201csurprised at the range of professional functions in the centre of MATs\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce you let people know and show them, the demand follows \u2026 the penny drops.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pupils offered six-week taster course<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kingswood Secondary Academy in Corby, part of the Greenwood Academies Trust (GAT), has a programme that mentors sixth-form pupils interested in teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a six-week taster, pupils learn the basics of teaching and modelling various teaching methods and strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are expected to present their own 30 to 60-minute lesson by the end of the course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GAT, which does not have a formal initiative that targets former pupils, attends careers fairs at its academies and occasionally hires former pupils as central office apprentices or trainee teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauren Millband was one such appointment. After finishing her A-levels at The Brunts Academy in Mansfield, she joined the trust as a finance apprentice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has been fascinating to see the inner workings of schools from the other side and contribute to their operations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Carter, the chief executive at the 10-school South Farnham Educational Trust, said that at any one time it had 20 or 30 former pupils working as teachers or heads in its schools. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Schools turn to homegrown talent in the face of severe teacher shortages and difficulties spending apprenticeship levy funding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":313939,"featured_media":212796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32],"post-theme":[2884],"class_list":["post-212592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-academies","post-theme-solutions"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t