Primary Teaching Apprenticeship Scenario
We all recognise the challenges of recruiting teachers. An alternative which you may want to consider is employing someone who is already in your school but is not yet qualified. You can take them on if they are a graduate as part of the apprentice teacher scheme for which we are accredited at Red Kite. You can read further details of the requirements here and we have tried to flesh this out in the following imagined scenario.
Riverdale Primary School is a small school in Yorkshire with 4 class teachers, 4 support staff and the headteacher. The headteacher would like to release her deputy for part of the week to develop the curriculum and drive staff development however budgets are tight. Kai has been working at the school as a HLTA for 4 years and he joined the school after completing his degree. At the time he did not have a clear idea of what he wanted to do as a career but now he would like to train to teach and has asked the headteacher about his options.
After some research, the headteacher finds the apprenticeship route and discovers that Kai’s training costs would be covered through the apprenticeship levy and that he could continue working at the school whilst he trained on the salary scale as unqualified teacher pay scale one, which is very similar to the wage being paid now. Most of the training is delivered on a Thursday or a Friday so Kai would be in school Monday to Wednesday. With a little bit of timetable organisation, this would enable the deputy and Kai to share a class responsibility and allow the deputy 2.5 days to work on school priorities.
Kai starts teaching in September and is expected to teach up to 80% of a full timetable by the end of his apprenticeship in June, but the school gives him less than that to begin with. Kai spends roughly two days a week out of school when he is receiving training and mentor support. There is a 6-week block when he is sent on an alternative placement. The school has plenty of notice about this, so they are able to cover it. They notice that Kai comes back full of ideas because of the insights he gained on placement. The rest of the time, he is in school, working alongside the deputy in their joint class. Kai settles well as he is familiar with the school routines and the pupils. The head and deputy department are pleased because they already know Kai and trust him. Kai gains QTS at the end of the first year and also completes his PGCE.
If you would like to apply to the apprentice programme or wish to speak to someone, please email teachertraining@rklt.co.uk