You may shortly receive an email from the Department of Education (DfE) if a candidate who has accepted an offer on your course has previously started an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) course with another training provider.
The purpose of this email is to inform providers about a candidate’s prior engagement on an ITT programme, whatever the reason for withdrawal. DfE have recently been able to create a data matching process, which lets DfE match candidate and trainee databases, enabling this work.
If you receive this email, we recommend that you:
- speak directly with the candidate – if they haven’t already informed you about their previous training experience – to understand who they trained with and why they didn’t complete their training
- speak to the former provider to find out more about the candidate’s previous performance on the ITT course and reason for withdrawal
- if you feel it is appropriate, request a reference from the previous provider (contact details will be provided)
This approach is designed to promote transparency. DfE believes that most candidate withdrawals will be legitimate. They would not expect their withdrawal from a course in the past to negatively impact a candidate’s application in any way.
However, if trainees have withdrawn due to safeguarding concerns or poor behaviour, DfE hopes this process will improve ITT providers’ ability to make effective decisions about the suitability of their candidates.
In the next recruitment cycle, DfE are aiming to automate this process. This means, you will be contacted earlier in the application process. DfE are also exploring adding a question to the Apply application form around previous ITT course enrolment.