I am proud to be the fourth Chair of Trustees for NASBTT. The fact that there have been only three previous chairs (Martin Thompson, Ian Williams and Ian Hollingsworth) in NASBTTs 25-year history speaks to the commitment and dedication of my predecessors. And actually, commitment and dedication are the words that spring to mind to describe the NASBTT team as a whole. Everyone who has worked for the organisation over its 25 years has embodied those characteristics as they have grown and driven the organisation to support our sector.
When I moved from headship into ITT just over 10 years ago, I remember feeling pretty wrong footed. I thought I understood education – and yet there I was in a strange new world with new rules and processes. You can imagine my relief when someone told me about this organisation called NASBTT. Just looking at the website, which was not at that time the slick and comprehensive beast we know today, made me feel that there was somewhere I could go for advice and support.
As my ITT knowledge and confidence grew, I became more aware of NASBTT’s strategic role in advocacy with the DfE and Ofsted, and the same bit of me that made me want to be a teacher (in order to improve outcomes for children) made me want to get more involved with NASBTT – so that my voice (and by extension, those of the pupils I was training teachers for) could be heard. To borrow (and tweak) the words of Rita Pierson’s now famous TED talk, ‘Every SCITT needs a champion’. And NASBTT is just that.
NASBTT was established in 2000 in response to the growing role of schools in teacher training. It was formed to represent the interests of school-based ITT providers, giving us a collective voice to influence national policy, support professional development, and share best practice. The world was very different back then, for example:
- High street shopping dominated
- Shopping involved a trip to the high street to visit stores like Woolworths or Debenhams.
- Argos had a popular catalogue to order items from but you had to visit the store to collect things.
- Amazon just sold books.
- Internet access was in its infancy
- The internet was primarily accessed through dial-up connections, which were slow and interrupted phone lines causing huge family rows, as I recall.
- Downloading a single music file could take over an hour.
- Social media as we know it didn’t exist.
- Technology in schools was limited
- Computers in schools were bulkier, slower and less common.
- Overhead projectors were widely used in classrooms.
- Laptops were considered a luxury.
But despite how different the world was 25 years ago, NASBTT did just what it does today by playing a key role in advocating for school-based teacher training as government policies increasingly favoured this approach. And, as well as being the advocate you really want in your corner, year-on-year NASBTT has also increased the breadth and depth of its offer to members in terms of resources and training. I know the Mentor Development Modules have felt like a life saver for many of us as we have grappled with the new Quality Requirements.
Looking to NASBTT’s next 25 years, I am sure we are all hoping for a period of greater stability within the education sector in general, and ITT in particular. When we consider the future, there are perhaps some glimmers of optimism:
- Tuition fees have increased slightly which should help offset some of the financial challenges we have experienced as our costs have increased.
- The DfE has recognised the pragmatic need for some flexibility around mentoring requirements.
- And even if we haven’t seen any of the 6,500 teachers promised by the new government, the fact that they are even recognising the need for them is a positive.
We can be confident, that whatever the future holds, NASBTT will be there to support us.
NASBTT’s 25th anniversary is of course not just a celebration of the past; it is a celebration of the future. Over the past quarter-century, the association has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to improving teacher education, advocating for policies that support teachers, and ensuring that every SCITT has a champion.
In the words of Rita Pierson ‘Is this job tough? You betcha. Oh God, you betcha. But it is not impossible. We can do this. We’re educators. We’re born to make a difference.’ With NASBTT’s support, that job is a bit more manageable, and so we can move forward with confidence, whatever the next 25 years holds.
Anna Richards is Chair of NASBTT (2022-present day).