At a time when recruitment to teacher training courses feels increasingly strained, competition should be rife between providers.
In spite of that, there is a kind of uncomfortable collaboration amongst the West Midlands ITE network which goes far beyond commiserating over recruitment woes or Ofsted inspections. Instead, providers in this area of all kinds, from SCITTs to universities, have developed a partnership which brings us together each academic year in pursuit of a common goal, collaborating in a way that is not always easy but is intentional and focussed.
Each year, the purpose of these meetings is to cast a critical eye to our curricula, approaches and processes in order to share best practice on key issues facing the sector. This has previously led to highly successful joint work, including the co-construction of Tier 1 mentor training and the careful alignment of ECF mentor programmes to enhance ITT mentor development across the region.
This year, the West Midlands ITE Partnership turned its attention to SEND instruction and support. This is, of course, an area of increasing importance within the ITT and education sector. Ofsted’s focus on SEND, under the umbrella of inclusion, reflects the growing number of young people with identified needs, as well as those with additional requirements embarking on a teacher training course themselves.
Through this collaboration, we hoped to grapple with key questions concerning the ways we teach our Associate Teachers about supporting students with SEND: what are the key principles they need to know and understand? When, and how, should we introduce SEND and adaptive teaching, balancing its importance against a host of pedagogical practices which it is important to prioritise? And, crucially, how can we prepare Associate Teachers to manage a diverse and complex set of needs in their classroom without cognitively overloading them in turn? A difficult task to manage so many competing demands within the bounds of a year-long course.
In order to achieve this, providers completed an initial SEND audit of their own curriculum to identify their own approaches and priorities. This audit was put together by the West Midlands ITE Partnership and structured around the EEF’s five recommendations for supporting students with SEND in mainstream schools (2020), cross referenced against the relevant ITTECF statements. Designed with the explicit aim to guide further discussion, the audit offered an important opportunity to reflect on our own strengths and weaknesses in SEND instruction.
For this to be most effective, we knew we would need to be candid and honest in our assessment. We thought carefully about the things we were proud to share. For us, this was our typified students, a set of student profiles which represent how a range of different SEND might manifest for different students. These are an important tool in our curriculum, encouraging Associate Teachers to reflect on how a range of different strategies and practices might cater to the individual needs of a student and to recognise where further adaptation is needed.
We deliberately incorporate at least one typified student into every training session to keep this thinking at the forefront of our Associate Teachers’ professional learning. As important were those aspects of our course and instruction which we might need to develop further. The concept of flexible groupings, for example, is something which is explicitly referenced in the ITTECF, but not explicitly explored in our secondary curriculum.
Once the audit was complete, providers met in triads to discuss their reflections, as a means of reaching some consensus over what best practice might look like. Our own triad, which also included representatives from the University of Birmingham and the National Institute of Teaching (NIOT), was a heartening experience. In spite of the diversity of contexts within the members of this meeting, we found plenty of common ground in the conclusions we had all reached concerning SEND instruction and adaptive teaching.
At the heart of each provider’s approach was the need to focus on a student’s individual barriers as opposed to a more homogenous approach to catering for autism, ADHD, or other needs, and a strong belief in equity of opportunity for all pupils, particularly those with SEND. For all of us, this manifested in our individual curricula as an initial focus on quality-first teaching, which then progresses to adaptive teaching as Associate Teachers become more confident and proficient in the classroom.
But, our discussion revealed some important differences in our approaches too. The curriculum sequence, for instance, offered an interesting point of reflection: should we begin with SEND provision as a way of contextualising other aspects of pedagogy, such as classroom management? Or is it better to begin with classroom management, a perennial concern for new teachers, with a view to contextualising through a SEND lens later in the term?
Working with the University of Birmingham and NIOT so closely also offered important insight into the wider practices of different ITT providers. There was a suggestion that SCITTs tend to defer to EEF guidance as opposed to a wider range of academic research, which offered us another important moment of reflection.
The next stage of the process was for each triad to feedback to the partnership as a whole. With six triads sharing their key learning, rich conversations ensued. What was particularly striking was that, despite the variation in phase, size and context of the providers involved, there was significant alignment. The fact that these conclusions had been reached independently strengthened our collective confidence that they were based on a strong rationale for SEND instruction.
Across the partnership, several consistent themes clearly emerged: adaptive teaching as a core entitlement for all pupils; the importance of developing a precise, nuanced understanding of individual learners rather than relying on broad labels; and the need to exercise professional judgment by thoughtfully select strategies which have the greatest impact for a particular student or class. There was also strong agreement that SEND should be embedded throughout the ITE curricula – built in, not bolt on – with the ultimate aim of developing reflective teachers who are confident in identifying need and adapting practice accordingly.
There is much work for all of us still to do in this area, but our willingness and professional trust to collaborate beyond our comfort zone supports us to move from shared reflection to collective action. This is the strength of the West Midlands ITE Partnership, and one that we intend to deepen and develop in the years ahead.
Cathryn Mortimer is Course Director at Arthur Terry SCITT, and Director of Teaching School Hub – North Birmingham; Gabriel Bell PGCE Tutor and Subject Pedagogy Lead for English at Arthur Terry SCITT.
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