The latest UCAS Teacher Training bulletin was published on 14th February 2019:
Important updates
Department for Education (DfE) teacher recruitment strategy – what happens next?
In January, the DfE released its teacher recruitment and retention strategy.
The strategy confirms that the DfE will develop its own admissions service for postgraduate teacher training provision in England, and, as a first step, is planning a small-scale trial. We will be working closely with the DfE to support a smooth transition period, and to make sure you’re kept up-to-date on all developments.
For the 2019/20 recruitment cycle, applicants will continue to apply to all providers and all programmes through UCAS. Preparation for this cycle is already well underway.
UCAS has delivered teacher training admissions services since 1991, with our current service (UCAS Teacher Training) in operation since 2013. The scheme was established following an extensive national consultation, and continues to receive high customer satisfaction scores, with 95% of providers valuing their relationship with UCAS.
UCAS will continue to offer services relating to teacher training, and will shortly begin consultation with the sector on our future offering. We will also keep you updated on developments via our monthly bulletin.
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss this further, please contact your relationship manager. The DfE is keen for ITT providers to get involved with its developments – if you are interested, or would like to share your views, please email becomingateacher@digital.education.gov.uk.
Department for Education
Teaching Vacancies – new job service to support your recruitment
Teaching Vacancies is the new DfE service that is free of charge, and allows schools to list their teaching job vacancies. The DfE is rolling out the service nationally, and all schools will be invited to sign up by the end of March.
In addition to search engines – such as Google Jobs – promoting the jobs listed, a marketing campaign, promoting the service as the new official site for teaching vacancies, will be running throughout the year.
To view current vacancies, please visit Teaching Vacancies.
To get involved and support the campaign, or to request an invite to the service, please email yvonne.ridley@education.gov.uk.
The Chairs Programme – an opportunity for school-led ITT providers
As part of the drive to increase the number of maths, physics, and wider EBacc subject expert teachers, the DfE funds The Brilliant Club to recruit post-doctoral researchers to train and teach across the country, through the Researchers in Schools programme.
From 2019, the programme is recruiting trainees to both the School Direct fee and salaried routes. The programme is seeking ITT providers to train and place participants in their partnerships for 2019 to 2020, particularly in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the North East.
To view details, please visit The Brilliant Club and Researchers in Schools.
For further information, email amy.emery@researchersinschools.org.
Transition to Teach – an opportunity for School Direct ITT providers
Transition to Teach is a new programme, funded by the DfE, that is offered in the East Midlands and North of England. It is designed to promote teaching to professionals interested in changing careers, and using their transferable skills to inspire the next generation. The programme does not provide initial teacher training, but instead, aims to work in collaboration with ITT providers to offer an additional layer of bespoke support and guidance, that helps this group successfully transition into a new career.
If you are an ITT provider interested in becoming involved or learning more, please email info@transitiontoteach.co.uk.
Now Teach – bringing experienced professionals into teaching
Now Teach is funded by the DfE, and is a programme that is uniquely tailored to support people as they change profession, and redeploy their talent and experience in the classroom. Candidates have decades of experience as leaders in a variety of sectors – Now Teach places them in partner schools, supports them through their training, and connects them to a professional network that amplifies their impact, and accelerates their progress.
Now Teach focuses on recruiting professionals who are motivated to teach the subjects for which there is the greatest need – 58% of the 2018 cohort are STEM teachers, and 17% are modern foreign languages teachers.
Now Teach is currently recruiting career changers in the South East, Norfolk, and Birmingham.
For providers interested in getting involved, visit Now Teach.
For further information, email info@nowteach.org.uk.
Systems and services
UCAS’ Impact Report 2018
UCAS’ Impact Report 2018 is now available.
It captures our achievements through 2018, including:
• the delivery of our new postgraduate application management service
• increased flexibility in our operation of the admissions cycle
• increased transparency in undergraduate admissions, by publishing more data points and analysis than ever before
Planned maintenance: 21 – 24 February
We’re carrying out planned maintenance from Thursday 21 February until Sunday 24 February.
This means that at times, while the link products (odbc-link, web-link for application processing, and xml-link) will remain unavailable, you may become disconnected.
Please do not submit any transactions during the following times:
• 07:30 – 08:00 on Thursday 21 February
• 07:30 – 08:00 on Friday 22 February
• 07:30 – 08:00 on Saturday 23 February
UCAS Teacher Training Apply may also become disconnected.
We’re advising applicants to avoid making changes to applications at the times listed above.
UCAS Teacher Training Track will also be unavailable from 09:00 – 13:00 on Saturday 23 February.
The following will be unavailable from 06:00 on Saturday 23 February until 18:00 on Friday 24 February:
• web-link (institution data)
• MOVEit
• UCAS Teacher Training search tool
MOVEit review of files
We have recently undertaken a review of MOVEit, our file transfer service, and identified a large number of files which have remained on the system for some time, and are now out of date.
Recent feedback from providers has also highlighted that users have been unable to delete files, which is causing confusion when new ones are received.
To comply with data security, we’ll be deleting any files dated before 1 December 2018 from MOVEit on Friday 8 March 2019. Any files dated from 2 December onwards will remain available to download until further notice.
We’ll be scheduling file removals throughout the cycle, and will share a timetable of these in the next few weeks. Please ensure you download all your required documents before we delete them, as we will not be able to resupply these files.
File names
Feedback from our satisfaction survey highlighted that providers wanted help identifying files in MOVEit. To ensure a consistent approach to naming, all files are identifiable through the following convention:
• HEPcode_nameofoutput_dateofoutput
For example, for the provider-level January deadline age report, the file name would be:
• COO_jandeadline2018age_15012018