Hansard

Teachers play a critical role in our society and it is vital that they receive training that allows them to enter the classroom with confidence. That is especially true of the fundamental skills of literacy and numeracy, which have been mentioned a great deal. For that reason, the Scottish Government is pleased to support Liz Smith’s motion and lain Gray’s amendment.

Today, the Government published the content analysis of initial teacher education. We took forward that work as part of the national improvement framework, and I hope that it will aid the Education and Skills Committee in its inquiry on workforce planning.

Our national improvement framework, with its focus on teacher professionalism, is helping to shine a light on the particular issue of initial teacher education. Like Liz Smith and others who are in the chamber, I have been concerned by some of the evidence that has been submitted to the committee, and I welcome any recommendations that the committee might make to ensure that teacher education programmes effectively prepare students to become successful teachers.

We must remember that there are thousands of excellent teachers in Scotland who are passionate about their job and passionate about helping children and young people to achieve. If we want to attract the most talented graduates into the profession—Jenny Gilruth cited a headteacher who called for the “best of the best”—we need to talk about teaching as a challenging but hugely rewarding job. I am sure that the committee is well aware of that issue.

We must and always will be mindful of the concerns that teachers and students raise, but I remind members of the statistics that the Deputy First Minister mentioned. The “Evaluation of the Impact of the Implementation of Teaching Scotland’s Future” showed that 64 per cent of survey respondents felt that their initial teacher education was effective or very effective in preparing them for their first post as a teacher.

Although we must express concern, we have much to celebrate. We have a solid core from which to work and to improve. Teaching in Scotland is a graduate-level profession, degrees are offered by some of the best universities in the UK—and the world—and we continue to invest in a teacher induction scheme that allows teachers to continue their education. Teaching as a career is underpinned by a set of nationally agreed professional standards that emphasise key skills and values that all practitioners should have.

When discussing student teachers, I remind members that newly qualified teachers are just that—newly qualified. Initial teacher education should prepare teachers for the classroom, but that is only the start of what should be a career of reflection and further learning. We need to be ready to support new teachers to build their skills and to grow.

A number of members talked about the importance of having good-quality placements—Liz Smith, Daniel Johnson and Jenny Gilruth all mentioned the need to respond to that challenge. The Government takes the issue seriously. We know that there is a need for high-quality placements. Fundamentally, local authorities, schools and experienced teachers have a responsibility to take that forward. The GTCS is reviewing the operation of the student placement system. That is already showing improvements in moving to an opt-out system in which all schools will be expected to take students.

Inevitably, there are still issues in the system that must and will be addressed, but in 2016 it secured 18,000 placements. We know that it can work and provide good-quality placements, but there is much more to do. The Scottish Government is taking action on that and is encouraging others to do the same.

Fulton MacGregor mentioned the content analysis of ITE that the Government published today. It is essential that literacy and numeracy are taught widely, so the variations in that analysis are concerning. The evidence that the Government commissioned as part of our NIF plays very much into our development of initial teacher training. We will discuss its findings with the GTCS and with universities. In the next few months, further work is due to gather views of probationary teachers and ensure that their experience, together with the views of their managers, leads to preparedness for teaching. The Scottish Government has commissioned the GTCS to work with universities on a research project to develop the means to ensure quality in ITE.

We have had a great deal of discussion about the content of initial teacher training, and we need to look carefully at what is taught in that. All teachers must meet the standards for registration before taking up a post. The standards are—rightly—being reviewed by the GTCS, and that gives us an opportunity to change the content of ITE and to set a new baseline. The discussions today and, I am sure, in the Education and Skills Committee will feed into that debate and into the challenges that members have raised.

A number of contributions from members were about initial support—