University News Last updated 03 November 2011
Teacher training at Birmingham City University continues to go from strength to strength with a recent survey ranking its secondary teacher training provision 2nd in the country.
The newly qualified teacher (NQT) survey is a voluntary exercise which collects and analyses NQTs’ perceptions of their initial teacher training. It is conducted by the Training and Development Agency (TDA) and is sent out to all new teachers registered with the General Teaching Council for England.
The survey is used to gauge NQTs views on the quality of their initial teacher training and how well they felt they were prepared for their first year in teaching. NQTs were asked to rate the quality of their training against 34 different categories using descriptors ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘adequate’ or ‘poor’.
The percentage of students reporting that the overall quality of secondary provision at Birmingham City University is good or very good is outstanding, at 99%. The percentage of primary NQTs rating their training as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ is 93%. This has resulted in an improvement in the overall ranking of provision at Birmingham City University from 26th in 2010 to joint 8th this year.
Professor Fiona Church, Executive Dean the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences at Birmingham City University, said: “The School of Education and Social Work is one of the leading providers of primary and secondary teacher training in the UK and trains more teachers than any other university in the West Midlands. Our resounding success in this survey reflects the excellent quality of provision offered on both our primary and secondary teacher training courses.
“Our success in this survey builds on our 2010 Ofsted success where we were recognised as an ‘outstanding’ teacher training provider after achieving the highest mark – a grade 1 – for the quality of training and the management and quality assurance of the training we provide for both our primary and secondary teacher training.
Birmingham City University’s status as a Category A provider of both secondary and primary teacher training is very pleasing – very few providers in the country manage to achieve this standard.
“The excellent NQT survey results, along with our success in league tables (we are currently ranked in the top 30 in the country by the Guardian, Times Good University and the Independent Complete University Guides) further reinforces our reputation as an excellent provider of teacher training education.
“We are very proud of our excellent results which provide a platform from which we can continue to build.”
For further information on teacher training courses available at Birmingham City University please visit www.bcu.ac.uk/education-and-social-work.