University News Last updated 11 May 2010
Birmingham City University has been officially recognised as an outstanding teacher training provider following a glowing Ofsted report.
The University achieved the highest mark – a grade 1 – for the quality of training and the management and quality assurance of the training it provides for both its primary and secondary teacher training courses. This latest endorsement confirms the University’s status as a Category A provider of both secondary and primary teacher training – very few providers in the country manage to achieve this standard. Category A is the highest grade awarded by the Training and Development Agency (TDA) for the quality of teacher training.
Within the official Ofsted report inspectors noted the recruitment; retention and employment rates on all programmes are well above the national average. It also recognises the University's strength of the senior management and leadership team, the strength of the partnerships, its clear and all-pervasive philosophy of always striving to do better and the university’s depth of understanding of the characteristics of good teaching and of effective teacher training, and the way in which this underpins the recruitment of students.
Professor Roger Woods, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, Law & Social Sciences at Birmingham City University said: “ This is an outstanding achievement and is a huge accolade for our tutors and the schools we work closely with to train the best new teachers in the country. A major feature of our success is the care and concern shown by tutors for students on the courses. Ofsted were quick to spot this. Our staff have all been successful teachers in school and really bring out the best in training and nurturing future generations of teachers.”
For further information on the courses available at Birmingham City University please log on to www.bcu.ac.uk.