ITE Curriculum
Birmingham City University is one of the largest initial teacher training providers in the region and many of our trainee teachers live in the region, attended schools in the region and will stay in the West Midlands to work in schools in their localities.
Over 400 early career teachers graduate from our primary and early years programmes every year, so we take our responsibility for working in partnership with schools very seriously as we know that every teacher makes a difference to their pupils’ lives.
ITE Curriculum
The ITT curriculum enables trainees to engage in critical analysis of theory, research (including, where appropriate their own) and expert practice. Component elements of the planned curriculum are closely integrated throughout with 21 appropriate opportunities to ensure that trainees have sufficient feedback and support from expert mentors/colleagues to understand, apply, reflect upon, and develop their teaching practice.
The ITT curriculum closely informs taught components, independent learning, teaching practice and feedback.
The ITT curriculum provides the opportunity for trainees to consolidate fundamental components of knowledge, understanding and practice, before they begin to deliver longer sequences of teaching (which themselves draw on a range of knowledge, skills, and behaviours). As trainees move towards more complex, composite sequences and scenarios, they have sufficient opportunity to identify, re-visit, and isolate areas which require further consolidation.
ITE Curriculum at BCU
The Birmingham City University Curriculum encompasses the full entitlement described in the DfE Initial Teacher Training Framework as well as integrating additional analysis and critique of theory, research and expert practice. We recognise that it is an entitlement of all trainees to work with, and learn from expert colleagues, as they practise, rehearse and refine approaches. We give high importance to mentoring that ensures trainees receive high quality, clear and well-structured feedback from expert colleagues in faculty and across the BCU regional partnership. We believe that the quality of teaching is the most important factor in improving outcomes for pupils, and the quality of training enables quality trainees to achieve this.
From September 2025, the ITTECF sets out the entitlement of every trainee and early career teacher (ECT) to the core body of knowledge, skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and to the mentoring and support from expert colleagues they should receive throughout the three or more years at the start of their career. (ITTECF, 2024:4)
Our spiral curriculum model is an iterative revisiting of identified topics, subjects and themes throughout the BCU Primary and Early Years with QTS course. This spiral curriculum ensures that a deepening of understanding of the topic considered with each successive encounter building on the previous one.
BA QTS and PGCE Curriculum
ITaP
Intensive training and practice (ITaP) is a specific and focused element of the teacher training curriculum.
The adaptation of five-stage framework, drawn from research by Grossman (2018) on teaching core practices to trainees supported the design of our ITaP models and the creation of a tightly co-ordinated set of activities that bridge pedagogical theory and teaching practice. The activities chosen to address each of the five elements of the framework are a guide and may vary between ITaPs.
Each aspect of the framework is made explicit to the trainees.