New teaching course at Anglia Ruskin University to train aspiring teachers locally
The course wants to help students stay in the East of England and help their communities
A new BEd degree, the first to be introduced in the UK in the last 30 years, is being introduced at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU).
The Primary Education with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) course, aims to help aspiring teachers to stay local with their education, and to go and support schools across the East of England.
ARU, who have campuses in Chelmsford, Peterborough and Cambridge, have found students leave the region to go and study elsewhere, and are hoping the new degree will encourage more to train local.
Jenny Fogarty, Director of Initial Teacher Training and an Associate Professor at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), tells us they're working with a number of schools, and want as many as possible to get involved.
"We've got nearly 200 schools interested in working with us"
Jenny said: "We are really ambitious about our partnership and we've got nearly 200 schools interested in working with us, but the eastern region is a huge patch, so we're always looking for more.
"We are really hoping to run a partnership of about 1000 schools by 2027 because that's when our cohort will be up to its biggest number."
As well as the new school engagements, ARU hope the course, like other teaching degrees in the East of England, will support students in their teaching journey's whilst remaining at home, or in the area.
Why is the course focusing on local students?
"We know from our research that about 200 students a year would go out of the region to train to teach, and this new BEd that we're launching at ARU is hoping that we will retain those teachers because actually if they stay in their communities, If they're committed to their communities, they can make such a big difference to the children and families that they work with - and that's what we want.
"So we're deliberately positioning this new course to be grounded in the region, grounded in the east, so that they can really think 'this is where I want to live, this is where I want to make a difference.'"
"We're really bang up to date"
With the course being among the first of its kind to be introduced in the UK in the last 30 years, ARU hope the opportunity to devise the content from scratch will enable them to remain as up-to-date as possible to teach their new students.
Jenny hopes that's reflected in the training: "This brand new BEd is the first one in 30 years. What that means is, that it's designed for teachers of today. We're really bang up to date in terms of content, in terms of what teachers need to know and need to how they need to act and how they need to contribute to their communities, which especially post COVID is really important. It's really important that what we're working with our partners to deliver meets their needs so that our teachers are well trained and they can make a really significant contribution."
Applicants to the new degree are reflecting the importance of having another education course locally, with the cost of living among the factors some students now consider studying higher education closer to home.
The first cohort of students will begin in September 2024.