Faced with a growing shortage of teachers, local councils across the country are being encouraged by the Government to develop innovative schemes to combat the schools' recruitment crisis.
A range of programmes has been devised to attract people from other walks of life into education, with bonuses for graduates switching professions and grants for postgraduate training. However, authorities like the London borough of Newham have set up programmes focusing on existing school staff by enabling teaching assistants, with few academic qualifications but plenty of experience of life at the chalkface, to train as teachers.
Another pioneering body, Lancashire County Council, has won national recognition for its Graduate and Registered Teacher Programme, empowering nursery nurses and classroom assistants to undergo teacher training without giving up their jobs. The county does not actually suffer from a shortage of teachers, but the council runs the scheme so it can capitalise on the expertise and experience of dedicated classroom support staff.
At Newham there is a constant demand for teachers. Jill Holmes, who manages the training centre for the programme, says, 'Newham has a very mobile teaching force. We have young teachers who qualify and want to "do London" and they work here for a few years but when they want to settle down they tend to leave and move away.
'The enormous benefit with this scheme is that we are using our teaching assistants and developing a home-grown teaching force. They are people who live in the area and understand Newham, and hopefully they will stay on and teach in the borough - if they are not poached by the surrounding local authorities.'
The course, which began two years ago as a Diploma in Higher Education, has been translated into a two-year Foundation Degree. It was designed by the Faculty of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University College as a route into higher education for people who have experience of working with children but who lack the traditional A-level qualifications normally needed to embark on a degree and who want to study while still working.
A career structure for classroom support staff operates in Newham, so that people can join and work as classroom assistants and then train as teaching assistants. Mrs Holmes adds, 'When they pass their teaching assistant's training they get a small pay rise, and often the course whets their appetite to go on and study further.
'There are 42 people who have gone on and are now in their second year, and another 38 started the Foundation Degree last September.
'The vast majority are women aged 35 and upwards, but a few are younger and there are two men. Most of them are parents and have their feet firmly on the ground.
'This course offers these people a second chance. We realise that a number of people screwed up earlier in their lives and did not get qualifications, but this course gives them a chance to do so now. They are working alongside a teacher in the classroom and can see that with some training and support they could be teaching too.
'The support that the schools give the students is vital. A great deal of the child development work that they do on the course is carried out through projects with the pupils they are working with.'
The Foundation Degree consists of 12 sections, each involving 30 hours of tuition plus independent study and covering topics such as concepts of education, growth, development and learning, and behaviour management, as well as learning to be literate and learning mathematics. Successful completion gives the graduate 240 higher education credits - 120 at Level 1 and 120 at Level 2.
After finishing the Foundation Degree, the Newham candidates will go on to a two-year postgraduate scheme through the Registered Teacher programme or attainment of qualified teacher status.
Further information
* Visit the Foundation Degree website www.foundationdegree.org.uk or contact the national learning advice line, Learn Direct, on 0800 100 900 or at www.learndirect.co.uk
* For more information on the Graduate and Registered Teacher Programme visit www.canteach.gov.uk/info/grtp/
* Contact your local authority to check any plans it may have to introduce a teacher-training scheme for classroom support staff.
