What does school-led teacher training actually mean?

If you have started looking at teacher training, you may have come across the term ‘school-based training’ or ‘SCITT’. It is a phrase that gets used quite a lot, but it isn't always obvious what it means in practice.

At its simplest, school-based training means that schools and teachers are central to your experience of becoming a teacher. You are not studying teaching in a classroom for several weeks and then applying what you have learned later. You are developing your understanding of teaching while working in schools from day one of the school year, with the support of experienced teachers and teacher educators.

That doesn't mean being left to learn by trial and error. A well-designed school-based programme brings together school experience and professional development. You spend time understanding teaching, learning and your subject or phase, and then have opportunities to see those ideas in practice, try things yourself and receive feedback. NTTC’s school experience days run from Monday to Thursday in a typical week, with Fridays in NTTC’s classrooms in professional-development sessions: reflecting on the school week, building on learning across the course and planning to take new learning back into the classroom.

This connection between training and classroom experience is one of the things that attracts people to school-based providers such as NTTC. Teaching is a practical profession, but it is also one that requires a substantial body of professional knowledge. You need both – and experiencing both in every week of your training strengthens the relationship between your own learning and your teaching practice.

During a training year, you will encounter a huge number of questions. How do I establish routines with a new class? How do I explain something that pupils are finding difficult? How do I know whether they have understood? How should I respond when behaviour starts to go wrong? How do I plan a sequence of lessons rather than thinking about each lesson in isolation?

These aren't questions that can be answered simply by giving you a list of techniques. They require knowledge, practice, observation and discussion. Being in the classroom from day one of your time at NTTC means that these things can go hand in hand. You will be able to understand the ideas behind the approaches you are being asked to use, see them modelled, have opportunities to practise them and receive useful feedback. Your mentor can help you think about the lesson you taught yesterday; your wider training can help you understand why particular approaches might work and how you might adapt them in a different context.

Being part of a group of trainees matters too. One of the less obvious benefits of school-led training is having other people who are going through the same experience. You can compare experiences, discuss things that have gone well and badly, and realise that the difficulties you are encountering are not unique to you.

There is also a local dimension to school-led training that is worth considering. If you intend to work in Norfolk, training here gives you the opportunity to become familiar with local schools and develop relationships with teachers and leaders across the area. For some people, that is an important part of choosing where to train.

If you are considering training with NTTC, we'd rather like you understood what the experience will actually involve. If you want to talk to NTTC about anything mentioned in this article, please contact us: NTTC@ccn.ac.uk and 01603 773708 / 773278.

Why don’t you come along to NTTC’s open morning at Norfolk House, Exchange Street, Norwich to meet the team? We’ll be there to talk you through all aspects of our training programme, including our PGCE, on Saturday 26 September from 9.30am to 1pm.