The University of Worcester has created 100 additional places for people to train to become teachers, as the new Education Secretary sets out an immediate plan to boost teacher recruitment in her first week of office.
Bridget Phillipson, who visited the University of Worcester in December 2022, has begun work to deliver on Labour’s pledge to recruit 6,500 more teachers for the nation’s classrooms.
Worcester, one of the UK’s largest providers of teacher education, working across England from Bournemouth to the Black Country and beyond, is committed to helping the Government achieve its aim.
Additional places are available to study this September on Worcester’s outstanding one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), which includes Primary, Secondary, and Further Education, as well as on the University’s acclaimed undergraduate primary teaching course and salaried training places in partnership with selected schools.
There will be an extra 100 students studying to be teachers at Worcester next year already and the University has created another 100 places to take the total to over 600 in response to the new Secretary of State’s campaign.
Professor David Green CBE DL, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Worcester, said: “It is most positive to hear the new Secretary of State for Education taking immediate action to boost teacher recruitment. Government targets have been missed every year for the past decade. It is vital we reverse this trend. As one of the country’s largest and very best educators of teachers we are deeply committed to working with the new Government in the interests of our country’s children.”
Worcester received arguably one of the most glowing reports on teacher training for Primary and Secondary teachers this century from Ofsted, when it rated the University’s provision as ‘Outstanding’ in May 2023.
The official report opens: “Trainees benefit from an exceptional learning experience at the University of Worcester. This experience instils in them a deep-rooted commitment to making a difference to the lives of the children in the communities they serve.”
The University, which was founded as a teacher training college in 1946, now works with almost 500 schools and education providers across the country and has also partnered with the University of East Anglia to accredit their delivery of first-class teacher education in the East of England.
Among its alumni is Jacqui Smith, the newly appointed higher education minister, who graduated from Worcester with a PGCE in the 1980s, going on to become an economics teacher and later the UK’s first female Home Secretary.
Professor Green added: “We were pleased to welcome Bridget Phillipson to the University in December 2022, when she was the Shadow Secretary of State, and to talk to her about our work and show her The Hive, where children are at the heart of what we do.”
Speaking at the visit in 2022, Ms Phillipson said: “It’s been brilliant to visit Worcester today and to see the University’s work, particularly in training the next generation of teachers. We know that we need to see more teachers in our classrooms. To hear the dedication and commitment from the University students here was tremendous.
“Universities play an important role in training teachers. Speaking with the students earlier, it’s clear that they are receiving a high-quality education and training. They receive a grounding in so many of the principles and theories that will underpin their classroom practice. The combination of theory and its application is very powerful.”
If you are interested in finding out more about teacher training, email study@worc.ac.uk or visit: https://www.worc.ac.uk/campaigns/train-to-teach-worcester