The School Direct programme is a Michael Gove initiative to raise the standards of early years teacher training by allowing schools to train their future intake on the job. It opened to early years providers last September. Critics have raised concerns that this change might lead to a dismantling of expertise within the colleges and universities offering teacher training programmes as fewer candidates apply via these routes.
But training the next batch of new recruits is a huge opportunity, says Jamie Wilson, deputy headteacher of Everton Nursery School and Family Centre. 'The traditional model of teacher training is where you sit in a lecture hall and listen. For me that is a bit old-fashioned. This is very much based on current practice from effective teachers with a class of 30 children.
'We saw it as an opportunity to grow our own staff. The teaching is great continuing professional development for the staff. I would really encourage people to get involved.'
Everton was one of six early years teaching schools to take the first cohort of School Direct trainees from 2014, along with Bright Horizons. The school began the process by trialling Liverpool John Moores University's early years PGCE with colleagues from four primary schools and children's centres which, together with Everton, the University of Cumbria and Liverpool John Moores, complete the North Liverpool Teaching School Partnership.
The resulting early years PGCE with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) for three- to seven-year-olds has been restructured and will take 52 trainee teachers next year (compared to 20 this year) on a mix of salaried and tuition fee routes.
Under the programme, students are based at a host school and also undertake 120 hours of placement, which includes time spent in Reception, Key Stage 1 and nurseries of partnership members. A further fortnight is a placement of the candidates' choice such as under-threes. Students are also given the option of a self-funded trip to Sweden in December to visit nurseries there.
The theory part of the course is currently taught at Liverpool John Moores, but Everton will team up with a group of schools running a school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) course for September 2015, who will award the QTS and take care of issues such as student loans and DBS checks. Everton is in talks with a different university to deliver some theoretical teaching and award the QTS status.
The current allocation of 60 days of lecture time will move from being mostly delivered at the university to mostly school-delivered, with eight days' worth of university teaching.
Six of the school's existing staff teach on the programme, while teachers across Everton's alliance are also drafted in to teach based on their specialism. As well as mentoring and the chance to get involved in class lessons, they offer taught sessions designed to hit a set of learning outcomes decided by the university.
'The teachers tell students to test out taught ideas in their practical classes. There, students are part of the support team - they may lead a group of children or test out ideas for planning,' he says.
To ease the pressure on the timetable and the senior team, the school has hired one extra teacher, appointed a new assistant headteacher, and given one of the teachers additional responsibilities and pay. It has also had to create space for teaching its trainees. When eight offices were freed up when child and adolescent mental health services moved out, the school used now-defunct capacity building grant to convert them into a lecture hall seating 60 people.
Mr Wilson explains, 'Trainees are saying, "We wanted to be part of a school community and don't want to spend so much time in a university". There is a general shift in applicants' thinking. It is almost a long job interview. Trainees are thinking "in the long term I have more of a chance to get a job through SCITT because they know me".'
Another nursery school to take part in the scheme is Rachel McMillan Nursery School and Children's Centre. The school is part of the South Thames Early Education Partnership (STEEP), which consists of six nursery schools in a partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London. STEEP's programme of early years ITT has been running for two years already, set up in part to help the university place its early years graduates, and will formally become the School Direct programme from September 2015. The qualification remains the same, is parallel to those followed by other PGCE students at Goldsmiths and leads to QTS. It so far has had 15 candidates, and 100 per cent pass and employment rate, says headteacher Theresa Lane.
She says the process has been 'very affirming': 'It is very good for our health. It was all things we were doing anyway, but doing this has brought it all together as a more coherent package. I am passionate about working in early years and people really understanding what it is we are trying to do: we're building up a bank of well-trained early years teachers.'
Aside from this, practical advantages to the programme include the benefits of closer collaboration with colleagues from other schools, while staff also benefit from extra training from Goldsmiths in areas such as mentoring.
'Nursery schools can be very isolated, so coming together as a group is supportive. We have recently had new heads coming in when other heads have retired, and they are coming into an already-formed organisation,' she says.
The STEEP programme includes training from teachers at the host school, and having specialist taught sessions - Rachel Macmillan's is learning, stories and observations - in each of the six STEEP settings. Students also attend the annual STEEP Conference, while placements include a five-week position in Key Stage 1, three weeks at Reception level and a few days' experience of working with under-threes.
Embarking on such a scheme is not for the faint hearted. While each trainee comes with £9,000, the amount the school itself gets varies. Anecdotal evidence says that schools can receive just £2,000 while the university or training provider can get the rest, says Mr Wilson.
He adds, 'ITT is an absolute minefield. Communication is absolutely key at multiple levels and you have to have partnership agreements in place so everybody is clear what their role is. You need to demonstrate you have significant innovation in succession, talent management and growing teachers. Me and the head work ridiculous hours, but it is a commitment we have made about the future of our teachers.'