Relocation services

Tender description

The Department for Education (DfE) supports schools in recruiting the teachers they need. It recognises that the strengthening economy and growth in pupil numbers make the situation more challenging and that this is more acute in certain subjects and schools and areas of the country. The National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) is seeking to tender a contract to provide ‘acclimatisation’ support and services to include, for example, international qualified teachers (up to a maximum of 250), re-locating to take up posts in English schools in the academic year 2017/18. We anticipate that we will be in a position to provide greater clarification on the numbers requiring these services in mid-May 2017. The main initiative, the Visiting Teacher Programme (England) (VTP), is intended to provide schools with the opportunity to recruit high quality qualified secondary school MFL teachers from Spain. In November 2016, the DfE signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Spanish Ministry of Education to pilot the programme for one year initially, with options to extend where appropriate. NCTL will be working with Spain and schools to recruit, select, train and place a cohort of MFL secondary school teachers across all of the 9 English regions, so that they are ready to commence employment in schools from 1 September 2017. To support the ‘acclimatisation’ of candidates, NCTL is seeking to commission a provider to develop and deliver a specialist training and induction programme for these teachers and their mentors. This is in recognition of feedback from schools on the support that they would welcome to attract and retain the best quality teachers from overseas. NCTL would welcome bids from consortia. This package of support will need to be flexible enough to support other groups, over the duration of the contract. The scope of the services is limited to secondary school teachers only. Teacher Services Division of NCTL are looking to contract with a provider(s) or consortia to deliver a specialist training and induction programme for international teachers re-locating to teach in English secondary schools in the academic year 2017/18. The services required will offer teachers with practical/logistical support in re-locating to England, as well as providing the training/induction and mentoring needed to ensure that they understand the English schools' system and have appropriate opportunities for support, professional development and networking whilst in post. A number of the products and services may need to be multi-lingual in nature, in respect of the VTP some information is likely to need to be translated into Spanish. Aside from the residential element of the summer school, on-arrival all teachers will have individual responsibility for finding suitable permanent accommodation and their associated living expenses. The Services required will include, but not be limited to, the following aspects — support and training pre-arrival in England, a face-to-face residential induction and training event upon arrival (teachers on the VTP from Spain will arrive in England in mid-August 2017) and on-going training and support for the duration of the first year of their employment. Significant work has been already been undertaken by NCTL to develop and test a blueprint for an ‘acclimatisation programme’ for Spanish teachers on the VTP and other international teachers, this includes setting out what specific products and services will be required at key points in the process. NCTL seeks a national provider who will take this blueprint forward and further develop it, drawing in the expertise of school leaders, and will be able to deliver these services in partnership with the school sector within the specified timescales and key dates. Given the nature and range of the services required, bids are welcomed from consortia capable of delivering these requirements. Bidders are reminded that NCTL will expect the lead organisation in any consortium to enter into binding agreements with other consortia members to ensure service delivery. The lead organisation will be the single contract holder and will have overall accountability for service delivery and meeting the contract KPIs. The anticipated total maximum contract value for this service is 296-480 000 GBP (exclusive of VAT). VAT (where applicable) will be at the prevailing rate.