Education and training services

Tender description

The Department for Education is seeking to procure support to aid the recruitment, transition, training and retention of career changers and post-doctoral researchers into teaching. These candidates require additional support to make the transition into the classroom but have potential to add value in schools drawing on their previous experience. We seek suppliers to recruit candidates, support their transition into teaching and maximise the added value they offer to schools. Suppliers should have strategies to retain career changers and post-doctoral researchers once they complete training. We will award contracts to a number of different suppliers to develop and deliver recruitment and retention programmes targeted at different segments of the career changer market in separate regions across England. We will re-procure the Maths and Physics Chairs programme which the Department has supported since 2014 and appoint a sole supplier to deliver a national programme across England. Post-doctoral researchers are a sub-set of career changers who can bring an enhanced level of subject knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm to encourage young people to study these subjects. Researchers can also champion evidence-based practice and higher education. However, mainstream teacher training routes have generally not targeted post-doctoral researchers. Since 2014, the Department has supported the delivery of the Maths and Physics Chairs programme as part of the Department’s wider strategic focus on teacher sufficiency and promoting Science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) in schools by focusing on priority secondary shortage subjects. The programme has aimed to increase the numbers of post-doctoral teachers teaching maths and physics (and latterly EBacc subjects), as well as improving the progression to A level and beyond in maths and physics. Further details on the current programme can be found via the Get into Teaching website at: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/teacher-training-routes/specialist-training-options/researchers-in-schools The Department is keen to continue with the Chairs programme and wants to increase the flexibility of the programme to include both School Direct (fee) and School Direct (salaried) to give schools and participants more choice. The current programme is based exclusively on the School Direct (salaried) delivery model with participants in maths and physics receiving a salary uplift intended to encourage them to make the transition into teaching. Under the new model, School Direct (fee) participants will receive a Chairs bursary of the same value as the subject ITT Scholarship or bursary available to all other postgraduates. We will also retain a salary uplift for maths and physics School direct (salaried) participants for the first cohort and will review this in spring 2019 in relation to the 2020 cohort. Any potential solution would need to ‘wrap around’ an existing ITT course leading to Qualified teacher status delivered by an accredited ITT provider. This exercise is not establishing new ITT, nor is it accrediting new ITT provision. We are looking to award a single national contract for the Maths and Physics programme which will be for up to 100 participants per cohort, placed in schools across England. We seek bids from organisations that can demonstrate how they can attract and support high calibre post-doctoral researchers to make a successful transition into teaching, and how they will retain trainees once trained. We invite bids from individual organisations or consortia capable of delivering a national programme. The initial scope of the Chairs contract is for 2 intakes of up to 100 participants per cohort to start their training in 2019/20 (2019 cohort) and 2020/21 (2020 cohort) respectively. There is a possibility of an extension for one further cohort. Each intake will be on the programme for 2 years, a year training on an ITT programme, with continuing support as a newly qualified teacher (NQT) in year 2. The main subject focus of the Chairs programme will be maths and physics with at least 70 % of participants expected to be in these subjects. The programme may also include participants in other EBacc subjects. The Department may consider expanding the scope to other subjects/phases that are challenging to recruit to where it can be managed within the existing Service and Pricing Model. Career changers have the potential to bring extraordinary previous employment and industry experience to the classroom, which can inspire young people and influence teaching practice and wider school policies. A career changer is a person who is moving from another career (including other roles within schools) into teaching. This may also include people on career breaks or not in current employment. We invite bids from individual organisations or consortia capable of delivering the Department’s requirement in full. Career changers, however, require more support than new graduate applicants to ITT in deciding to apply for teaching, and through the transition from their previous careers into the classroom. Career changers face a number of challenges when moving to a new profession such as changing income, returning to training and successfully transferring their knowledge and skills to a new profession. We seek bids from suppliers that can demonstrate how they can attract, recruit and support career changers to make a successful transition into teaching, deliver ‘added value’ from their previous careers and retain them once trained. Contracts awarded on Lot 1 will be targeted at a specific region or regions. Details can be found in the specification document. We are keen to learn what the market can offer candidates and schools by way of a career development plan that will utilise candidates’ previous career experience to benefit the pupils and schools and shape the early career development of the successful trainee. Any potential solution would need to ‘wrap around’ an existing ITT course leading to Qualified Teacher Status delivered by an accredited ITT provider. This exercise is not establishing new ITT, nor is it accrediting new ITT provision. The core aim is to recruit and train new teachers; however, suppliers may also attract returning qualified teachers and offer a tailored support package for this group alongside other career changers. The initial scope of each Career Changer contract is for 2 intakes of up to 100 participants per cohort to start their training in 2019/20 (2019 cohort) and 2020/21 (2020 cohort) respectively. There is a possibility of an extension for one further cohort. Each intake will be on the programme for 2 years, a year training on an ITT programme, with continuing support as a newly qualified teacher (NQT) in year 2. Whilst there are no restrictions to the subjects or phases a potential solution could recruit to, they must, as a minimum include: — English Language and Literature, — Maths, — Biology, — Chemistry, — Computer Science, — Physics, — Geography, — History, — Modern Foreign Languages. Potential suppliers should specify in their bids which segment of the career changer market they intend to target and in which regions and why, they should specify how they would tailor their programme to that particular audience.