Academic year 2019/20

Initial teacher training performance profiles

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Introduction

National and provider-level information about the outcomes for final year teacher trainees in England in the academic year 2019/20.  Outcome measures presented are the proportion of final year trainees that gained qualified teacher status, and the employment rates of these qualified teachers. The publication also includes information on the outcomes for assessment only (AO) candidates and early years ITT trainees.

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Headline facts and figures - 2019/20

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Additional supporting files

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  • ITT performance profiles 201920 provider tables (xlsx, 558 Kb)

    These provider level tables contain the qualified teacher status and employment outcomes of postgraduate and undergraduate final year ITT trainees and their characteristics by provider. The data in this table covers data for 2017/18 to 2019/20 for qualified teacher status and 2017/18 to 2018/19 for employment outcomes.

About these statistics

The initial teacher training (ITT) performance profiles are designed to: 

  • provide transparent information on outcomes of trainee teachers to the public
  •  help potential trainee teachers make informed choices about where to train

These statistics are based on final year trainees (see methodology for more detail on how final year trainees are identified). For comprehensive statistics about new entrants to ITT and their characteristics, please refer to the ITT census publications, available on the ITT statistics webpage. 

These statistics cover those training to teach via both postgraduate and undergraduate routes, as well as separate sections on those undertaking early years initial teacher training (EYITT) and assessment only (AO).

The following tables are included:

  • national tables for the academic years 2017/18 to 2019/20 by route, phase, subject, region, bursary eligibility status and trainee characteristics (main postgraduate and undergraduate routes).
  • provider-level tables for the academic years 2018/19 and 2019/20 by route and phase (main postgraduate and undergraduate routes).
  • a national table from the academic years 2014/15 to 2019/20 by subject (AO route).
  • a national table for the academic year 2017/18 to 2019/20 by route and trainee characteristics (EYITT route).
  • national time series tables for the academic years 2012/13 to 2019/20 by route and for the academic years 2009/10 to 2019/20 by subject.

In this year’s publication, the main tables contain three years of data, from 2017/18 to 2019/20, for the first time. This means revised employment figures are included in the main tables for 2017/18 and 2018/19. Previously, revised employment data was only included in the route and subject time series tables for the last year. Please see the methodology for more details on how provisional and revised employment numbers are calculated.

Background on mainstream initial teacher training

To become a qualified teacher in England, trainees typically complete a programme of initial teacher training (ITT). This provides them with training, mentoring and teaching practice in schools, and leads to the award of qualified teacher status (QTS) for successful trainees.

There are a number of pathways into teaching which include an undergraduate route, over a three or four-year course, and postgraduate routes which normally run for one year full-time. Postgraduate fee-funded courses can be undertaken through a higher education institution (HEI), or via a group of schools delivering a school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) programme or a School Direct fee-funded programme. Postgraduate salaried routes include the School Direct salaried programme, the Teach First Leadership Development Programme and, since the 2018/19 academic year, the Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship (PGTA). Two non-mainstream routes, early years ITT and assessment only, are covered in separate sections below.

At HEIs, the university or college delivers the pedagogy of teaching supplemented by placements in schools. Successful trainees are awarded QTS and a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE). On school-led routes, trainees are placed in a school from the first day of training. Most school-led routes also include a PGCE as many school-led providers will pair with an HEI.

Overall QTS and employment rates of final year trainees

Summary

  • There were 29,314 final year postgraduate trainee teachers in academic year 2019/20. 26,751 (91%) of these trainees were awarded qualified teacher status (QTS); this remains the same as last year. The proportion has remained stable since the 2013/14 academic year.
  • At the end of the 2019/20 academic year 1,391 (5%) of final year trainees were yet to complete [1] and 1,172 (4%) were not awarded QTS, which are similar to the equivalent 2018/19 figures.
  • For trainees whose training was disrupted due to reasons relating to Covid-19, providers could offer course extensions into the following academic year (where they deemed it to be appropriate) to enable them to gain adequate evidence of meeting the Teachers’ Standards. The final outcomes of trainees undertaking course extensions will be included in a future ITT performance profiles publication once they have completed their course.
  • We provisionally[2] estimate that within sixteen months of qualification, 19,415 postgraduate trainees awarded QTS will be employed as a teacher in a state-funded school in England. This represents 73% of postgraduate trainees awarded QTS, down from 78% (revised[3]) in 2018/19. Note that this cohort will have been seeking employment during the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • Provisional employment rates were 78% for those on a school-led route compared to 65% for those on a Higher Education Institution (HEI) route, with the highest rates seen for those on the High Potential ITT (91%), Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship[4] (89%), School Direct Salaried (87%) routes.
  • There were 4,550 final year undergraduate trainee teachers in the 2019/20 academic year. Of these trainees, 4,117 (90%) were awarded qualified teacher status (QTS)[5]; this remains the same as last year. Provisional employment estimates indicate 67% of the trainees awarded QTS will be employed as a teacher in a state-funded school in England, within sixteen months of qualification, representing a drop of 6 percentage points compared to last year.


Footnotes

[1] Some trainees in their expected final year of ITT may have not fully completed their course at the end of the academic year. Trainees who are yet to complete the course will go on to be awarded QTS or will complete without being awarded QTS in a later academic year.  

[2] Provisional figures are estimated as it is too early in the reporting cycle to capture everyone who is employed in a state school. Revised figures will be calculated following collection of the November 2021 school workforce data and will be published as part of the 2020/21 performance profiles publication; see the methodology section for further details. 

[3] Revised figures for 2018/19 are calculated from more complete data using the November 2020 school workforce census; see the methodology section for further details.

[4] The postgraduate teaching apprenticeship (PGTA) is a new route introduced in 2018/19. It is relatively small (272 trainees) compared to other routes.

[5] Undergraduate trainees who were affected by Covid-19 were also offered course extensions into the following academic year to enable them to gain adequate evidence of meeting the Teachers’ Standards.  As with postgraduate trainees, their outcomes will be recorded in a future ITT performance profiles publication once they have completed their course.

Outcomes of postgraduate final year trainees by subject

Summary

  • 91% of postgraduate final year trainees were awarded QTS in both primary and secondary subjects; this is in line with previous years.
  • QTS award rates varied by secondary subject from 83% for physics to 97% for Classics[1] and 96% for physical education.
  • We provisionally estimate[2] that within sixteen months of qualification, 70% of primary postgraduate trainees awarded QTS and 75% of secondary postgraduate trainees awarded QTS will be employed as a teacher in a state-funded school in England (decreases of 8 percentage points and 3 percentage points respectively).
  • Provisional employment rates vary by secondary subject from 49% for Classics (from these small numbers possibly more go into the independent sector) and 64% for physical education to 83% for design & technology.


Footnotes

[1] There are smaller numbers of trainees studying Classics (73 trainees) compared to other subjects.

[2] Provisional figures are estimated as it is too early in the reporting cycle to capture everyone who is employed in a state school. Revised figures will be calculated following collection of the November 2021 school workforce data and will be published as part of the 2020/21 performance profiles publication; see the methodology section for further details.

Outcomes of final year trainees by route

Summary 

  • 91% of final year postgraduate trainees were awarded QTS compared to 90% of final year undergraduate trainees.  These are both the same as the equivalent figures in 2018/19.
  • QTS award rates vary by route, ranging from 76% for Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship[1] to 94% for School Direct Salaried.
  • 92% of final year postgraduate trainees on a school-led route were awarded QTS, compared to 90% on a Higher Education Institution (HEI) route. Award rates are similar to those from 2018/19.
  • Provisional employment rates vary by route. They were 78% for those on a school-led route compared to 65% for those on a Higher Education Institution (HEI) route, with the highest rates seen for those on the High Potential ITT (91%), Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship[1]  (89%), and School Direct Salaried (87%) routes.


Footnotes

[1]  The postgraduate teaching apprenticeship (PGTA) is a new route introduced in 2018/19.  It is relatively small (272 trainees) compared to other routes.

Outcomes of postgraduate final year trainees by trainee characteristics

Summary

  • In 2019/20, 93% of postgraduate final year trainees aged under 25 were awarded QTS, compared to 90% of those aged 25 and over. These figures have remained the same since 2016/17.
  • In 2019/20, 85% of postgraduate final year trainees who declared a disability[1] were awarded QTS compared to 92% for those who did not.  This is in line with what we have seen in previous years.
  • In 2019/20, for postgraduate trainees who declared their ethnicity[2] and belong to an ethnic minority group (excluding White minorities), 88% were awarded QTS compared to 92% for White trainees; this has remained the same since 2017/18.  QTS rates for the underlying ethnic minority groups vary from 86% for Black trainees to 90% for Mixed ethnicity and Other[3] ethnicity trainees.
  • For 2019/20 final year female postgraduate trainees, 93% were awarded QTS compared to 87% of male trainees; these rates are the same as 2018/19. Similarly, 2019/20 provisional employment rates for females (74%) are higher than those for males (69%)[4].
  • Of those awarded QTS, 72% of those aged under 25 are estimated to be in employment at a state-funded school within sixteen months of qualification compared to 73% of those aged 25 and over. This is a decrease of 7 percentage points for those aged under 25 and 5 percentage points for those aged 25 and over compared to the previous year.
  • Provisional employment rates[5] for those with a declared disability (69%) are lower than for those with no declared disability (73%). Employment rates for both groups have decreased compared to 2018/19. For those with a declared disability, this is a decrease of 5 percentage points. For those with no declared disability, this is a decrease of 6 percentage points.
  • Provisional employment rates are lowest for Asian trainees (66%), and highest for Mixed ethnicity and White trainees (73%).Asian trainees have had the lowest employment rates since 2017/18, and Mixed ethnicity trainees have held the highest, although often alongside another ethnic group.


Footnotes

[1] 657 out of 29,314 (2%) of postgraduate trainees had an unknown disability status.

[2] For all postgraduate trainees, 1,620 out of 29,314 (6%) had an unknown ethnicity status.

[3] Other includes Arab and any other ethnic group.

[4] 27 out of 29,314 (0.1%) of postgraduate trainees had a gender status of Other.

[5] Provisional figures are estimated as it is too early in the reporting cycle to capture everyone who is employed in a state school. Revised figures will be calculated following collection of the November 2021 school workforce data and will be published as part of the 2020/21 performance profiles publication; see the methodology section for further details.

Summary of final year postgraduate trainee outcomes for the 2019/20 academic year

Percentage awarded QTSPercentage of those awarded QTS teaching in a state school
AgeUnder 2593%72%
25 and Over90%73%
DisabilityDeclared85%69%
None declared92%73%
Ethnicity groupAsian88%66%
Black86%70%
Mixed ethnicity90%73%
Other90%67%
White92%73%
GenderMale87%69%
Female93%74%

Footnotes

  1. Age: trainees aged 25 and over on 31 July 2020.
  2. Trainees who are not recorded as male or female gender have been included in 'other'.
  3. Percentage of those awarded QTS teaching in a state school: percentage of those awarded QTS who are employed in a state-funded school in England within 16 months of qualification. 2019/20 figures are provisional (uplifted), all prior years are revised. Due to rounding, the sum of constituent parts may differ from the reported total. See methodology for further details.
  4. Teaching in a state school: registered as employed in a state-funded school in England within 16 months of qualification. 2019/20 figures are provisional (uplifted), up to and including 2018/19 are revised. See methodology for further details.
  5. Other ethnicity includes Arab and Other ethnic background.

Outcomes of postgraduate final year trainees by degree class on entry

Summary

  • This section looks at the previous degrees obtained by trainees before entering ITT.
  • In 2019/20, QTS award rates are in line with trends seen in previous years, where the higher the degree class on entry, the higher the QTS award rate at the end of the academic year. Excluding those trainees whose degree class was unknown, QTS award rates ranged from 88% of postgraduate trainees with either a lower second or other[1] degree class to 94% for those with a first-class degree on entry.
  • In 2019/20, 7% of postgraduate trainees with a degree class of lower second or other[1]  on entry were yet to complete [2], this was 3 percentage points higher than the proportion of trainees with an upper second[3] or first yet to complete.
  • Provisional employment rates were highest for trainees who had a first class or upper second[3] degree on entry (78% and 74%, respectively) compared to those with a lower second or other degree class (67% and 69% respectively).


Footnotes

[1] Includes third class honours degrees, and ‘ordinary’ or ‘general’ degrees awarded after a non-honours course, and degrees awarded after a non-honours course that was not available to be classified. It also includes other categories from non-UK degrees.

[2] Some trainees in their expected final year of ITT may have not fully completed their course at the end of the academic year. Trainees who are yet to complete the course will go on to be awarded QTS or will complete without being awarded QTS in a later academic year.  

[3]  ’Upper second’ includes undivided second class.

Outcomes of postgraduate final year trainees by region

Summary

  • In 2019/20, QTS award rates varied across English regions, from 89% in the South West to 93% in the East of England. This variation is similar to previous years.
  • Provisional employment rates are lowest in the North West (61%) and highest in the East of England (83%).

Outcomes of candidates undertaking assessment only (AO)

Background

Gaining QTS through AO is a way for existing unqualified teachers, support staff or teaching assistants to demonstrate that they already meet all the QTS standards, without the need for any further training. AO is open to those with relevant teaching experience who hold a degree, or for those with a teaching qualification from another country. Candidates undertaking AO do not complete a course to achieve QTS, but are instead assessed against the Teacher’s Standards. The entry criteria for AO is the same as those for all initial teacher training (ITT) courses and must be met in full prior to registration. Only DfE-approved accredited providers of ITT can assess and recommend AO candidates for QTS. 

Typical candidates for AO might include:

  • unqualified teachers with experience in settings where QTS is not a requirement, for example independent schools, who wish to move into state-funded schools
  • unqualified teachers with significant teaching experience
  • teachers from overseas who wish to be awarded QTS in England[1]
  • higher level teaching assistants with the necessary qualifications and teaching experience

 Summary

  • The number of assessment only (AO) candidates fell by 18% in academic year 2019/20, from 1,515 to 1,238.  This is likely to be due, at least in part, to the impact of Covid-19 on assessments in the latter part of the academic year.
  • Whilst there was a three-fold increase between 2014/15[2] and 2018/19, the 2019/20 figures are in line with 2017/18 figures (when there were 1,270 AO candidates).
  • 97% of AO candidates in 2019/20 achieved qualified teacher status (QTS), a 2 percentage point decrease from 2018/19, which is consistent across all recorded trainee characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity and declared disability). 
  • This higher rate of QTS award for candidates undertaking AO compared to mainstream ITT candidates is likely to be because candidates should already be experienced teachers, or hold a teaching qualification from another country, who can demonstrate that they meet all of the Teachers’ Standards without any further training.

Subject breakdown of AO candidates

  • 51% of AO candidates in 2019/20 took primary assessments, which is greater than the mainstream ITT routes where primary trainees made up 42% of postgraduates for the same academic year[3].
  • The highest number of AO candidates in secondary subjects are for English (11%), mathematics (8%) and physical education (5%).

AO candidates’ previous qualifications

Compared to mainstream trainees, AO candidates were less likely to have obtained a first or upper second class in their first degree (53%[4] compared to 74%[4] of new entrants on mainstream postgraduate programmes in 2019/20).


Footnotes

[1] Some qualified teachers from overseas can obtain professional recognition and the award of QTS without undertaking ITT or AO. This applies to fully qualified teachers who trained in the European Economic Area (EEA), under the terms of Council Directive 2005/36/EC. Teachers who trained outside the EEA must have their qualifications recognised by an EEA member state and must have 3 years of experience in that state to be eligible to apply for QTS in England without undertaking ITT or AO. Teachers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and United States can also apply for mutual recognition and must be fully qualified and eligible to teach permanently in the country in question. This must be documented from the recognised authority in that state. There is further information on the award of QTS on our webpage.

[2] AO data collection first became mandatory in 2014/15.

[3] Revised figure for 2019/20 taken from ITT Census 2020/21.

[4] Excludes those with unknown degree class

Outcomes of final year trainees undertaking early years initial teacher training (EYITT)

Background

  • Early years initial teacher training (EYITT) provides specialist training covering the education and care of children from birth to the age of five and is distinct from primary education. Training is delivered by accredited ITT providers[1].
  • Successful EYITT trainees are awarded early years teacher status (EYTS). They are not eligible for the award of qualified teacher status (QTS) and are therefore not qualified to lead classes in a maintained[2] nursery or school, unless they also hold QTS[3]. Early years teachers can lead teaching in all other early years settings in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector.
  • There are several routes leading to the award of EYTS. Trainees can undertake an undergraduate course, which allows them to earn a degree in an early childhood related subject and EYTS, normally over a three year period full-time. Postgraduate EYITT courses can be undertaken through the graduate entry route (full time study, which includes the early years School Direct route) or the graduate employment based route (a one-year part-time route for graduates working in an early years setting[4]). Postgraduate EYITT normally runs for one year full-time.

Summary

  • There were 365 final year postgraduate early years trainees in the 2019/20 academic year, of which 332 (91%)  were awarded early years teacher status (EYTS)[5]. This is an increase compared to 2018/19 when 89% of the 398 postgraduate EYITT trainees were awarded EYTS.
  • There were also differences in the EYTS award rates across several trainee characteristics (gender, ethnicity and declared disability), which broadly mirror the equivalent differences seen in mainstream ITT.  However, these comparisons should be treated with caution due to very small numbers of EYITT trainees in some of the groups (see the chart).

 

Footnotes

[1] Providers graded by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) as ‘requires improvement’, or a lower quality, cannot provide EYITT.

[2] ‘Maintained’ refers to schools or nurseries where funding and oversight is provided through the local authority.

[3] Trainees with EYTS can work as level 3 support workers in a maintained nursery or school. They can work as unqualified teachers in maintained schools or academies but this status is dependent on the school.

[4] Trainees can also undertake an assessment only route to earn EYTS. This is designed for graduates with experience of working with children from birth to five, who are able to demonstrate the Teacher’s Standards (early years) without further training; for example, overseas trained early years teachers. The EYITT assessment only route is not included in this publication.

[5] There were 17 final year undergraduate early years trainees in the 2019/20 academic year.

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