Member Article

Collaborative triumvirate backs North East trainee teachers

North East recruitment firm The Education Network has partnered with Newcastle University and a software provider to help develop 93 newly qualified teachers.

The Education Network, with 13 offices throughout the UK including Newcastle, Cramlington and Durham, works with trainee and qualified teachers, schools and universities to develop skills and resource vacancies with the objective of raising standards of teaching and learning.

The company is sponsoring the aspiring teachers as they embark on their PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) course at Newcastle University.

In addition to their studies, the trainees will be guided by experienced head teachers and trainers in preparing for a career in the classroom. They will be invited to participate in workshops where they will hone their skills in writing personal statements, CVs and letters of application and will be shown how to impress in interview situations.

Schools that hire a student through The Education Network will receive a discount for Video Enhanced Observation (VEO), an iPAD app and online resource that is used worldwide to improve teaching and learning by enabling teachers to video record each other’s work as they interact with children in the classroom.

The app is free to download and trial but The Education Network has agreed a deal with VEO Ltd to cut the cost of the full system including online portal, enabling schools to benefit from this innovative approach to providing tailored continuous professional development.

These schools will also save time and money when they come to hire newly qualified teachers as The Education Network will be able to provide relevant candidate shortlists without the need for recruitment advertising.

Wayne Daley, partnership manager at The Education Network, explained the purpose of the sponsorship: “This is ultimately about raising standards in our schools.

“By working closely with Newcastle University, the participating schools and the students themselves we will be able to match outstanding newly qualified teachers with teaching posts available here in the North East.

“The VEO offer is a vitally important aspect of this. As part of its inspection process Ofsted looks very closely at teaching methods and at how schools are using innovation and sharing resources to improve standards.

“VEO is a fantastic tool but the costs of such systems can be prohibitive to schools where budgets are under pressure. We’ve made our investment to enable students and their placement schools to retain and revisit the video material as part of their development.”