Aberystwyth University’s teacher training courses have been scrapped from September after its accreditation was pulled following a damning inspection report which found training “does not support students to make sufficient progress.”
The Education Workforce Council has said it will not re-accredit the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programme provided by the Aberystwyth Partnership of Initial Teacher Education - made up of Aberystwyth University alongside six lead schools and 59 partner schools.
It means that from September, the university will no longer be able to provide teacher training on its primary and secondary courses for new students.
The decision follows an Estyn inspection report on teacher training at Aberystwyth University last year which found that the institution had “been too slow to prioritise important areas of its work requiring improvement” and that “too much teaching, mentoring and too many of the learning experiences the partnership provides do not support student teachers to make sufficient progress.”
“Communication across the partnership is poor and the role of lead partner schools, in particular, is significantly underdeveloped,” that report said.
“This means that the partnership has struggled to deliver the programme as intended.”
“Overall, there is a lack of coherence between the university-based and school-based aspects of the provision.
“This, coupled with important shortcomings in mentoring and teaching, makes it difficult for students to develop their ability to link theory with practice, and use this knowledge to reflect critically on, and improve, their teaching.”
The Education Workforce Council has said the courses at Aberystwyth University now did not meet the criteria to be accredited.
A spokesperson for Aberystwyth University said: “Due to the decision by the Education Workforce Council not to re-accredit the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programme provided by the Aberystwyth Partnership of Initial Teacher Education, the university will not offer PGCE from the end of this academic year.
“Our current PGCE students will continue their studies and their qualification will not be affected.
“Our School of Education will continue to deliver a wide range of courses, including undergraduate degrees in Childhood Studies and Education, continuous professional development courses for teachers at Masters' level, and research degrees in Education.
“Our academics are also involved in active and important research in key areas such as health and wellbeing, curriculum development, national and local education policy, AI and Welsh-medium education.
“Our National Professional Enquiry Project (NPEP) research projects in schools will continue as normal.”