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Rationale

In September 2010, the UCAS Board ratified a new corporate strategy, which included a fundamental review of undergraduate and postgraduate admissions processes.

As part of the review, and in response to the DfE White Paper Training our next generation of outstanding teachers (June 2011), UCAS has also been working in partnership with the Teaching Agency (TA) to consider the processes for application to initial teacher training (ITT) courses. These can be followed either at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Undergraduate ITT admissions are managed by UCAS through the same process as that used for all other undergraduate admissions and form part of the existing consultation.

The current application systems for postgraduate teacher training have evolved over time to meet the changing needs of applicants and schools. As a result they have become diverse and can be confusing and frustrating for applicants. They can also create difficulties and inefficiencies for training providers, particularly those that have to use multiple systems. There are concerns that these different admissions systems are no longer conducive to achieving the best match of applicants to places available.

This consultation is about the process for admission to postgraduate teacher training courses. It will not impact on the content or delivery of the courses or any financial support attached to them. It is a timely response to the DfE White Paper Training our next generation of outstanding teachers (June 2011) and its Implementation plan (November 2011), which:

  • called for a system to make it easier to apply for teacher training
  • asked for the development of options to provide a single system of applications to all courses
  • identified the length of time taken to process first choice applications and the resultant negation of a meaningful second choice as significant issues in the current system.