New Welsh teacher training accreditation board announced

Education secretary for Wales, Kirsty Williams, has announced three appointments to a new board that will play a key role in how Wales’ teachers will be trained

The Education Workforce Council: Teacher Education Accreditation Committee, which will be known as ‘the board’, will accredit individual Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes.

The newly appointed chair is Professor John Furlong - Emeritus Professor of education at the Oxford University department of education.

Professor Furlong is also Emeritus Fellow of Green Templeton College in Oxford.

Professor of teacher education at the University of Manchester, Professor Olwen Mcnamara, and former CEO of the Teaching Council Ireland, Dr Aine Lawlor, will be deputy chairs.

These appointments will run from 12 June 2017 to 31 May 2022.

The Welsh Government has announced new rules for the courses that train teachers as part of the drive to attract the best talent to the profession.

The changes for ITE include strengthening how schools and universities work together and increasing the role of research.

The latest accreditation criteria are part of the Welsh government’s national mission to reform education and include: an increased role for schools; a clearer role for universities; structured opportunities to link school and university learning; and a greater emphasis on research.

Kirsty Williams said: “I am delighted to announce professor John Furlong as chair and Professor Olwen Mcnamara and Dr Aine Lawlor as deputy chairs of the new Teacher Education Accreditation Committee.

“This new board will allow more specific consideration of how ITE programmes will raise the quality of provision – attracting the right people with the right qualifications and an aptitude for teaching, to enter the profession.

“These changes and the new accreditation standards are part of our national mission to raise the standards and standing of the profession.”