Initial Teacher Training (ITT)
ITT: Welcome to the Class of 2025-2026!
A huge welcome to all the Associate Teachers who have joined STEP for their PGCE training. We are delighted that you are training locally and hope that you will secure your first post in a school in the STEP area from September 2026.
A Big Thank You for Your Support!
- Thank you to our placement schools, especially our incredible mentors. We could not run our courses without you. Thank you for completing your mentor training and providing the day to day support and weekly reflection meetings, as well as placements for the Intensive Training and Practice weeks.
Building relationships
We know that one of the most essential elements of being an effective teachers is forging relationships with all members of the school community, including the pupils, parents, staff and governors. A key element of the School Led PGCE route is ensuring that our Associate Teachers feel well supported. Our ATs come from a range of backgrounds to join our course. Some directly from their undergraduate course, others from role sin school as members of support staff and career changers. This brings rich and diverse experiences, however it can feel overwhelming when the groups come together. Part of our role at STEP is to build a cohesive group to ensure that pour learners are ready to learn, just as we do with our pupils and
students.
Pedagogical approaches at Shropshire Primary partnership
Just with our pupils, we ensure a range of pedagogical approaches for our centre based and academic learning. Co-operative learning has to be experienced, and modelled. Shropshire Primary Partnership have taken this approach for their teaching of science.
We all know how difficult it is to recruit new teachers and retain our workforce. At STEP we have worked together with our ITT Advocates to write a recruitment and retention toolkit.
We aim to support schools in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin with recruitment by enhancing communication, fostering collaborative partnerships, and promoting engagement in teacher training and professional development.
Great teachers are the foundation of successful schools. To meet rising pupil numbers, we must find innovative ways to attract passionate individuals to the profession, recognising the vital role current teachers play in inspiring future educators.
As part of our strategic role as the Teaching School Hub, STEP has worked with providers across Shropshire and Telford to create a resource bank aimed at supporting schools with staff recruitment and retention.
This toolkit provides marketing materials and key messages to help schools support national efforts to attract new teachers. By promoting the profession locally, schools can play a vital role in recruitment and highlighting the positive impact of teaching on future generations.
We believe teacher training is essential for sustainable recruitment.
The toolkit will be launched early in the new year with our ITT explainer videos, celebrating the success of training teachers across STEP for over 10 years.