Delivering excellent training
The Exeter Model of Initial Teacher Education
The Exeter Model of Initial Teacher Education is a highly regarded model used to deliver an excellent standard of education and training to our students. The Model combines a strong grounding in educational research and theory to underpin our use of a unique set of tools that help you learn to teach through expert modelling, practice, reflection and professional dialogue with experienced teachers.
The Model sequences learning to teach through five developmental phases:
- Anticipating Practice
- Beginning Practice
- Consolidating Practice
- Developing Independence
- Extension and Enrichment
Trainees begin with significant scaffolding through focused teaching practice based on modelling by experts. Moving through the phases, they become increasingly independent, teaching across sequences of lessons and taking full responsibility for their classes by the Developing Independence phase. Driven by an up to date research base, (including research conducted here at Exeter), this approach allows training to be personalised for every trainee with the tools enabling bespoke support and target-setting.
We believe that teacher education and training should be carefully sequenced to facilitate your success and lay strong foundations for a long term career in teaching. Our model is designed to make this happen. Choosing the Exeter Model for your first steps in teaching will help you make a great start to your career.
Learn more about the Exeter Model of Teacher Education
You can also find out more information about the Exeter Model on our Partnership with Schools pages.
Leading Educational Research
Exeter is one of the leading institutions nationally for Educational Research. We believe that teachers should have the skills and knowledge to engage with research in education and keep them informed and up to date throughout their careers. The Exeter ITE courses all incorporate opportunities to engage with core concepts and recent developments in education, enabling trainees to think critically, understand the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’ of teaching, engage in ongoing debates about teaching and learning, and decide for themselves how to put ideas into practice for the benefit of the students they teach.
Our trainees learn about research from active educational researchers, including those with an international reputation, and are encouraged to participate in research studies and engage in their own ‘practitioner-researcher’ studies of school practices.
I really enjoyed the taught part of the course at the university.
It was great to be a student again, to meet lots of other lovely people who shared my love of teaching and to enjoy a university social life after being in a full-time job for so long! The subject and pedagogy sessions at the university were fun and interesting, although I kept having to remind myself that I wasn’t just there to enjoy being taught by great teachers, but also to reflect on how we were being taught so that we could try out some of the techniques and activities for ourselves once we were in our school placements
Joseph
PGCE Secondary Biology
Ofsted Excellence
As well as inspecting schools, Ofsted also inspect initial teacher education providers. In our most recent Ofsted Report 2023, the University of Exeter was cited as ‘a great place to learn how to teach’ where trainees ‘thrive’ and are ‘inspired by the exceptionally strong subject knowledge of university staff’. Our courses were graded as “Outstanding” for our Primary courses and “Good” for our Secondary courses, reinforcing the University’s long term reputation for excellence in Teacher Education. Each year, about 250 Primary and Secondary trainees qualify to teach through the University of Exeter. Each of these trainees benefit from our consistently world-class approach to Teacher Education.
