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 excellent standards of education to our students in the South West.
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 outstanding research base, this approach enables training to be personalised for every trainee with the tools enabling bespoke support and target-setting.
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 to continue to develop and inform their teaching as the field develops throughout their careers. The Exeter ITE courses therefore 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. We also work closely with school partners in research via ExeterPartner Research Community.
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 2017, the University of Exeter was graded as Outstanding in every category by Ofsted, reinforcing the University’s long term reputation for excellence in Teacher Education. Each year, about 450 Primary and Secondary trainees, including those on the School Direct route, qualify to teach through the University of Exeter. Each of these trainees benefit from our consistently world-class approach to Teacher Education.
