Linking the allocation of training places and funds to quality
The 1994 Education Act first introduced the idea of linking quality with funding. The Government’s Proposals for the Reform of Teacher Education proposed an assessment of the relative quality of all approved Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses to inform funding decisions.

In its first year, the Teacher Training Agency (TTA, now the TDA) managed the allocation of ITT places to providers without reference to inspection evidence. However, it commissioned an independent study to inform future allocations policy. The study suggested ways in which, in future, the TTA could take account of inspection evidence in allocating ITT places to providers.

Before the TTA was established, ITT providers were inspected by the national inspection agency, but judgements were revealed only to the ITT provider, in an unpublished report. The TTA required the outcomes of ITT inspections to be published and, in 1996/7, inspection evidence was used for the first time to inform the allocation of training places to providers. At that time around one third of lessons taught by newly qualified teachers were judged to be of an unsatisfactory quality.

The policy was as follows:
  • Based on inspection evidence, providers were split into 3 categories, A, B and C.

  • Each year, the Government’s supply model would determine how many ITT places would be needed in the following year. If an expansion in numbers was required, only those providers in the higher-quality categories would be permitted to bid for extra places. If a reduction in places was required, Category A providers would never have their numbers cut; Category B providers could be cut by a maximum of 15%; and Category C providers by a maximum of 30%.

  • If the TTA wanted to manage the market further, they could impose reductions on Category C providers and reallocate these to those in Categories A or B.
The effect of this policy was to expand the number of ITT offered by higher quality ITT training providers and to motivate poorer quality ITT providers to improve their quality.

In 2005, the TTA was succeeded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).

Useful web links

To find out more about current arrangements for the inspection of ITT, click here.

To read current information about the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), the successor to the TTA, click here.
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