First the good news – the DfE announced in July 2019, that applicants for teacher training starting after Sep 2020 will no longer have to pass the two Professional Skills Tests. However, all trainee teachers will now be required to demonstrate that they meet ‘Fundamental English & mathematics’ criteria.
ITT Providers will continue to ‘test’ applicants for their numeracy & literacy skills to determine that all teachers are able to demonstrate competence in the following areas:
- Speaking, listening and communicating are fundamental to a teacher’s role;
- Teachers should use standard English grammar, clear pronunciation and vocabulary relevant to the situation to convey instructions, questions, information, concepts and ideas with clarity;
- Teachers should read fluently and with good understanding;
- Writing by teachers will be seen by colleagues, pupils and parents and, as such, it is important that a teacher’s writing reflects the high standards of accuracy their professional role demands;
- They should write clearly, accurately, legibly and coherently using correct spelling and punctuation;
- Teachers should use data and graphs to interpret information, identify patterns and trends and draw appropriate conclusions;
- They need to interpret pupil data and understand statistics and graphs in the news, academic reports and relevant papers;
- Teachers should be able to complete mathematical calculations fluently with whole numbers, fractions, decimals and percentages;
- They should be able to solve mathematical problems using a variety of methods and approaches including: estimating and rounding, sense checking answers, breaking down problems into simpler steps and explaining and justifying answers using appropriate language.
Further official guidance can be found here
We’re really looking forward to deleting this post and never having to mention Skills Tests ever again!!
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