ITT Professional Skills Tests

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Dear Department for Education,

The following page indicates that it will no longer be possible to take a professional skills test after 14th June 2020.

http://sta.education.gov.uk

Does it therefore follow that for someone who started ITT before the 2013/14 academic year (and therefore did not need to take the tests prior to starting the course) and received deferred QTS pending the completion of all professional skills tests, that they would need to complete and pass the skills tests before the tests are no longer available, or otherwise be permanently locked out of received QTS?

Yours faithfully,

A Fletcher

MINISTERS, Department for Education

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ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Dear  A Fletcher 

Thank you for your correspondence dated 30 December 2019.

Trainees who are deferred for skills tests do need to pass their tests
prior to them closing on 14 June 2020. Once the test centres close it will
no longer be possible to gain QTS by taking the skills test. In the future
new trainee teachers will have their fundamental English and mathematics
assured by the Initial Teacher Training provider, instead of taking a
centralised test.

For anyone wishing to gain QTS we recommend to book their tests via the
skills test website ([1]http://sta.education.gov.uk/) at their earliest
convenience.

There is no longer a lock out period for those who have previously failed
tests. Each trainee now receives three free attempts at each test and can
take each test as many times as they require. Current test centre
locations are published on the STA website.

Once the test centres have closed, trainees who still wish to achieve QTS
may need to comply with new requirements or processes to ensure they have
the fundamental English and mathematics to be recommended for QTS.

However for anyone working as an unqualified teacher they may wish to
consider the Assessment Only (AO) route to QTS.

The Assessment Only route into teaching is a route to achieving QTS, where
candidates need to demonstrate meeting all of the Teachers’ Standards and
includes the assessment of practical teaching in a school. It typically
lasts six to twelve weeks and you would be able to continue to work during
that time. Applicants require sufficient teaching experience to consider
this route. More information can be found here: :
[2]https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk...

Anyone starting the Assessment Only route on or after 1 April 2020 will no
longer require skills test as a condition of entry. Many people who apply
for this route are funded or part-funded by their schools. The cost of AO
is usually less that the salary savings of employing an unqualified
teacher.

If you have any questions please email [email address].

Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2019-0043228. If
you need to respond to us, please visit:
[3]https://www.education.gov.uk/contactus and quote your reference number.

As part of our commitment to improving the service we provide to our
customers, we are interested in hearing your views and would welcome your
comments via our website at:
[4]https://form.education.gov.uk/service/Po....

Yours sincerely

Skills Test Team

Teaching Workforce - Teacher Services

Web: [5]https://www.education.gov.uk
Twitter: [6]https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: [7]https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

References

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2. https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk...
3. https://www.education.gov.uk/contactus
4. https://form.education.gov.uk/service/Po...
5. https://www.education.gov.uk/
6. https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
7. https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk