DMU wins funding for new teaching internship

A new accessible route into teaching will be offered by De Montfort University Leicester (DMU).

The university has won funding from the Office for Students (OfS) to develop a new teaching apprenticeship (TDA) programme.

The course will be developed in collaboration with The Mead Education Trust, which supports schools in Leicestershire, and the partnership will combine DMU’s academic and teaching expertise with the Education Trust’s practical insights and extensive school network.

Jill Cowley, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Skills and Training at DMU, ​​said: “DMU has a long history of successfully delivering apprenticeships and we were recognized for this when Ofsted inspectors gave us a Good rating for our programs in the last year.

“The new apprenticeship is designed to provide an accessible path into the teaching profession, especially for individuals who may face financial or other barriers to traditional teacher education programs.

“It encourages applications from all backgrounds, to work towards a local workforce that more closely reflects the local demographics found in schools.

“Apprentices will directly take on paid classroom roles, gaining practical teaching experience whilst undertaking their academic studies in off-the-job training.”

The money for the course is part of a £12m OfS general fund designed to boost learning across the country.

This is the second time that DMU has successfully tendered for the fund.

In January, it was announced that DMU had received £315,000 from the fund to support the development of new learning programs across the faculties of Health and Life Sciences and Computing, Engineering and Media.

The university will work with employers to help provide a pathway of support for under-represented students, including those from ethnic minority backgrounds and those from areas with low participation in higher education.

Posted on Thursday, October 10, 2024