The National Education Union recently released statistics showing that 1 in 3 teaching staff members plan to leave the profession within the next 5 years.
Whilst this statistic could be devastating to the teaching community across the UK, UCAS has also released statistics showing that teacher training applications are the highest they’ve been in years.
The 2020 recruitment cycle for teaching courses in England and Wales saw a 16.7% increase overall!
This means that in 5 years’ time there will be many newly qualified teaching professionals seeking work in the field. Their journey as trainee teachers will be hugely different to prior years, as students are now embracing remote feedback, hybrid learning and the supporting technology.
So how can we keep our best teachers in the profession to stop these stats showing up again in a couple of years’ time?
With universities in the UK set to re-open from mid-May, it’s crucial that educators continue to offer online as well as face-to-face learning.
Digital learning is what today’s students are used to. It’s no secret that fully remote learning has been a struggle for lots of people. But on the flip side, embracing online course activities can help universities offer more flexible and fulfilling learning experiences.
On the tutor and observer’s side, we’ve seen how much time and money can be saved through not having to travel between locations for in-person classroom observations.
For these reasons, universities and colleges could benefit from offering a blended approach. One that incorporates digital and face-to-face learning so that our future teachers receive the most efficient, high quality training and development. And of course, so that they’re more likely to feel supported and happy whilst achieving their initial qualifications and beyond.
Looking ahead – What role does VEO play?
VEO’s secure video-based app and adaptive tagging system, can be used as a learning and support network for both trainee and existing teachers.
Users can securely connect and share video content and other resources with their course leaders, peers, and colleagues.
As all teachers know, feedback and development is key. So trainee and experienced teachers can use VEO to ask for feedback on their performance, make suggestions on other’s videos, and get a coach’s or mentor’s input when needed. For trainee teachers, VEO can also be used as a place to discuss experiences and continue developing skillsets outside of the classroom.
Supporting teacher training courses
VEO allows educators to design course content that focuses on teaching practice before future teachers even enter the classroom.
Course tutors can upload videos for trainees to review using custom tag sets. For example, a tag set can follow a certain skill such as communication to help students clearly recognise and highlight best-practice.
Another example of how universities are using VEO for teacher training is to upload videos of lesson examples, with tags explaining exactly why it’s effective, and where improvements could be made next time.
This allows them to grasp classroom dynamics and teaching techniques and jump straight to key learning moments using the tutor’s tags. Tutors can also pose questions on specific moments in the video which encourages trainees to actively discuss specific aspects like lesson pacing, questioning and interactivity.
Alongside the video, tutors can upload supporting documents and learning materials to further enhance learning.
Continued teacher development and assessment purposes
When it comes to feedback and assessments, trainee teachers can record themselves delivering a lesson and ask for others to tag it with focused feedback.
Tutors and peers can use tag sets based on specific assessment criteria to mark directly on a video. Learners can therefore see exactly where they can improve and actively implement positive changes to their lesson delivery to increase their chances of passing their course.
Beyond initial teacher training, teachers everywhere can learn from each other using VEO. Several projects currently running involve groups of teachers from the same school group at different locations in the same country.
Teachers from around the world are learning from each other by doing activities such as delivering the same lesson to students in different schools, in different countries, and with different backgrounds.
This makes for very interesting research and comes with many other benefits – understanding how teaching differs in different cultures to name just one! All without having to catch a flight or drive to see and understand what’s happening in person.
Want to learn more?
VEO gives teachers trainers and other education institutions a set of tools to help them train and retain their best teaching staff.
Get in touch to arrange a demo with one of our friendly team.
