ANDY DAVIES, PROJECT CO-LEAD; DEPUTY DEAN, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, SPORT AND HEALTH SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON, UK
LIS BUNDOCK, PROJECT CO-LEAD; ASSOCIATE DEAN (EDUCATION AND STUDENT EXPERIENCE), UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON, UK
RICHARD HARVEY-SWANSTON, SENIOR LECTURER, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON, UK
ROB CORBETT, APPRENTICE AMBASSADOR, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON, UK
ALLISON GODFREY, EMPLOYER COORDINATOR, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON, UK
POLLY HERBERT, HEAD OF INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON, UK
MONICA SECRETAN, APPRENTICE AMBASSADOR, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON, UK
EMILY SINCLAIR, PROJECT ADMINISTRATIVE LEAD, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON, UK
The presence of teachers who reflect the diverse communities they teach is critical in shaping who feels welcome, who can belong and what futures seem possible (Demie and Huat See, 2022). Efforts to recruit student teachers from underrepresented groupsThe diversity of research participants should reflect the educational community for whose benefit the research is taking place. When this is not the case, some groups are underrepresented have highlighted the barriers that prevent many from applying to teacher training (Kotonya et al., 2025). Recruitment challenges are also especially acute for schools serving the communities that face the most difficulties in raising pupil outcomes (McLean and Worth, 2025). While our day-to-day focus as a university provider of initial teacher trainingAbbreviated to ITT, the period of academic study and time in school leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) (ITTInitial teacher training - the period of academic study and time in school leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)) is on those entering the profession, we wish to play our part in shaping who enters the profession, how they are supported and included, and how they are enabled to thrive within the school workplace.
This article examines how we have sought to address these challenges, sharing how we have used the new teacher degree apprenticeship (TDA) to inform our offer.
The teacher degree apprenticeship
While diversifying the teaching workforce is a long-standing objective for the University of Brighton’s initial teacher education (ITE) partnership, realising this has proved challenging. The TDA has provided an opportunity to make progress on this objective with the more equitable offer that we have developed in collaboration with school partners and their communities.
The long-awaited undergraduate apprenticeship route to qualified teacher status was announced in February 2024 (DfEDepartment for Education - a ministerial department responsible for children’s services and education in England, 2024). Its features afford tangible benefits for both employing schools and potential applicants (Worth, 2025). First, in using the Apprenticeship Levy for training costs, schools can target resources for positions to which applicants are hard to recruit. Second, the apprenticeship’s focus of learning on the job means that apprentices are in the classroom as emerging teachers from the start, supporting pupils from the beginning of their courses. Third, as a salaried route, apprentices are given the opportunity to ‘earn while they learn’ – supporting applicants who could not otherwise afford to train.
Building the partnership and course
At the time of writing, the first two routes of our TDA offer have launched: primary education and secondary maths. We have recruited 87 apprentices, with no corresponding recruitment falls to our other undergraduate routes, indicating that we are reaching candidates who would not otherwise have applied. Most of the new apprentices recruited are experienced professionals who already worked for their employing schools before starting the course. Most reported that they had been unable to undertake ITT via traditional routes because of study costs, salary needs and previous academic experiences.
Directing efforts and targeting available resources
To meet our ambitions, we needed additional funding to provide targeted resources. In March 2024, we were selected as a member of the Department for Education’s pilot scheme for the secondary maths TDA. In September 2024, we secured funding through the Office for Students Degree Apprenticeship Funding Competition for a project to engage: (i) schools serving areas of educational under-achievement, and (ii) LGBTQ+, Black, Asian and mixed heritage candidates, as well as those from areas underrepresented in higher education. This enabled us to employ three additional staff, who built partnerships with new and existing employers and community groups, informing candidates of the TDA’s benefits. Their work was crucial in the new apprenticeship’s successful launch, and laid a sustainable foundation for our recruitment efforts in the coming years.
Employer engagement in recruitment strategy and course design
Our first step in February 2024 was to establish our Employer Strategic Oversight Group, which met monthly, advising on recruitment strategy and course design. It was crucial in identifying how to attract applicants and developing a course structure and teaching approach that met employers’ needs. It strengthened the apprenticeship’s credibility and enabled us to be confident in our innovative approaches, such as focusing on potential over set entry criteria, maximising ‘on the job’ learning, blended delivery of off-the–job training, and a three-year course duration. Its sustained requests for a primary route were also instrumental in our developing this route, despite initial questions about demand.
Targeted recruitment activities
Our TDA team worked tirelessly to reach targeted candidates. We held fortnightly online information events, reached out to different community groups and used a significant portion of our funding for a targeted marketing campaign to engage employers. While we were successful in reaching employers, we found that their preference was to employ candidates with whom they had already worked. We have managed to widen participation when considered against the characteristics of our standard ITE entrants: of the cohort recruited for the maths apprenticeship, all but two are mature students, half come from areas defined by the Index of Multiple Deprivation as the most deprived, and 20 per cent are Asian or from mixed heritage. We still want to reach more of these applicants and expand our reach to our other targeted communities (for example, Black and LGBTQ+). We are now rethinking how such barriers might be overcome at the recruitment stage. This will involve a deliberate focus on pairing applicants with interested schools in order for them to gain experience and form relationships, so that employers invest in their training for the length of a degree apprenticeship.
Promoting a wider commitment to inclusive schools
Our marketing campaign, Difference Makes a Difference, proved successful in reaching employers. It focused on how inclusive teacher training approaches benefit schools and their communities. This culminated in a conference for school leaders, governors, teachers, trainees and community groups, which foregrounded speakers from underrepresented backgrounds, exploring the barriers faced in school communities, alongside a commitment to finding ways to address these barriers through inclusive practices.
Lessons learned and looking ahead
Despite the apprenticeship’s successful launch, we are mindful that we have only made minor steps forward towards our objective of more representative school communities. Our focus now is to further develop this route, its recruitment practices, curriculum, assessments and pedagogy, and to explore ways of building on apprentices’ professional and personal experiences to support long-term careers.
We recognise that we have a wider role to play in creating a broader environment in which apprentices can thrive post-qualification. We are continuing to broaden our partnership and developing employers’ awareness of this route, as well as practices that support the retention and development of teachers from underrepresented groups.
