New mentor programme aims to support newly qualified maths and science teachers

The ‘Starting Out’ programme is funded by the Training and Development Agency for schools (TDA) and will provide new teachers with intensive support, including being paired with retired heads, university lecturers and other teachers for a year. The programme has been launched to address the fact that half of all those who teach STEM subjects leave teaching within a year, a considerably higher drop-out rate than in other subjects.

New teachers who participate in the programme will receive help in developing their subject knowledge and professional skills, and be given advice on lesson planning, the use of resources and how to work with local scientists.

A 2007 review by Lord Sainsbury, titled ‘The Race to the Top’ found that the UK needed to “invest in the future” in science and technology to remain competitive with other nations, and one of the recommendations to come out of this review was the introduction of a mentoring scheme for newly qualified teachers to help boost the numbers of qualified science teachers and thereby encourage more pupils to take triple science GCSEs.

A ‘Starting Out’ pilot scheme was launched in three regions - London, the West Midlands and the East - at the beginning of this year, and the main roll-out will take place next month. Some 800 teachers, who are training in their first two years of working, are taking part. They can choose to have face-to-face mentoring, subject-specific mentoring over the phone and the internet, or group work with other local colleagues.

“Recruitment to maths and science courses is improving, but unless we support these students there’s going to be a ‘leaky bath’ situation,” said Mark Ellis, Programme Manager of Starting Out. “We really need to keep these people, especially if the Government has spent a lot of money finding and training them. It’s very helpful for those starting out to be able to turn to someone who isn’t their boss and we hope this will improve retention rates.”