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22 Jan 2009 : Column 1713W—continued
The Department has made no assessment of whether the encouragement of fieldwork as a teaching method is adequately supported by teacher training courses. However, the current standards for the award of
qualified teacher status (QTS) set out what trainee teachers must demonstrate before they can be recommended for the award. QTS Standard Q30 requires that all trainees demonstrate that they can
“establish a purposeful and safe learning environment conducive to learning and identify opportunities for learners to learn in out-of-school contexts”.
Training and Development Agency for Schools guidance to this standard states that
“trainees should be able to identify opportunities for children and young people to learn in the school grounds and in out-of-school contexts such as museums, theatres, field centres and work settings”.
All initial teacher training provision is inspected by Ofsted to ensure that training is designed and delivered to enable every trainee to meet all of the QTS standards, including standard Q30 that relates to learning outside of the classroom.
Through the manifesto for learning outside the classroom, DCSF is supporting “Teaching Outside the Classroom” at:
which facilitates placements for trainee teachers in settings such as museums, city farms and field study centres.
The Government have no plans to commission research to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the state of fieldwork in secondary science education for 14 to 19-year-olds.
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