MTL delay allows for further development

ASCL welcomed the government's decision in April to delay the introduction of the masters in teaching and learning (MTL) to summer 2010 to allow more time to develop and pilot the qualification. General Secretary John Dunford said at the time that the MTL is too important a qualification to rush through based on an artificial timescale.

For the first year, the MTL will be made available to newly qualified teachers (NQTs) taking up post from September 2009 in schools in the North West region, in National Challenge schools and in other priority schools in challenging circumstances across the country.

Some secondary schools in challenging circumstances will be able to offer a recruitment and retention incentive of £10,000 over three years to NQTs on the MTL. ASCL has raised concerns at the MTL being targeted at new teachers, who are in possibly the most challenging phase of their career and may not be in a personal position to take on additional workload.

ASCL believes that the point at which teachers do the qualification should be flexible in order to take account of different situations.

The DCSF has committed £30 million over the next two years for the initial rollout of MTL and provided an additional £25 million to fund MTL for teachers in National Challenge schools in 2009-11. It is a three-year programme available to teachers in their first five years.

The first participants will enrol on the MTL in January 2010 and start in summer 2010. Registration is available now.

• For information and to register for updates, go to www.tda.gov.uk/mtl