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Spotlight on: Emma Cook
Emma Cook is head of programme for the Tes iQTS course.
Emmaâs career journey
Emma started her career as a primary teacher teaching in south London and worked her way up to senior leadership in both mainstream and specialist settings. She realised her passion for special educational needs (SEN) when helping to set up enhanced learning provision (ELP) at one of her schools.
âI've worked in diverse settings â from mainstream to specialist settings â as well as those with a very high percentage of pupils with English as an additional language (EAL), and others where many of the pupils are going on to academically selective grammar schools.â
Feeling a pull towards teacher training and development, Emma became a lecturer at the University of Roehampton. She lectured on the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and undergraduate Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) programmes where she specialised in primary English and SEN, before joining Tes.
Having set up the Tes iQTS programme from its inception, Emma describes seeing the first cohort of learners from September 2023 gain QTS on the programme as âa tremendously proud momentâ. Tes Institute is the first government-backed non-university provider for iQTS.
Teaching ethos
âMy teaching ethos is completely child centred. It's about personalising learning, making sure that we are adapting our teaching to the needs of all of our pupils.
âThis is particularly important in international settings, because you may have a class of children for whom English isn't their first or even maybe their second language. This can be a real growth curve for many of our trainee teachers, so we support you to be able to adapt your teaching to meet those needs.â
Emma was involved in the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP), an initial government pilot scheme for school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT). She has seen the value in this more practical approach to training for teachers, which forms the basis of the Tes iQTS programme.
âI've been supporting teachers to train for a long time now in a wealth of different environments. Having seen teachers in school actively doing the job while training, it gives you the best possible start to the profession. As long as you have a strong pedagogical comfort blanket around you, so you know what youâre doing and why youâre doing it. This type of on-the-job model really helps our learners to join the dots.â
Aims of the iQTS programme
âOłÜ°ù&ČÔČúČő±è;iQTS programme enables teachers to train to teach anywhere in the world, without having to visit the UK.
âIt's been welcomed by international teachers who haven't, until now, had this opportunity to undertake research-informed teacher training coupled with the practicality of remaining in the classroom.â
Tes iQTS provides teachers with an internationally recognised qualification that many schools consider the âgold standardâ, Emma explains.
âTłó±đreâs no denying that it is hard work, because you're teaching and you're training at the same time, but what you have at the end of it [QTS] is completely invaluable. And you have that for life.â
Why learners love Tes iQTS
âAs a learner, you remain employed while you gain QTS â and the beauty of the Tes iQTS course is how adaptable and flexible it is to your needs and school calendar. It also works with a variety of curricula.â
With increasingly more international schools asking for QTS from their teachers, learners on the course have been able to secure their dream teaching jobs around the world.
Ultimately, Emma explains, the Tes iQTS qualification is a gateway â allowing you to teach in a wealth of different schools.
"It gives our trainee teachers that passport and freedom to teach globally. Teaching qualified also means greater career progression and opportunities.â
What support is available for learners on the iQTS programme?
âAs a programme team, we build a strong relationship with our trainees from the start. At interview, we'll speak with you as the learner and your headteacher. We also visit many of our schools during the academic year, to provide in-person support and for regular quality assurance of the programme.â
All learners also have in-school mentors as a daily touchpoint. These mentors are enrolled on a mentor training programme, Emma explains.
This is in addition to support from a dedicated pathway tutor who knows the programme and international schools very well. Pathway tutors will carry out an initial assessment meeting with you right at the start to personalise the course and your support. All of this means that you have a fully triangulated support system.
âWhen we had our final Department for Education monitoring visit, they said we hold our trainees in a âcotton-wool straitjacketâ, so our learners know exactly what they're doing. They know exactly where they are at any given time, but there's real nurture around them, and we get to know everyone on a personal level.â
Emma describes how the iQTS team intentionally prioritises learnersâ mental health and wellbeing on the course.
âWe have regular pause and prioritise lectures, which are built into the programme. These focus on areas such as workload and work-life balance â because one of the biggest reasons that people fall out of love with teaching is that they're overwhelmed.
âWe support our learners to be as resilient as they can be, but also to realise that sometimes you do have to take your foot off the pedal, sit back and prioritise yourself. We want you to be lifelong educators and to help you to have the most successful education journeys.â
Impact in the classroom
âTłó±đ programme aims to give all of our learners the tools and skills to be self-reflective and evaluate what youâre doing â this is built in from the start.â
Learners build their skills week on week, and everything is based on solid research and the latest pedagogy.
âBy undertaking the Tes iQTS programme, youâll be bringing the most pertinent and up-to-date evidence-based teaching practice into your classroom to your pupils.â
Emmaâs advice for a learner on the iQTS programme
âTłó±đ Tes iQTS course really is a superb opportunity to undertake initial teacher training without having to leave the country youâre in â without having to come to the UK and train. You can gain qualified teacher status. You can learn on the job, and you don't need to leave your current role. You can stay in your school.
âAbout half of our learners already have an iPGCE, so they take the option of the standalone iQTS. The other half choose to do the Tes iPGCE while they're doing the iQTS course. Learners get it at a very much reduced rate, so many feel it makes sense to do a dual qualification while they're with us.â
The future of the iQTS programme
âI always look forward to welcoming our next cohorts. You never know who's going to apply! You don't know where they're going to be in the world. You don't know if it might be a school you've never worked with before, in an area that you've never worked with. It might be a new curriculum to find out about.â
The programme is growing year on year, with word of mouth often a key driver. Emma puts this continued growth down to the quality and robustness of the programme.
She notes that word of mouth isnât the only driver of growth, however, with learners from new schools and new countries joining all the time â most recently, from an international school in Brunei.
âIt's lovely when we see new schools coming on board, especially in new countries. It's a really exciting learning opportunity for us to find out about how different countries operate.â
Loved hearing from Emma? Find out more about the Tes iQTS course and meet the rest of our inspiring programme leaders in our Spotlight series collection.