A SCHEME in Poole is aiming to deal with the national shortage of maths and modern languages teachers.

Poole Teachers Subject Specialist Training (TSST) offers extra training to qualified teachers so they can become specialists in the subjects.

It is run by Sigma Teaching School Alliance, which brings together several Poole state schools. It trained 22 potential maths teachers last year and is expanding to cover modern languages this time, with applications due by September 6.

Vicky Lethbridge, head of languages at Parkstone Grammar, is leading the languages course.

“There’s been a shortage of language teachers nationally for quite some time,” she said.

“Because of the Educational Baccalaureate linked to GCSEs, the government really wants to push languages. We really need to have more language teachers and attract former language teachers back into the profession.

“The people it would apply to are qualified secondary teachers. That could be teachers currently taking another subject who always had another language. They might want to increase their employability or pursue a personal passion, or they may be people who have taught languages and have had a career break.

“It may be existing language teachers who maybe want to teach another language alongside what they currently teach.”

The course involves a mix of face-to-face workshops, online study and mentoring, with a fast-track version in school holidays aimed at those outside the area who would find it difficult to attend after school.

Andy Oldman of Poole Grammar secured the funding for the maths programme last year and leads the maths course.

He said the training could also appeal to primary school teachers keen to teach at secondary level.

“We’re going to try and get key stages two and three and secondary schools to work together on schemes that ensure good communication between key stages two and three,” he added.

“We’ve also got an A-level aspect, for participants who are interested in teaching at A-level, where we’re going to be using an online virtual classroom.”

He said the shortage of teachers was set to worsen, with the number of secondary school students expected to grow by up to 100,000 in the next decade. “At the same time, the baby boomer generation is going to be retiring,” he added.

Details are at http pooletsst.co.uk