Gloucestershire Initial Teacher Education Partnership (GITEP) SCITT is a highly successful school-centred initial teacher training provider, recognised as outstanding by Ofsted.
Our training is dominantly school based but we also believe strongly that our trainees should have the time to develop subject expertise and an understanding of theoretical aspects of education. Professional studies weeks throughout the year, with lectures and workshops led by expert speakers, support the training in schools.
GITEP works in partnership with the University of Bristol to offer the academic PGCE. Although all our centre-based training takes place in Cheltenham or Gloucester our trainees have full access to the University of Bristol library and are registered students of the University.
GITEP and the University both focus solely on secondary teacher training and share a commitment to developing outstanding subject expertise. Trainees from our partnership schools meet as subject groups every Thursday with subject leaders who are also serving teachers.
We are a relatively large SCITT, with around 80 trainees and 30 partner schools – “the richest possible mix of different settings” according to Ofsted. This enables us to offer a full range of training opportunities. We pride ourselves in knowing all our trainees individually and providing outstanding support. Our trainees “really enjoy teaching” (Ofsted) and the majority go on to work in partnership schools.