The Department for Education announced in mid-2012 that The Graduate Teacher Programme will no longer exist, and has now been replaced with a new scheme called School Direct.
To obtain a GTP place, a candidate must usually secure a training placement themselves at a school willing to support them as an unqualified teacher.
The DRB administers the application process, making the formal selection of successful candidates, and the payment of the TDA grant to the school, and provides tutor support for the student.
Competition can be very fierce since the salary-based training is much better paid than a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course, and is especially attractive to mature entrants.
Training commences by working a small portion of a normal timetable (around 30%), and this gradually builds up over the year to 90% in the third term.
The GTP will be supernumerary (in all but a very few exceptional circumstances), which means that qualified teachers must already be employed by the school to teach the classes allocated to the student.
These must prove they have reached each of the Training and Development Agency for Schools' 33 Standards required to achieve Qualified Teacher Status.
The quantity and quality of evidence considered necessary to fulfil each Standard varies between DRBs, since the DRB has to interpret the TDA's requirements.
The reason for the change is to make the GTP a more academic-based qualification which will enjoy broader recognition, and also provide a basis for credits towards a Master of Education degree (MEd).
On completion of the training year, the successful student is recommended for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) by the DRB.
[9] It was originally aimed at mature entrants to the teaching profession, who could not afford to give up work and undertake a traditional method of teacher training such as the PGCE.