CaBan Teacher Education at Bangor University awarded prestigious five year national accreditation

CaBan Teacher Education programmes at Bangor University have been awarded accreditation to provide initial teacher education (ITE) for the next 5 years. The accreditation includes a new and innovative cross phase pathway for Welsh medium teachers which gives trainee teachers experience in both the Primary and Secondary phases.

The undergraduate and postgraduate CaBan accredited teacher qualifications, housed at the University’s School of Education and offered through the CaBan Bangor partnership, have received accreditation from the Educational Workforce Council, the body responsible for accrediting initial teacher education programmes in Wales. CaBan partners include a network of north Wales partnership schools, GwE (School Effectiveness and Improvement Service for North Wales) and CIEREI Institute of Education and Childhood Research.

Jeremy Griffiths, Executive Director of CaBan Teacher Education commented:

“Our CaBan Teacher Education programmes provide a high quality experience across a range of different learning environments including urban and rural, mainstream and specialist schools and outdoor education settings. This accreditation is a huge achievement and one of which we are hugely proud."

“CaBan partners are all working together to educate highly capable, reflective and inspirational teachers of the future. This unique partnership has already successfully jointly planned and delivered our programmes to the next generation of teachers."

Speaking on behalf of the network of schools represented in the partnership, Llew Davies, Head Teacher at Ysgol Cae Top, Bangor said: “It’s great to know that we can rely on a supply of excellent well-educated and well-informed qualified teachers ready to follow rewarding careers in our schools in the future.”

The cultural identity of Wales and its inherent strengths in terms of active bilingualism are key components of our partnership. The CaBan Bangor programmes will prepare teachers to be fully equipped to deliver the new Curriculum for Wales.This cultural appreciation and experience of multi-lingual environments is also very valuable to our students who pursue careers across the rest of the UK and beyond. 

Arwyn Thomas, Managing Director of GwE, said:

"We would very much like to congratulate CaBan in getting all of their programmes endorsed, and are really looking forward to building upon our Memorandum of Understanding and contributing to the success of the accredited programmes going forward.”

Professor Carl Hughes, Head of School, commented:

“Bangor University has been at the centre of Welsh and English medium teacher education for over 150 years. This latest achievement is a real vote of confidence in the quality of the CaBan teacher education team, our programmes, and underlies our commitment to supplying the bilingual childhood workforce for our region and for Wales.”

Education students at Bangor recently (12/11/20) had an opportunity to hear directly from Education Minister and pose their questions to her during a ‘virtual visit’ to the University as part of her series of visits to Initial Teacher Education providers throughout Wales.

Publication date: 12 November 2020