Treating candidates fairly when you recruit trainee teachers
As a teacher training provider you should ensure that candidates are treated fairly.
This includes giving them information they need and the best chance of succeeding in their future applications if you do not offer them a place.
This guidance shows you how to do this. You should also ensure you comply with the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) criteria.
When publishing course information, include your training locations and contact details. Keep these up to date.
When a course is full, make this clear to prevent candidates from applying.
If candidates apply to a course that becomes full, let them know as soon as you can. Suggest alternative courses or providers for them to consider.
You normally have 40 working days to make decisions about applications. However, deadlines vary throughout the recruitment cycle.
You should meet the deadlines, as they cannot be extended. Carry out interviews before the deadlines so that you can make decisions in time.
If you do not make a decision in time, the candidate will be informed that their application to your course cannot progress and advised to consider other courses. You should do everything you can to avoid this.
Candidates can wait until 10 working days after they’ve received decisions on all their applications before accepting or declining any offers.
Do not ask candidates or encourage them in any way to respond sooner than they have to. They should choose the right course for them.
Give candidates detailed and constructive feedback
If you reject an application, tell the candidate why. Be clear about how they can improve their application.
Give detailed feedback even if you reject an application because your course is full.
Set relevant offer conditions and deadlines to meet them
When you set conditions, give candidates a deadline to meet them.
Succeeding at an interview should not be an offer condition. Interviews must take place before an offer is made.
Make sure you have places for deferred offers
When deferring offers, ensure you have places for candidates the following year.
Check accessibility needs
Check whether candidates have said they have any accessibility needs, so that you can make any reasonable adjustments.
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