Meeting the Every Child Matters agenda and the challenge for employers: a tale of two cities

University College Plymouth, St. Mark & St. John is undertaking a joint project with Stranmillis University College, Queen's University Belfast to investigate current thinking behind the employability of Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT's) working with disadvantaged children in cities experiencing regeneration. The project seeks to understand the decision making processes behind the recruitment of NQT's and the desired knowledge and skills base that head teachers seek when making appointments. Faced with a growing number of children with complex social and emotional needs many of whom will come from disadvantaged inner city backgrounds and increasing numbers of pupils whose first language is not English, head teachers are finding themselves faced with the challenge of employing NQT's who need a different type of skills and knowledge base and the necessary personal qualities to effectively respond to the “Every Child Matters” and "Extended Schools" agendas. In reality, however, the initial training of teachers in the U. K. continues to come under intense scrutiny, with suggestions being made in some quarters that some teachers entering the profession are ill-prepared and, that following expensive appointment processes, many are leaving the profession after only a short period of employment