DDB to face 12m teacher training account review

The Training and Develop-ment Agency for Schools (TDA), formerly known as the Teacher Training Agency, is set to put its £12m advertising business to pitch out of DDB London.

The organisation is an executive non-departmental public body established to raise standards in schools by attracting “committed” people to teaching.

The advertising business will be tendered through an OJEU notice, in accordance with the TDA’s statutory procurement rules. DDB has held the account since 2004, when it pitched against McCann Erickson Manchester and Lowe.

The brief for the new agency will be to focus on TDA’s continuing dialogue with potential teachers and make recommendations to support its strategic planning.

The current advertising campaign for TDA’s recruitment drive focuses on the enjoyment teachers get from working with children. It uses the strapline: “Use your head. Teach.”

TDA concentrated heavily on direct marketing last year to continue its recruitment drive with primary focus on enrolling science teachers. It sent out three direct marketing packs, designed by Draft London, using classroom experiments to demonstrate the qualities required, to 12,000 science graduates on TDA’s database.

Earlier this month the education secretary Alan Johnson announced an 8% in-crease in Government funding to help the TDA step up its key role in raising standards in schools. The £770m grant aims to enable an extra £60m to be spent on programmes to secure an effective school workforce, help increase its skills levels and allow schools to modernise.