Initial Teacher Training 2015/16: Support guides
This page provides an overview of the 2015/16 Initial Teacher Training (ITT) collection (C15053).
This should be used alongside the C15053 coding manual, which provides more detailed, technical information about the collection.
Need help? Contact us by email or on +44 (0)1242 211144
Initial Teacher Training overview
We collect data across a number of streams. These streams focus on different aspects of higher education.
The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) stream collects data about students on an ITT course leading to Qualified Teacher Status. Details of which students need to be returned to us are included in the Coverage document found in the Coding manual.
The data we collect on behalf of the sector is provided to governments and funding bodies in order to support the regulation of higher education. We also make anonymised data available to the public to enhance understanding of UK higher education and to support its advancement.
Our coding manuals provide you with all the necessary documentation to support your data return. The coding manual contains technical documents giving detailed information on the record's coverage, data specification and submission formats. Familiarising yourself with these documents will help you make an accurate and timely return.
Each collection has its own coding manual which can be found in the Data collection section of our site. By default, you will land on the open collection for each record; you can then select previous or future years.
The coding manuals will be updated throughout the data collection cycle and Record Contacts informed by email when new versions are made live. Be sure to check the manual's Revision history for a summary of changes.
The below table provides an overview of the data collection schedule. A more detailed timetable can be found in the Coding manual.
| Period | Actions |
|---|---|
| 1 September 2015 | Data collection system opens |
| 1 October 2015 | Deadline for first submission of data to NCTL |
| 23 October 2015 | Commit date - Finalised data submission and sign off required on HEIDMS |
| 01 October - 28 October 2015 | NCTL data quality checking period |
| 25 January 2016 | NCTL Update |
| 5th February 2016 | NCTL Update closes |
| July 2016 | NCTL Forecast Update |
You submit data via our Data Collection system. To access this, you will need to have an appropriate role in our Identity System (IDS). We publish an IDS user guide which includes information on creating and editing your account.
You will need to be given access to the Data Collection system by the relevant Record Contact at your provider.
Once you have access to the system you will be able to upload files and track the progress of the collection.
The coding manual homepage includes all the technical information you require, including:
- The data specification
- File format specifications
- A detailed collection schedule
- Our XML data entry tool (available for some streams)
- Quality rules.
This Support guides page collects together the following resources:
- User guide
- Data collection system: Known issues and release history.
In the Support area of the HESA website, you can find:
- User guides for our Identity System (IDS) and Issue Management System data quality database (HESA subscribers only).
- Support with using XML files
- Our XML amalgamator tool and Validation kits available for some collections.
Our Data innovation section includes information about:
- Open and recently completed record reviews, including information about changes we are implementing
- Our Data Futures programme which will transform the higher education information landscape.
In the About section, you can find:
- Details of who we are and what we do
- Information about data protection
- Information for providers including the Code of practice for HE data collections, and information about subscription rates and the fixed database facility.
Our expert analysts have a thorough understanding of our records and processes. We are here to support you throughout the data submission process.
Preparation guide
Changes to the ITT record specification for 2015/16
Changes to the ITT record specification for 2015/16 (including new fields, valid entries and fields no longer required) are detailed in the Revision history of the coding manual.
New user interface and submission process
Our data collection system has been upgraded for this year. These upgrades include an improved user interface, streamlined submission process bar and new style reports. This is now accessed through a different web page to previous collections: https://datacollection.hesa.ac.uk.
Accessing the data collection system
From 2015/16 onwards, access to the data collection system for the forthcoming C15053 collection will be governed through our Identity System (IDS).
The ITT record contact for each provider will have access to our data collection system and through the IDS will be able to invite additional colleagues to also have access to the system to submit data and view reports. Further information can be found in the IDS User Guide.
Quality rules
Validation rules previously known as business rules have now been collectively rebranded as quality rules. There is a new Quality Rules webpage on our website, linked from the coding manual. This single webpage presents all the data quality validation in one place, rather than the rules appearing on each page for individual data items. This ensures greater visibility of the portfolio of rules and also searching as well as a downloadable spreadsheet of rules. For further information, please view the quality rules FAQ document available from the coding manual.
Validation kit
Our new validation kit for the ITT record is now available to download from the validation kit homepage. A user guide for the kit is available from the same link. The new kit has both increased functionality and a greatly improved processing speed. This allows users earlier access to validation processes and to test against a wider set of quality rules. Please note that if you have a previous version of the validation kit, it will not be updated to include the C15053 quality rules; you will need to download the new validation kit.
Record contact changes
The record contact is the first point of communication during data collection. Access to our data collection system is also managed by the nominated record contact. If these details change please ensure you notify Liaison to prevent any delay in the granting of this access.