Teaching schools and ITE and CPD – UCET

8 November 2012

An executive agency of the Department for Education

Toby Greany, Acting Executive Director, Leadership Development, National College John Carr, Deputy Director, Quality & Priorities Division, Teaching Agency

• Key drivers: autonomy, collaboration, freedom, diversity, self-improvement, accountability

• The challenges: building capacity, confidence and trust

• The goal: that elements of a devolved system are held in balance so that …1.Autonomy doesn’t become isolation2.Diversity doesn’t act as a

barrier to collaboration3.Accountability doesn’t become

regulation

The big picture

As well as offering training and support for their alliance themselves,

teaching schools will identify and co-ordinate expertise from their

alliance, using the best leaders and teachers to:

1. play a greater role in recruiting and training new entrants to the profession

2. lead peer-to-peer professional and leadership development

3. identify and develop leadership potential4. provide support for other schools5. designate and broker Specialist Leaders of

Education (SLEs) 6. engage in research and development

Role of teaching schools

Professional continuum

• Teacher Continuing Leadership

training professional development

development

Towards a self-improving system?

“There are four building blocks of a self-improving system: clusters of schools (the structure); the local solutions approach and co-construction (the two cultural elements); and system leaders (the key people). These are already partially in place but need to be strengthened so that schools collaborate in more effective forms of professional development and school improvement.”

David Hargreaves, September 2010

Working with, not doing to….

• Win-win for all is essential

• Need to take the time to build trust

• Not about empire-building and needs to be seen as such

Teaching school/HEI partnerships

“Partnerships that existed between schools and HEIs prior to Teaching School (TS) designation are developing strongly and alliances want to ensure these partnerships are maintained. These partnerships are building on existing shared practice to design and develop new and innovative opportunities within alliances. Significant new opportunities include moving from sharing of practice to genuine joint practice development focused on improving the quality of teaching and learning. Partnerships are exploring shared resources particularly in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and professional development for school staff which enables a joined up approach to meeting alliance needs.”

Summary report, UCET/National College workshops, June 2012

Current progress

There are currently 216 teaching schools designated representing 183 alliances. Over 2000 schools now members of an alliance.

Cohort 3 application round closed on 21st September. Assessment ongoing and designation announcements will be made on 4th March 2013 HEIs and existing teaching schools well placed to identify and encourage and support potential teaching schools

So how is it feeling?

‘It is probably the best initiative I have seen for getting schools to work collaboratively with one another. We have significantly increased the strength and breadth of our relationships with a range of schools, especially cross phase…….’

‘Very enthusiastic ‘we love it, it is exhausting, like a double job.’

‘We are still really enthused about teaching schools, it could be the most radical and exciting improvement in the school system in the last 30 years’.

‘There really is the potential to change the way in which we work, and it is very exciting to be at the cutting edge of such seismic educational shifts’.

'The challenge is keeping all the balls in the air' whilst ensuring that the quality of provision in our own schools is not adversely affected in anyway’.

Teaching schools and ITT

• Improving the quality of “traditional” placements for trainees

• Developing and leading ITT partnerships

• School Direct and School Direct (salaried)

• Accreditation as ITT providers

• “… over the next five to ten years we expect that, rather than Government managing much of the ITT system centrally, schools should increasingly take on this responsibility.”

Training our next generation of outstanding teachers: An improvement strategy for discussion (June 2011)

Professional continuum

• Teacher Continuing Leadership

training professional development

development