The document discusses research conducted by Teach First to redesign its leadership development and teacher training program. Key findings from the research include:
1. Initial training needs to focus on key teaching skills like classroom management, assessment, and planning to prepare participants for the classroom. Ongoing support is also needed, especially for struggling teachers.
2. In-school mentors are important for support, but their ability varies depending on time and expertise. University tutors provide expert guidance but cannot visit frequently. Teach First officers currently focus on leadership over teaching skills.
3. Longer-term development of teachers should focus on improving subject knowledge, instructional practices, use of data, and teacher collaboration. Support
AHDS Conference November 2014 - Workshop; Dundee UniversityAHDScotland
AHDS Annual Conference November 2014 'Teaching Scotland's Furture: What you need to know and do.' Workshop by Teresa Moran, Neil Taylor and Derek Robertson from Dundee University on partnership working.
Service-learning Provides The Environment In Which Students Will Apply Ideas ...noblex1
Service-learning, the newest name for a teaching strategy that has been used successfully for many years, integrates community service into a traditional academic curriculum. Courses that have a service component can help students connect material learned in class and experiences acquired in their placements.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/service-learning-provides-the-environment-in-which-students-will-apply-ideas-from-the-class-or-the-readings/
We Must Have Even Higher Expectations For Teachersnoblex1
Setting high standards for student learning is important, but if we are to attain true excellence in our schools, we must have even higher expectations for teachers. Traditional preparation and certification programs are failing to provide sufficient quality and are deterring many talented candidates from entering the classroom. Source: https://ebookschoice.com/we-must-have-even-higher-expectations-for-teachers/
AHDS Conference November 2014 - Workshop; Dundee UniversityAHDScotland
AHDS Annual Conference November 2014 'Teaching Scotland's Furture: What you need to know and do.' Workshop by Teresa Moran, Neil Taylor and Derek Robertson from Dundee University on partnership working.
Service-learning Provides The Environment In Which Students Will Apply Ideas ...noblex1
Service-learning, the newest name for a teaching strategy that has been used successfully for many years, integrates community service into a traditional academic curriculum. Courses that have a service component can help students connect material learned in class and experiences acquired in their placements.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/service-learning-provides-the-environment-in-which-students-will-apply-ideas-from-the-class-or-the-readings/
We Must Have Even Higher Expectations For Teachersnoblex1
Setting high standards for student learning is important, but if we are to attain true excellence in our schools, we must have even higher expectations for teachers. Traditional preparation and certification programs are failing to provide sufficient quality and are deterring many talented candidates from entering the classroom. Source: https://ebookschoice.com/we-must-have-even-higher-expectations-for-teachers/
There has been a global call for modification and shift in the structure, objectives, and company of teacher education programs to highlight constant knowing and intro of expert development (PD) for teachers.
They ought to be connected to universities using teacher education programs, for potential teachers to bring out practice so that as the teachers discover theory, they attempt out the skills. A new teacher education program was developed by school and greater education authorities to enhance teachers teaching abilities. Typically teacher unions protect the ineffective teachers from getting fired and keep "bad" teachers in the system due to the fact that of tenure, but with this brand-new program they teacher unions are beginning to see the benefits. By having the alternatives for teachers to be able to continue their education through this brand-new teacher education program, teachers can get the crucial skills that they did not get while in college.
Marketplace experience- a corporation that has experienced a while in that service connected with cleaning one will likely be sure effects. The work is finished effectively in addition to efficiently. Availability- when a serious event arises in addition to need many cleaning for being done just one will always think about a company that is certainly always available whenever they want of manufactured. A care-free company could possibly get less buyers. http://springcleaning.ae/
There has been a global call for modification and shift in the structure, objectives, and company of teacher education programs to highlight constant knowing and intro of expert development (PD) for teachers.
They ought to be connected to universities using teacher education programs, for potential teachers to bring out practice so that as the teachers discover theory, they attempt out the skills. A new teacher education program was developed by school and greater education authorities to enhance teachers teaching abilities. Typically teacher unions protect the ineffective teachers from getting fired and keep "bad" teachers in the system due to the fact that of tenure, but with this brand-new program they teacher unions are beginning to see the benefits. By having the alternatives for teachers to be able to continue their education through this brand-new teacher education program, teachers can get the crucial skills that they did not get while in college.
Marketplace experience- a corporation that has experienced a while in that service connected with cleaning one will likely be sure effects. The work is finished effectively in addition to efficiently. Availability- when a serious event arises in addition to need many cleaning for being done just one will always think about a company that is certainly always available whenever they want of manufactured. A care-free company could possibly get less buyers. http://springcleaning.ae/
RESOLUCION No. 123 Del 15 de noviembre de 2016
POR MEDIO DE LA CUAL SE ADOPTA LA ACTUALIZACIÓN TARIFARÍA DE LOS SERVICIOS PÚBLICOS DOMICILIARIOS DE ACUEDUCTO, ALCANTARILLADO Y ASEO DEL
MUNICIPIO DE OLAYA – ANTIOQUIA
Teacher Leadership Vision StatementDear (Tina),In order t.docxmattinsonjanel
Teacher Leadership Vision Statement
Dear (Tina),
In order to further develop a community, much more a learning environment for children, one must be able to go beyond the ordinary. Teachers are made not only to teach but to lead as well. To make these teachers effective leaders, we ask the support of our colleagues, the school administration, our students and their parents, and most importantly, our stakeholders. On our end, we will do our best to maximize all our resources and services and capitalize on our strengths and assets in order to fulfill our roles as teachers, as well as to deliver to the school administration as well as to our dear stakeholders. You, as a stakeholder, have been identified as a credible partner of our organization in enriching children’s lives and furthering young skills and talents. As a stakeholder, we value your input in improving our services since the success of this process depends on your involvement at that of our other stakeholders’. As a partner working towards the betterment of our institution, together we must achieve the following:
· An enriching environment for learners to nurture their skills and further their development.
· A community of teachers and learners working towards one goal and reaching it through productive and plausible means.
· To lead with pride and purpose in order to encompass all forms of student development and improve student learning.
· A community where equality is valued; where one’s opportunities are not determined by his/her social status in life nor his/her physical condition.
· A community where one’s skills and talented can be nurtured and maximized to its full potential. I aim to discredit the notion that a student’s success is driven by his/her background, I want to be able to change that and support everyone regardless of his/her social background and status in life. One’s success should depend on the student’s willingness to learn and hone his/her skills, on the student’s determination to get the job done as excellently as possible, and on the student’s overall performance.
· A learning community where excellent ideas and strategies are exchanged between students and teachers, where problems are being solved collaboratively through consultations with expert colleagues.
· To inculcate values of optimism, collaboration, and innovation in our daily activities and work ethic to better inspire colleagues and students to work just the same.
· An education system where collaboration and freedom of professional inquiry are promoted; this will not all be of help to the students but to my colleagues as well.
· Lastly, I envision a life-giving learning community rooted in our core values of passion, equality, and determination guided by the mission to bring out each child’s potential.
All of these will be made possible if accompanied by unyielding support and active participation from the school administration, fellow teachers, students, as well as their parents. It is m ...
This presentation from the OECD Disrupted Futures 2023: International lessons on how schools can best equip students for their working lives conference looks at Evidence-driven practice in career guidance “What we are learning from multi-stakeholder approaches to foster students' career readiness: Teach For All's Future of Work Initiative”. Presented by Tarek Chehidi, Mariana Franco and Banalata Sen.
Discover the videos and other sessions from the OECD Disrupted Futures 2023 conference at https://www.oecd.org/education/career-readiness/conferences-webinars/disrupted-futures-2023.htm
Find out more about our work on Career Readiness https://www.oecd.org/education/career-readiness/
personal perspectives, opportunities and dilemmas of an academic developer
27 May 2013 Centre for Medical Education, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
invited seminar
Establishing Trust Between School Teachers and University Facultynoblex1
The professional development school initiatives show the greatest promise in school reform due to collaborative efforts in teacher preparation. Educators in both public schools and in universities must work together in the preparation of teachers who are culturally, socially and instructionally responsive to student diversity. This lofty preparation aim begins with selecting the most promising teacher candidates for admittance into the program. The author describes an admissions procedure that has proven to be not only efficient and effective, but reflects the collaborative values of the program.
For over a decade, advocates of educational reform have supported professional development schools (PDSs) as a way for school and university partners to promote simultaneous renewal of both institutions. PDS aims are now commonplace: (a) provide exemplary education for preservice teachers, (b) support continuing professional development of experienced teachers, (c) engage in the renewal of curriculum and instruction, and (d) involve schools and universities in collaborative research.
Essential to these aims is the collaborative process. Establishing trust, recognizing cultural differences, and breaking perceived roles between school teachers and university faculty are key if partnerships are to be anything more than traditional in nature. University instructors, including teacher educators, are entering into cooperative working ventures with more frequency than ever before. Critical to the successful attainment of any partnership project are the people involved and the common commitment to program quality and coherence. In the ongoing process of developing, nurturing, and maintaining partnerships, one can expect to confront both predictable and unforeseen obstacles. Sharing information on program structures and systems will help advance the development of university and K-12 partnerships. The purpose of this article is twofold: (a) to describe, and (b) to analyze an admissions procedure, which reflects the values of the program and efficiently and effectively promotes the involvement of K-12 personnel in what is traditionally a university decision. To this end, we briefly discuss the history of this partnership and the key values that drive our work. Next, we elaborate on the admissions process and how it reflects those values in linking the university and schools. In taking stock of where we have made progress and where we have not, we examine the perceptions of major stakeholders in this process. We conclude with a discussion of recommendations to others considering similar efforts.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/establishing-trust-between-school-teachers-and-university-faculty/
Expanding the Help: Assessing the Effectiveness of Academic Mentors in Upperc...Tom Durkee
This Powerpoint was created to outline Nicole Cartier & Tom Durkee's assessment of the academic mentor program within Residence Life at Salem State University.
Training is a component of many teacher induction programs. All too often, inductees have received insufficient professional preparation. With increasing numbers of inductees entering the classroom via alternative routes, many induction programs today are compensating for little or no previous training whatsoever, in effect blurring the line between teacher preparation and induction.
Even if your new hires have had traditional teacher education, they often come unprepared for the first year of teaching, especially in urban classrooms. Sometimes, even an aspiring urban teacher who shines when placed for her eight-week practicum in an "exemplary" school, with excellent teachers and a rich learning environment, may well be hopelessly unprepared to cope with conditions in the mediocre or failing school that is likely to be her first assignment.
The most effective type of training program is that which is part of a teacher's ongoing professional development. Viewed as part of continuing education, content and complexity grow as the inductee matures into a seasoned teacher. Completing your first year as a fully responsible teacher in an urban school has nothing to do with having been "successful" in a college preparation program. Even if you student-taught in an urban school, you were never accountable to the parents and principal for students' learning and behavior.
Training programs for beginning teachers often are determined by courses that the state or district requires (and sometimes finances). Training typically is conducted by a staff developer and a cadre of teacher trainers; central office personnel, site administrators, or consultants also may facilitate workshops. The best training programs are those that include ongoing assessments of the particular needs of individual beginning teachers, and design workshops, seminars, and course work based on these needs.
Training can take many forms, including:
- Observation in other classrooms in same school
- Workshops/seminars
- Conferences
- Observations in other schools
- Reflection on practice/journal writing
- Team teaching (novice + experienced teacher)
- Individual induction plan
- Psychological support
- Teacher-led inquiry/action research
- Case-based discussion
- Electronic networking
You can hold induction activities in the same school building the inductee works in, at a different school site or professional development center, or you can rotate activities among different school sites. Induction activities can be held during the school day, after school, on weekends, or even before school.
Curriculum
Program content often deals with perceived barriers to inductee success. Common curricular topics for induction include addressing inadequate classroom management skills and inability to handle disruptive students.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/commitment-to-retaining-talented-teachers/
Initial IdentificationWhen you hear the word college, you mighsamirapdcosden
Initial Identification
When you hear the word "college," you might picture students hanging out in their dorm rooms or packing into large lecture halls for their studies. However, when more and more learning methods are made possible by technology, that representation is dated more and more. Indeed, the popularity of online and distant learning among college students has consistently grown, but does that indicate it's a good fit for you? To help you respond to that question, spend some time contrasting traditional versus online schooling. Since both traditional and online learning have benefits and drawbacks, students should be prepared before entering the classroom (or logging in). This head-to-head comparison concentrated on three crucial components that affect a student's experience. We'll also examine the advantages of "mixed learning" in more detail.
The project encourages Macomb Community College to increase the number of classes it provides to students, both in the physical classrooms and online. College is a time for self-discovery, and there is no better way to figure out one's capabilities and areas of interest than by enrolling in a wide array of subjects during your time there. Macomb analyses data on student learning to pinpoint areas that could benefit from altered rules and procedures. In order to improve the college's Academic Mobility Policy, data on student success is used. This policy establishes a procedure for ensuring that students are enrolled in the proper classes. The set course prerequisites must be met by all students enrolling in English composition, mathematics, reading, and English for Academic Purposes (EAPP) courses. The college has a "mobility period" in place to make sure that students are adequately positioned for success in these foundational courses. Math and English are the subjects where mobility happens the most frequently. As a student, I have participated in a diverse range of classes, and I never stop being astonished by the extent to which the topics overlap.
The Center for Teaching and Learning used the assessment results to provide additional opportunities and resources to support faculty initiatives to integrate communication-based teaching methods into their lessons. On the Macomb Community College Portal, a page titled "Using Assessment Results" was made with resources highlighting communication strategies faculty members can use. Workshops highlighting methods for assisting students in becoming successful researchers, thinkers, and writers in the disciplines were available as professional development opportunities. A book discussion on John C. Bean's book Engaging Ideas - The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical-Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom was also provided by the Center for Teaching and Learning (2011). The focus of the faculty discussion was developing stimulating writing and critical thinking exercises and approaches.
For instance, completing classes in hi ...
The Next Move - Delivering a World-Class Programme
1. The next move
Delivering a world-class leadership development
and teacher training programme
Lead Author: Nick Hassey, Research, Evaluation and Impact team, Teach First
2. Page | 2
Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................................3
The existing Teach First model and curriculum philosophy ..................................................5
Research conducted for this project ..........................................................................................6
Summary of research findings....................................................................................................7
Findings: Initial preparation and support for participants....................................................... 7
Findings: Teaching support during the programme .................................................................. 8
Findings: Longer-term development............................................................................................ 9
Findings: Ongoing development of leadership skills ...............................................................11
Overview of our new training programme .............................................................................. 12
Expanded qualification .................................................................................................................12
Initial preparation and support for participants........................................................................13
Teaching support during the programme...................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................... 15
The views and recommendations expressed in this report are the views only of Teach First.
3. Page | 3
Introduction
Millions of British children live in poverty and only one in three is likely to achieve basic school grades.
Yet twice as many of their wealthier peers do so. Teach First was founded to change this inequality.
However, we know that educational inequality is too deeply an entrenched problem for teachers to tackle
on their own. Not only does our society need fantastic teachers in schools in low-income communities, it
also needs school leaders, social entrepreneurs, policy makers and business leaders who, like us, refuse
to accept that disadvantage determines destiny.
So that is why Teach First has a unique role and focus within education. We empower people to change
this inequality by developing individuals to be highly effective teachers for schools serving low-income
communities whilst simultaneously growing a movement of leaders to tackle the problem within
classrooms, schools and across society.
At the very heart of Teach First’s approach is our Leadership Development Programme, through which we
recruit and train talented individuals to teach and lead in the country’s most challenging schools.
Teach First’s ambition has always been to deliver the highest-quality training through this two-year
scheme. And evidence from independent research1
and feedback from our Ofsted inspections2
confirms
that our existing programme is highly effective.
We are proud that our teachers are seven times more likely to be in senior school leadership positions
and three times more likely to be teaching in challenging schools3
. But our ambition is for our training
and support to become world-leading so we can more quickly achieve our overarching vision: a day when
no child’s educational success is limited by their socio-economic background. And, by listening to our
participants, partner schools and universities over the last 13 years, we’ve always known that we still had
work to do to improve it.
So in 2014 we began a major research project to better understand the most effective ways to train those
on our programme – whom we refer to as ‘participants’ – and to create a pipeline of leaders who can
support pupils from low-income communities. We have drawn on the work of the world’s most effective
systems, learnt from the most thorough evidence and listened to the feedback of our partners and
teachers over the years since we began our work.
And we’ve done this because we want all of our participants to not only reach a baseline level of good
practice, but to have access to the best possible support and training so they can have a transformative
effect on their pupils’ learning, be equipped to support a self-improving system and have the skills to
lead wider efforts to tackle educational inequality.
1
Matched panel data estimates of the impact of Teach First on school and departmental performance,
Rebecca Allen, September 2013
2
Ofsted inspections of Teach First, January 2016
3
The careers of Teach First Ambassadors who remain in teaching: job choices, promotion and school
quality, Education Datalab, July 2016
4. Page | 4
Encouragingly we have heard similar calls from our partner schools and universities. And in our most
recent Ofsted report they recommended that we explore how to give participants continued support, and
increased exposure to a wider range of teaching experiences throughout their time on our programme.
Our research has also taken place within a wider movement across the teacher training landscape. There
have been calls for clearer links between schools and universities in the delivery of teacher training, a
greater focus on core content for all trainee teachers and a longer, smoother transition between initial
training and ongoing development. These proposed changes have been influenced both by the high-
profile Carter and Munday reviews into teacher training, and align closely with the Department for
Education’s aims for teacher training in England, as outlined in the 2016 Education Excellence
Everywhere government White Paper.
The result of our research is the biggest change in our training programme since our first intake of
trainees in 2003, which we outline from page 7.
And whilst we know that the Teach First model is a unique teaching and leadership development
programme, in this report we wanted to share the background and research that underpins our new
model with the wider sector. After all, our collective ambition is to ensure every teacher in the country is
effectively trained and supported, so every pupil can best fulfil their potential. We hope this is a positive
contribution to that much wider effort.
5. Page | 5
The existing Teach First model and curriculum philosophy
Teach First’s focus is on developing individuals so they can make an immediate and positive
contribution to the issue of educational inequality. Our participants are trained and supported to teach
in a partner school for two years, developing a personal experience and deep understanding of the
nature of educational disadvantage in order to foster a lifelong commitment to ending this inequality in
schools and beyond. In that time, they also learn how they can most effectively work with our national
network to help solve problems.
At the centre of our current model is a unique partnership between Teach First, our partner universities
and the schools with which we work. Each has a distinctive, but complementary, role to play in delivering
our programme, right from the initial training delivered at the residential Summer Institute and
throughout the two-year scheme.
Broad programme structure
Teach First's current Leadership Development Programme is a two-year, on-the-job training scheme that
begins with a residential training course called Summer Institute.
From September, our trainees teach from day one, while being closely observed and receiving intensive
support.
During their first year, our trainees set their own personal vision for their pupils and work towards a PGCE
(worth 60 Masters-level credits) and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) with the help of mentors within their
schools, subject and professional support from partner university tutors and their Teach First Leadership
Development Officers.
In their second year they continue working in their placement school as qualified teachers, further
developing their leadership skills and learning through a range of different opportunities, achieving their
vision for their pupils and preparing to lead upon completion of the programme both in and outside of
the classroom.
Upon successful completion of the programme, participants become part of our ever-growing
community of Teach First ‘ambassadors’, which is on track to be 10,000 strong by 2019.
Programme curriculum
The core content of our existing programme curriculum is uniquely anchored around three interlocking
themes. We believe each of these elements is critical in order to achieve our vision:
• Teaching and Learning: Delivered throughout our programme, and through our partnerships
with universities and schools, we help our teachers to develop crucial teaching and learning skills
to meet required standards and support their pupils to make rapid and sustained progress.
• Leadership: Interwoven from the outset, but taking a more primary role in the second year of
the programme, this strand of our curriculum enables our trainees to enhance their leadership,
communication and influencing abilities to help them to manage people, thrive in challenging
circumstances and implement a plan to achieve their vision.
Movement: Participants are supported through their development by a Teach First Leadership
Development Officer across both years. Through coaching and a range of events, they are
inspired to broaden their impact in the classroom by engaging with the wider Teach First
movement, both within and outside of the local area in which they are placed, including
ambassadors and other Teach First employees. This helps them build an understanding of the
need to engage with people across sectors to end educational inequality.
6. Page | 6
Research conducted for this project
Teach First’s Research, Evaluation and Impact (REI) team worked closely with our Curriculum Design
team to conduct the following research to inform our redesigned training:
• 107 interviews with Teach First participants, ambassadors, mentors, tutors and Leadership
Development Officers to better understand the support roles that currently exist around
participants.
• 29 participant case studies to learn more about the causes of Teach First participant retention,
withdrawal and issues encountered on the programme.
• Interviews and focus groups with 30 Teach First ambassadors who have completed our Masters
programme.
• Analysis of over 30 video interviews with Teach First teachers and the pupils they taught.
• Correlation analysis of a participant’s Teach First Assessment Centre score and data collected on
the progress of the pupils they taught.
• Correlation analysis of Teach First withdrawals and school characteristics.
• In-depth interviews with Teach First ambassadors, teachers, global education experts and
leaders from a range of sectors on what we can learn from other methods and systems for
training people to be leaders at the start of their careers.
• Literature reviews around:
o What do we know about how to predict who will become a good teacher?
o What is the relationship between individual talent, context and high performance?
o What is great early career professional development for teachers and what do we know
about the best way to deliver it?
o What is the best way to prepare teachers for teaching effectively in classrooms?
7. Page | 7
Summary of research findings
Given the lack of a single authoritative review of teacher training, we decided to select ideas from across
different reviews only where we found independent and overlapping sources of evidence. To further
refine the findings, and ensure they were suitable for the current UK context and the unique demands of
the Teach First programme, we also cross-referenced this research with internal primary research. Only
findings that were common across all these sources were deemed to meet the required standard, and an
overview of this evidence is presented below.
Findings: Initial preparation and support for participants
Content
Our research suggests that there are a small number of key ‘gatekeeper’ skills that all teachers need in
order to begin teaching as a competent practitioner, the most important being: classroom
management, assessment and planning.
• Equipping our participants with a solid command of these skills allows them to “concentrate on
deeper pedagogical and leadership development content and to pursue profound classroom
impact faster”4
as they develop over the rest of our programme.
• The literature on teacher training makes clear that the most powerful way for teachers to learn
these skills is providing them with opportunities to practise the techniques they are being taught
soon after receiving theoretical instruction. The importance of this is because “learning to teach
requires building relationships with learners, and it is here that one learns how to teach - as
students act back and responses must be tailored to their actions.”5
• It is also important that trainees receive feedback on their performance, with opportunities for
ongoing development. As Grossman et al say: “learning about a method or learning to justify a
method is not the same thing as learning to do the method with a class of students”6.
• Furthermore, our research shows the importance of participants developing their own vision for
their classes early on in their training. However, some told us that they would rather focus on
their teaching skills at the start of the career. Our research also indicates that the abstract
concept of having ‘a vision’ can also be confusing.
• Our research, however, makes it clear that the reason high-performing teachers value a vision is
because it helps them translate their core motivation into tangible aims for their pupils and
inform their day-to-day practice. This is especially true around planning and assessment. As
such, a clear and coherent vision should not be seen as separate to teaching skills, as it currently
is, but as a vital component, providing the driving force through which a teacher – likely to be
facing a challenging placement – develops a coherent framework of planning and assessment.
4
Lessons from Spotlight Thought Paper for Moving the Mean, Knowledge Management
5
Redefining Teaching Grossman et al
6
Redefining Teaching Grossman et al
8. Page | 8
Delivery settings
• For many of the same reasons, participants should also practise these approaches in settings
that get them close to real classrooms and pupils. This should be directly through placements in
schools, and indirectly through, for example, exposure to video, samples of pupils’ work and
teacher planning.
• A focus on helping participants experience and understand more about the communities in
which they will teach is also strongly recommended.
Findings: Teaching support during the programme
Participants consistently identified becoming effective in basic teaching skills, such as behaviour
management, as being the greatest challenge they face at the start of their teaching career. Even
allowing for a greater preparation in the basic ‘gatekeeper’ skills, participants indicated they still
required additional support with their teaching practice early in their career. Participants emphasised
the need for this support to come from someone who is experienced in teacher development and
available to them when they need it. This is backed-up by research literature into beginning teacher
development, which emphasises that teachers with access to good support networks7
and with more
supportive peers8
become better teachers faster.
In-school support
• All Teach First participants work in schools serving the lowest-income communities and / or in
areas of historic underperformance. These factors can place extra strain on a school’s resources,
so it’s important our model and the support we provide to the schools takes this into account.
• For many of our participants, the support they receive to become an effective teacher is provided
by an experienced teacher from the same department they will be teaching in, a role we call the
subject mentor.
• We found that, where the subject mentor is well prepared, understands the Teach First model
and is given adequate time by their senior leadership team to invest in developing the Teach
First participant, our teachers feel well supported. Our tracking data (such as Qualified Teaching
Status scores and withdrawal rates) also indicate that well-supported participants develop into
effective teachers.
• When subject mentors struggle, either in terms of capacity or capability, then participants are
more likely to struggle.
University support
• University tutors are generally perceived positively by Teach First participants, with the majority
of them describing at least one of their tutors (participants are supported by a mix of
professional and subject tutors) very favourably.
7
Ronfeldt, 2012
8
Supovitz 2009
9. Page | 9
• Participants appreciate the expert support in teaching that tutors provide and the reassurance
they gain from having someone visit the school who is “on their side”9
and has “credibility”10
with
other school staff.
• Many tutors felt that they could better support a participant if the support they provide wasn’t
all focused on the participant’s first year. Tutors would prefer to have the flexibility to provide
some support to participants in their second year.
• However, the value to the participant mostly comes from one tutor. In situations where only one
tutor is strong, participants do not feel any less supported, or feel less able as teachers, than in
situations where more than one tutor is strong.
Teach First support
• Teach First currently provides participants support through Leadership Development Officers.
These are qualified teachers employed by Teach First to provide coaching to facilitate the
development of a participant’s leadership skills. We found that Leadership Development Officers
are generally viewed positively for the pastoral support they provide in the first year. Many
participants did, however, emphasise that they receive leadership coaching at a time when they
would value teaching expertise more highly.
With such a range of support roles around each participant, there is also a lack of clarity in terms of who
is ultimately responsible for a participant’s development.
While our research shows that – where the support roles are working well – the Teach First model is
highly effective, it also revealed more flexibility is required to respond to the most challenging
situations. This was particularly true when a mentor is either not able to invest the required time into
teacher development, or when they are not as effective at mentoring. All our Leadership Development
Officers are qualified teachers, and are recruited as leadership coaches rather than as a teacher
developer. They are not expected to have the skills or experience to fully support a struggling teacher
who should be receiving this support from their school. Many tutors do great work in stepping in to help
as often as they can to support participants facing these problems. But, ultimately, they cannot visit all
individual participants frequently enough to make this a viable solution for the entire network.
Findings: Longer-term development
Our research clearly indicates that effective post-qualification professional development for teachers
requires considerable time that must be well organised, carefully structured, purposefully directed, and
focused on subject content or pedagogy, or both.
This means it is important to build on our continued support for Teach First participants after they
complete their initial QTS year, to ensure they keep developing.
While the research did not reveal any particular set of Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
activities that can be easily packaged up for schools, it did reveal there are four key areas of teaching to
focus on, and that there are also key aspects in how to structure any support provided:
9
Support Roles Review, Strategic Analysis
10
Support Roles Review, Strategic Analysis
10. Page | 10
Subject knowledge
A systematic review of over 1,300 published research papers on teacher CPD found that only nine studies
met the appropriate international standards of reliable research as set out by the US Department of
Education11. However, these nine studies showed “remarkable”12 consistency in identifying that the most
effective CPD in terms of pupil progress was “focused on specific subject-related content or pedagogic
practices.”13 The research identified that the most effective subject-specific CPD:
• Focused on enhancing a teacher’s knowledge of the subject, the key concepts and organising
principles of the subject, and – especially where students are likely to struggle – how to teach the
difficult areas.
• Involved external expertise (from outside the school, not necessarily outside teaching) delivering
clear and coherent training courses to provide opportunities for teachers to practice what they
had learned, receive feedback on it and modify their practice in light of further instruction (a
one-off workshop approach was “wasteful”14).
Teaching and learning techniques and pedagogy
As teachers become more confident in their teaching they should be given an opportunity to experiment
with their teaching practices. The research reviewed found that no particular pedagogy was a “silver
bullet”15 with all having strengths and weaknesses that were appropriate for certain situations and not
others. Rather, it is about teachers being given the time and space to reflect on their own teaching
(ideally with expert guidance) and find ways to develop certain pedagogical practices they identify as
either requiring further work, or a particular area of strength they wish to continue to develop in. In
addition, our research found:
• There is a need for participants to continue to receive subject and academic support, and to be
observed into their second (NQT) year. The overwhelming majority of interviewees stated that
they need to observe great teaching to become outstanding practitioners themselves16. This
need for continued development was also picked up by Ofsted as something for Teach First to
focus on. However, for many of our participants – particularly those placed in schools that are
rated poorly by Ofsted – it can be difficult for them to find ways to observe a range of great
teaching.
• The most effective Teach First teachers also emphasised that building deep and meaningful
relationships with pupils is important to achieve truly impactful teaching. The research found
that nearly all participants are aware that this is important, but they “don’t always know how to
11
What Works Clearinghouse, Procedures and Standards Handbook
12
What works in professional development, Guskey and Yoon
13
What works in professional development, Guskey and Yoon
14
What works in professional development, Guskey and Yoon
15
Preparing Teachers for a Changing World, Darling-Hammond and Bransford
16
Support Roles Review, Strategic Analysis
11. Page | 11
build strong relationships without undermining their authority”17
and need support in
understanding how to do this.
Research and study skills
Teachers need to be given the opportunity to develop research skills in order to critically evaluate
studies into teaching practice, conduct their own research projects, approach their development
critically and accurately identify the most appropriate way for them to find answers to their questions.
This is important because “to develop their practice and improve as teachers, novices must learn to use
their practice as a site for inquiry”18
. This means turning struggle into questions that can be
investigated, tested and studied, and then framing new questions to develop further. “Such work
depends on skills of observation and analysis and the dispositions to seek evidence, take risks and
remain open to different interpretations.”19
Learning research techniques would also allow them to actively participate in debates about teaching
and to apply “selective pressure” on ideas in education through investigating for themselves what
approaches they should (or should not) be taking to improve the learning of the children they teach.
Findings: Ongoing development of leadership skills
• Our Masters degree research shows that different ambassadors had different experiences and
expectations of ‘leadership’, and their leadership pathways took many different routes and did
not necessarily result in a formal leadership position.
• As teachers become more established as professionals they naturally begin to take on more of a
leadership role in their schools. Indeed, what ambassadors want from our training programme is
not to learn generic ‘leadership skills’ – which may not be relevant to their stage of development
– but ongoing support in naturally developing as leaders through the experience of overcoming
the everyday challenges in their respective organisations.
• They also value the opportunity to network with role models further on in their careers to help
them shape their careers and address educational inequality both inside and outside of the
classroom.
17
Lessons from Spotlight, Knowledge Development
18
Ball and Cohen, Developing Practice, Developing Practitioners
19
From Preparation to Practice, Sharon Feiman-Nemser
12. Page | 12
Overview of our new training programme
From our research it is clear that the skills and experience required to deliver a programme with the level
of ambition and impact we want already exists within Teach First and its partner schools and
universities, suggesting that our collaborative approach is fundamentally correct.
There is an important role for all institutions in the delivery of our programme – drawing on expertise
across each sector, but bringing them together in a coherent and planned way. However, our research
also indicates that we need to make some important changes to the overall structure of our scheme if we
want it to become world-leading and drive further improvement to our training.
The changes outlined below represent the biggest improvement we’ve ever made to our training.
Expanded qualification
We will expand the remit and quality of our training by introducing a new, bespoke two-year
qualification – a Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE). Worth double the value of a PGCE it
fully integrates teacher training with leadership development into a single qualification spread
over two years. This will be the first two-year PGDE offered in England.
• For the first time we will integrate our training, so that teacher training and leadership
development sit together from the outset. This reflects our unique focus on developing
individuals who can lead efforts to tackle educational inequality within classrooms, the wider
education sector and across society.
• To deliver a successful ‘school-led’ system, we need to be planning to make sure training we give
to new entrants sets up this pipeline and embeds the necessary knowledge, skills and mindset
from the start.
• Worth 120 Masters-level credits, we believe the PGDE qualification – which will still lead to QTS
after the first year – will reflect the increased status teaching deserves, and will enable
participants to become research-informed practitioners demonstrating deep and sustained
engagement with the best teaching and leadership research and practice.
• All participants will have the option to ‘top-up’ their PGDE qualification to a full Masters degree
by achieving an additional 60 credits.
Subject-specific support from university partners will be provided to our participants over the full
two years of our Leadership Development Programme to further develop the expertise and impact
of our teachers.
• As our research findings showed, attempting to “cram” all the subject-specific training
participants need into a single year is sub-optimal and leads to participants receiving content
they can’t fully engage with in their first year.
• We will now spread this tutor support over the full two years of our training. This will allow us to
better sequence what gets taught to our participants to ensure it aligns with their development
as teachers, and provides a more even distribution of support over the entire programme. This
should also ensure a more balanced workload.
• In addition, we will increase support across the two years for participants to develop research
literacy. We know this is something participants have consistently said they want and our
research suggests it will also help them to become more effective teachers and leaders. As
research institutions and specialist centres of subject knowledge, our university partners will
now have this clear remit within the new programme.
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Initial preparation and support for participants
From 2017 we will re-order our two-year curriculum so that Summer Institute will be focused on
providing Teach First participants with a grounding in the key areas of classroom management,
assessment and planning.
• While we don’t suggest these three areas alone are sufficient for great teaching, great teaching
cannot happen without these elements in place.
• We will re-order our curriculum to make sure all our teachers have these key gatekeeper skills by
the time they start full-time in classrooms each September.
• Other topics currently covered at Summer Institute, such as theories of child development and
awareness of current issues within their subject/phase, remain crucial and will be re-scheduled
and taught to participants throughout the rest of their training.
• While some elements of classroom management are generic for all teachers, lesson planning
and assessment is often knowledge-dependent and techniques are subject- and phase-specific.
Therefore, participants will now learn about these approaches within their subject and phase
areas.
Assessment and planning skills will be taught within the framework of ‘vision development’ to
emphasise how these skills enable and underpin the vision- and goal-setting process.
• We will replace the artificial split between vision setting and teaching skills by connecting the
importance of vision to the daily act of assessment and planning right from the outset.
• We will prioritise building the mindset of ‘teacher as evaluator’, reflecting on their practice and
developing their technical assessment skills, so teachers can accurately identify what helps their
pupils learn and understand and address elements of pupil struggle.
• We will also clearly demonstrate to participants how assessment enables and underpins the
vision- and goal-setting process by showing them what their pupils’ strengths are and what they
still need in order to achieve their full potential.
The training provided at Summer Institute will provide extensive opportunities for participants to
practise what they are taught and to receive feedback on their performance.
• Summer Institute will provide many more opportunities for participants to actually practise
methods in classroom management, planning and assessment and understanding what
approaches work for them. It will do this through placing greater emphasis on producing plans
for schemes of work and role-play of specific situations.
• This does not mean participants will not be taught theory; indeed it is essential for participants
to understand the role and importance of memory and cognition in planning work and managing
classrooms. However, the theory and role-play elements will be much more closely integrated.
Training will be provided in settings that get participants as close to real classrooms and the
communities in which they will teach as possible.
• The research we have conducted emphasises how valuable it is for a teacher’s training to
understand how children will ‘act back’ to their instruction, and that a controlled setting that is
similar to the classroom they will find themselves in come September is the ideal training
environment setting for them to experience this. Under our new model, participants will spend
two full weeks at Summer Institute in schools, observing and team teaching with experienced
teachers.
14. Page | 14
• They will have the opportunity to try out the practice, theory and techniques they have learnt in
a live, but controlled space. These sessions will be observed and supported by university, school
and Teach First experts to continuously improve teaching.
Teaching support during the programme
We have created a more comprehensive yet simpler support structure around participants, placing
just one credible and expert figure at the centre of each participant’s experience.
• Teach First is creating a new role, a Participant Development Lead, which will function as the
central figure for each participant’s time on our programme. They will have overall responsibility
for participant training and retention, and will organise and coordinate all the support a
participant receives.
• This new role will be able to identify the needs of a participant and draw on their expertise and
that of the school mentor and university tutor in order to flex the support a participant receives
in response to their needs.
• They will have a high level of expertise and experience, both of teaching and in developing
teachers, and will deliver an average of 18 observations and group sessions to each participant
over the two years. These observations and group sessions are weighted to ensure participants
have access to increased support early in their career, and will focus on embedding the
gatekeeper skills early in the programme, before gradually shifting as participants progress as
teachers, to adopt a coaching style.
University tutor and in-school support roles will have increased focus on subject specific and
research support.
• The clear finding from our research is that participants value support from university tutors.
Participants do, however, sometimes find it confusing having up to five support roles
(professional mentor and tutor, subject mentor and tutor and Leadership Development Officer)
across three organisations. So we are simplifying the support structure around a participant so
they are assigned a single expert in-school mentor and a single expert university tutor.
• These support roles will be subject-specific as our research indicates the importance of subject-
specific training. We know that universities are the institutions best equipped to provide our
participants with this expertise.
• The new model will also empower university tutors to bring their expertise to bear at the most
appropriate point in a teacher’s development, helping participants really understand teaching in
their subject area and develop into teachers who reflect thoughtfully on their practice and how
they can help children learn.
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Conclusion
Individuals who are currently being recruited for our 2017 intake will be the first trainees on our new
Leadership Development Programme.
Teach First will carefully monitor and evaluate the new approach and, in the long-term, our ongoing
curriculum design will be informed by feedback on what elements of the new model are proving to be the
most effective.
We are confident that our new Leadership Development Programme represents the very best thinking
from across our network.
We believe our new scheme will help to attract more people to the profession, develop an even higher
quality of teachers and leaders, provide improved support to schools in low-income communities, and –
most importantly – help our participants to have an even greater impact on the lives of young people.