Building blocks

‘Keep getting better’ will be a familiar phrase to anyone who spends time with us at Ambition, whether on one of our professional development programmes or working in partnership with us. It's part of our mission to support children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, by helping teachers and leaders become more expert through high quality professional development.

Hilary Spencer, CEO, Ambition Institute

It's part of our mission to support children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, by helping teachers and leaders become more expert through high quality professional development.

It drives everything we do externally, but also internally. It helps us reflect on our own practice, and keep renewing our efforts to improve ourselves and our impact.

That’s why it’s exciting to see building as the theme of this year’s conference.

It is too easy to slide into negativity. It's discouraging when we hear people be dismissive or rude about the education system, when we know how hard everyone is working – and there can be strong currents in social media which seem to focus more on stoking division than on learning. It can also be easy to feel overwhelmed: there are many challenges which need addressing, and it can be tempting to think ‘it’s all too hard’ or ‘there’s nothing I personally can do’.

But building big things is a team effort: the sum of many, many individual contributions to the whole. Improving outcomes for children and building a strong education system is a team effort – we can keep getting better if we do it together.

There is much strength and depth in our sector, and many people doing interesting and innovative work to drive better outcomes. During this conference, we want to share some of the cutting-edge work that our brilliant partners are doing – and how they’re building the future.

1.Building a sustainable workforce – it all starts with Initial Teacher Training

Supporting and nurturing new teachers from the very start of their careers is crucial for building an expert workforce, which in turn can have the best possible impact on children. At Ambition, we are really pleased to be delivering ITT for the first time this year, working with partners across the country to bring nearly 500 new teachers into the profession.

We know that teachers who have access to high quality, continuous professional development are more likely to stay in teaching, especially in their first five years. Join us in conversation with sector leaders to hear what trusts are doing on ITT to make teachers feel valued, supported, and motivated to keep getting better, and building a strong workforce.

2.Building expertise – investing in school development

As school and trust leaders, it can be easy to put your own professional development last. But leaders who take up professional development and support are more likely to succeed in improving school performance, staff wellbeing, school culture, and pupil outcomes.

National Professional Qualifications have already had a big impact on the system. We are working hard to think about the next steps for leaders, and how we build on the success of the NPQs and move forward as a system. Lift Schools (formerly Academies Enterprise Trust) are at the cutting edge of thinking in this area and will join us to share more about their £100,000 entitlement for leaders’ professional development. We will also introduce some of our thinking about the next phase of leadership development, and how we need to reflect the complexity of schools and the importance of strong implementation.

 

3.Building belonging – pupil motivation and engagement

 

Many schools have implemented clear behaviour systems and routines that communicate high expectations to pupils, and calm, predictable environments that help support positive behaviour. But the topic of pupil engagement is increasingly important: engaged pupils, who are connected to their school community, have better attainment, attendance, and protection against risky behaviours.

 

There are a range of evidence-informed approaches school leaders can use to foster pupil engagement and belonging at school. Advantage Schools will share some of the successes and challenges they have had building purposeful, focused and predictable learning environments – and why they are looking to take this to the next level through focusing on pupil engagement.

 

4. Building resilience – strategic staffing approaches

 

Teachers and leaders want to achieve the best for the children in their care. But leaders also need to create the culture and working conditions that enable their staff teams to reach their full potential, and keep getting better.

 

One way of doing this is to think creatively about what a teacher’s working day looks like, and the roles and responsibilities we expect of them.

 

We’ll be sharing some perspectives from the United States on so-called ‘strategic staffing’ in schools. These approaches challenge us to think beyond our ‘one teacher – one classroom’ model and consider how teams of educators could serve the different needs of their pupils even more effectively. We will be discussing the potential for this to improve teachers’ working environments, while better meeting the full range of pupils’ needs. Dixons Academies Trust will share a powerful case study on how they are re-imagining teachers’ roles.

 

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By pushing ourselves to interrogate the evidence, learn from others, and be inspired by the possibilities of what each of us can do, we can keep getting better together - and achieve our aim of building a stronger education system for the children who rely on us.

The CST Blog welcomes perspectives from a diverse range of guest contributors. The opinions expressed in blogs are the views of the author(s), and should not be read as CST guidance or CST’s position.

 

 

 

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