Richard Gill CBE, CEO, Arthur Terry Learning Partnership / Chair, National Teaching School Hubs Council
The new 87 Teaching School Hubs (TSH) have a central mission to become school-led centres of excellence for teacher and leader – golden-thread – professional development.
TSHs now provide strong geographical representation and high-quality delivery as part of the Department for Education’s (DfE) rollout of the Early Career Framework (ECF) and latterly, the new National Professional Qualifications (NPQs).
Simultaneously they have been building capacity, with the support of the Teaching School Hubs Council, ready for the expected increased demand in year two. That’s not to mention their important function as an Appropriate Body and their ongoing role in the ITE space. It has been hugely encouraging to see the Herculean effort the TSHs are making, across the sector, to seize the opportunity the suite of golden-thread professional development brings.
The recent publication of the White Paper should give TSHs confidence to keep going. The DfE recognises the important role Hubs will play in delivering on the Government’s welcome and evidence led commitment to every child being taught by a great teacher. Hubs currently have well over 70% of the market on ECF, and slightly less on NPQ. But Hubs are only one actor in the system. To deliver on the ambitious goals articulated via the White Paper, there needs to be a systemic response to the challenges that we face.
The solutions to the widening disadvantaged gap and the levelling up agenda, which might be described as the greatest civil rights challenge in history, can only be achieved by basing our response on the best evidence that is available to us and a systemic approach to the strategies employed.
Some may have read ‘All our Schools’ by Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters. Whilst some may not agree with everything that is shared, we are reminded on nearly every page of the collective responsibility – the civic duty – of the sector to meet any challenge that lies ahead.
We are custodians in whatever it is we currently do, responsible for ensuring that we leave the role in a better place than we find it.
The White Paper provides the opportunity for the sector to engage in a mature conversation as we explore solutions to meet the ambition that has been set. And ambitious, we must be! Michelangelo once said, ‘"The greatest danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.”
The paper has sparked an interesting and exciting debate amongst leaders in the Trust that I lead. A debate that may not have happened had it not been for the matters raised. Certainly not a debate where simple answers were sought so that we can say ‘we’re already doing this' or 'already meet that.’
More so, an exciting conversation challenging current thinking or prompting further thought about the educational experience currently enjoyed by our cohort and how this might be further developed – and all that simply came from the bullet around 32.5 hours.
The Parent Pledge made us question how effective we have (or haven’t) been in our communications with parents in relation to catch up and curriculum change. We all know that however much we communicate, it’s never enough.
And on tutoring, despite the evidence it has not won the hearts and minds of the profession. Some of our schools are using this better than others. Now we debate how might we ensure we maximise this, next year, for the benefit of all children who need it most.
A mature conversation must bring about a systemic response to the matters raised within the paper and the ambition that has been set. The discussions can start in individual schools and Trusts. Schools must then talk to schools, schools to Trusts, Trusts to Trusts and so on. Our response needs scalability (vertically and horizontally) and sustainability.
It's not all about Chapter 4, as welcome as this may be; Chapter 4 gives us the vehicle for longer term sustainability, but we are not there yet, and this work needs to start now.
Sir David Carter once described the meaning of system leadership as someone who was responsible and accountable for children and families that they might never meet. If the 2010 White Paper had the tag line ‘by schools for schools’ then let the 2022 White Paper play out as ‘by the sector for the sector’. The expertise up and down the country, in schools and trusts, never fails to inspire me.
The answers are in the system, not Sanctuary Buildings, and it behoves all of us to work as a system to ensure that all our children can attend a great school.
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.
