I should have a good understanding of how teaching qualifications are best designed and delivered as I am both a facilitator and a participant.
What I have seen most clearly, from both sides of the fence, is the power of programmes that are school-led, as will be the case with the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT). It means one can source examples of what works in real life and in a range of different contexts and settings. We often get great research about different teaching approaches – but what is important is being able to show or see what that looks like in practice, tangible examples, and what the impact of this has been on student outcomes by analysing the relevant data.
We talk a lot in teacher training about the “see it, name it, do it” approach coined by the internationally renowned Leverage Leadership Institute. This is exactly what the NIoT will do. The “see it” is that we can show that the NIoT is evidence-informed and research-backed, and that the programmes will be designed to utilise current, real-life best practice. Then the “name it” builds upon this – the NIoT will highlight features of exemplary practice and ensure the invisible becomes visible. Then finally there is the “do it” – empowering participants to develop and implement excellent practice in their own contexts, using methods tried and tested in exemplary schools in the wide NIoT school-led network.
Our sector has a responsibility to upskill our brilliant staff so that we are providing the very best opportunities for them to develop, and for them to do a great job for our pupils. That is a key factor in attracting people to join the profession, and in retaining them. So, the NIoT will make a really positive impact on strong recruitment and retention of teachers and leaders because of the support it will provide throughout a teacher’s career, all the way through to executive leadership if that is what someone chooses to pursue. The Department for Education spoke in 2019 about wanting to create a world-class teacher training system to support great recruitment and retention. The NIoT is the culmination of that.