If it takes a whole village to raise a child, then it takes a whole school to educate them.
When it comes to improving the educational outcomes of pupils, no matter what their backgrounds, headteachers and trust leaders know that everyone is in it together.
This is where Transforming Teaching comes in: a one-year programme that aims to drive improvements across an entire school through measurable changes to teaching and learning, curriculum design and professional development.
What is Transforming Teaching?
Transforming Teaching is unique in the sector in that it connects all tiers of a school through a year-long continuous professional development (CPD) programme.
A whole-school initiative spanning the senior leadership team, middle leaders and classroom teachers, this is an opportunity for schools to access cost-effective development.
It’s also a gift that keeps on giving beyond the lifetime of the programme. During the training, the school’s senior leadership and middle leader teams are supported to become an expert implementation team. This ensures that what has been learnt can be applied and built on in the long-term.
Transforming Teaching is also distinct in that it is tailored to schools' needs. We work with schools closely to improve either professional development or curriculum delivery, as well as to boost staff retention and support career progression. Working with each school’s specific context, this programme is based on robust evidence and delivered by our experts to create sustainable change where the need is greatest.
Our Transforming Teaching programme offers a holistic approach to CPD, with most of a school’s staff able to access to CPD in a single academic year. Transforming Teaching can also be implemented alongside National Professional Qualifications and our Early Career Teachers programme, and similarly creates the potential for progression into other Ambition programmes, such as our Teacher Education Fellows programme.
Customisable to your school
We know that effective professional development can raise the quality of teaching and positively impact on pupil learning (Fletcher-Wood & Zuccollo, 2020). But how can you ensure the CPD you choose is relevant to your individual staff and school context?
Transforming Teaching is designed to shape around your school’s needs. Content and delivery is tailored by our expert facilitators who will get to know your school well. A key feature of the programme is its choice of two pathways: it can be delivered with a focus on either curriculum or professional development.
Both pathways benefit from:
- Six development days.
- Six senior leadership team sessions.
- The curriculum pathway includes six after school, twilight training sessions.
- The professional development route includes ongoing one-to-one work with Ambition on coaching, co-coaching and facilitation training.
The nature of Transforming Teaching and the close involvement of the senior leadership team means that our programme is always aligned with a school’s individual needs. Priorities set by leadership are then led by middle leaders and implemented by teachers, ensuring the whole school is motivated by the same vision and set of values.
In creating a programme tailored to your school’s individual needs, we can ensure that all staff benefits from timely and focused CPD, transforming the learning of your pupils.
How will your team develop?
Depending on a staff member’s role within the school or trust, and the pathway that the school has chosen, your team will experience the programme in different ways:
- For school leaders, this might include support to identify the most important development needs in the school, and how to build a highly trained teacher development implementation team.
- For those responsible for the mentoring and development of colleagues, this might include attending development days and regular coaching sessions to help them become an expert teacher educator.
- For middle leaders responsible for subject groups, phases, or departments, this might include development days and twilight sessions to review and refine their curriculum plans.
- For teachers, this might include fortnightly professional development sessions held in school and potential for progression onto other Ambition programmes.
How will Transforming Teaching benefit your school?
Our Transforming Teaching programme provides far-reaching benefits for each school, including improved staff performance and morale.
As staff gain a shared vision of how to deliver the best education for their pupils, they will make tangible changes that create a greater sense of cohesion and collaboration. This can also lead to higher levels of staff retention and high-quality applicants for new positions.
The implementation plan senior leaders develop for the future, and the tailored CPD approach Transforming Teaching champions, also ensures that these benefits are felt far beyond the lifetime of the programme.
What are the benefits for individual staff members?
For each staff member on the programme, the benefits are also considerable. Staff will end the course as experts in the latest educational practices. They’ll also have an improved confidence to deliver new initiatives and a sense of their workload being purposeful and useful.
Depending on their career stage and role within the school, the professional development they have acquired during the Transforming Teaching programme can also dovetail into further training offered by Ambition, such as our Teacher Education Fellows Course, and our Curriculum for Senior Leaders programme. You can learn more about the options on our programmes page.