Does your school struggle with pupils not engaging in lessons? Our Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging programme helps you apply ideas from self-determination theory to create more enthusiasm for learning and improve how pupils feel about school.
Designed for secondary school leaders, you get two places on the programme – one for a senior leader and another for a middle leader. This allows you to foster engagement at both a whole-school and classroom level. Across 12 weeks, you’ll combine theoretical knowledge and practical examples in a way that supports you to tackle your school’s specific challenges.
This article explores what and how you’ll learn on the programme, the benefits for your school and why pupil engagement and belonging matters.
What is the Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging programme?
Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging brings together 40 years of research on self-determination theory in a way that’s accessible and applicable for busy school leaders like you.
You’ll conduct an in-depth analysis of your school with two surveys. These surveys provide you with valuable insights about the barriers your pupils face and the interventions that may best help.
You’ll use an evidence-informed framework to analyse the strengths and limitations of your existing approaches and explore different strategies for your school context.
Why are pupil engagement and belonging important?
Pupil engagement and belonging are closely linked to motivation, attendance and achievement. Absence is an ongoing challenge in schools, with disadvantaged pupils experiencing the most impact (Department for Education, 2025).
Research shows that when pupils feel valued, successful and listened to, it can increase their motivation to engage with school (Guay, 2021).
When leaders understand the barriers to pupil engagement and implement strategic approaches to increase it, it can help enhance the value and enjoyment pupils get out of coming to school every day. In turn, this can improve pupil outcomes.
What will you learn on Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging?
On this programme you’ll explore:
- What pupil engagement is and how to enhance it.
- How to build a classroom culture where pupils feel capable of achieving success.
- How to support pupils’ sense of belonging, and ensure that all pupils feel like a valued member of both their school and classroom community.
- How to help pupils develop a sense of ownership and agency, through your staff’s teaching practices in everyday lessons.
How will you learn on Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging?
On this 12-week online programme, you and your colleague will learn through:
- Four six-hour online conference days, each of which focuses on a different aspect of self-determination theory.
- Three 45-minute online implementation support sessions with an experienced coach from Ambition. These will help you analyse your context, match strategies to your school’s needs, and plan for and measure the impact.
- Two pupil voice surveys administered by ImpactEd. They will run at the start of the programme and six months after it ends. You’ll get support to analyse the results so you can feel confident designing interventions to tackle key barriers to engagement.
- Reading before each conference.
Is Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging right for you?
This programme is for you if you’re a secondary school leader in England who works in a mainstream setting.
When you apply for this programme, you’ll get two spaces:
- One place is for a senior leader, ideally with responsibility for behaviour or teaching and learning.
- One place is for a middle leader, ideally someone who works with classroom teachers on their development.
It’s suitable for you if:
- You can apply what you learn within a wider team, whether that’s shaping whole-school policy or supporting classroom practice.
- You want to build sustainable change over the long term.
How does Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging benefit you, your school and pupils?
This programme helps leaders and teachers create an environment where every pupil can thrive. Key benefits include:
- Become better equipped to improve engagement in lessons, attendance, and stronger relationships with school as you deepen your expertise in intrinsic pupil motivation.
- Build teachers’ confidence and their ability to adapt and refine their approaches to behaviour, pupil engagement and belonging.
- Develop a holistic perspective of how to make evidence-informed improvements at a strategic and classroom level. You’ll be able to share knowledge to make sustainable change and support succession planning.
- Tailor what you learn to the needs of your context and how to address these needs most effectively using evidence-informed approaches that schools have tried and tested.
- Improve pupils’ intrinsic motivation to help them become more independent learners and get more enjoyment from coming to school.
How much does Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging cost?
The programme costs £2,450 + VAT for two people.
Take the next step to build pupil engagement and belonging today
If you’re ready to explore new approaches to pupil engagement and belonging in your school, visit our Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging programme page to find out more.
