High-quality professional development for teachers and school leaders can have a significant impact on pupil outcomes. So, when you invest in professional development, you want to be confident that it will help to build your knowledge and expertise.
Whichever National Professional Qualification (NPQ) you choose, it is designed to help you keep getting better during and beyond the programme. You can expect an experience which is relevant, evidence-informed and helps you to contextualise and apply your learning.
Here are the five principles that underpin Ambition’s programmes and how they benefit you.
"Developing your expertise as a school leader will enable you to make better decisions that ultimately lead to better outcomes for pupils."
Build your knowledge
The NPQs will build your knowledge of the area you’re focusing on, for example behaviour and culture, implementation or professional development.
This knowledge will help you to better understand the problems you face in your role, and support you to apply this knowledge to real-life contexts.
The content has been selected and designed around common problems school leaders face for example curriculum or teaching and learning. This will also help you to focus on the underlying issues like understanding how people learn in theory and practice.
Developing your expertise as a school leader will enable you to make better decisions that ultimately lead to better outcomes for pupils.
Engage with the evidence
NPQs are based on the best evidence of what is likely to work, how it can work and why. You’ll engage with the evidence base for each area, such as motivation, literacy and working in partnership.
In some areas the evidence is more secure and reliable than in others. Our NPQs will help you to understand what the evidence suggests, how confident you can be about it and what we don’t know. This will help you to consider whether evidence-informed approaches are likely to work in your setting.
Understanding the evidence will enable you to make better decisions, focusing time and resources on the approaches that are most likely to have an impact.
"Develop flexibility in how you apply your knowledge to make better decisions and tailor your learning to meet the specific needs and demands of your school."
Contextualise your learning
No two schools are the same. What works in one context doesn’t always work in another context. Through your NPQ you will explore a range of examples that will help you to consider how knowledge and approaches can be applied in different contexts. Programme materials include examples from every phase, demonstrating how key ideas or approaches might look different on the surface, but be underpinned by common principles.
You will develop flexibility in how you apply your knowledge to make better decisions and tailor your learning to meet the specific needs and demands of your school.
Apply what you learn strategically
You will develop your expertise by deepening understanding of the topic and how to apply it strategically. You will learn to make decisions about how and when to implement change.
You will collaborate with peers to explore examples of good practice, and examples of where things have gone wrong. You will consider what you would have done differently. By applying your knowledge and practising decision-making with examples, you will be more prepared to apply your learning strategically in your setting.
Our materials will help you to personalise your learning. This might be through reading more about the topic, reviewing your current practice, exploring learnings with colleagues, examining data, or applying what you have learned in your school.
"What makes experts distinctive is the fact that they keep learning and striving to build knowledge to improve their practice."
Keep developing your expertise
Developing expertise is a continual process. In fact, what makes experts distinctive is the fact that they keep learning and striving to build knowledge to improve their practice.
There will be areas where you have already developed expertise and others where you have less expertise. For example, as a school leader you might have a great working knowledge of curriculum, but need to increase your knowledge of how to create effective behaviour and culture.
What you learn with us may only be the beginning of your journey. Whatever your next step looks like, we’ll provide recommendations for further reading and areas for further exploration to support you to keep getting better.
Ready to start your NPQ journey? Explore our programmes
