Developing your Teaching School Hub

Teaching School Hubs support the profession by providing the best possible training and development opportunities for teachers and leaders. Lynne Birch from Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Teaching School Hub shares the key learnings from her Hub’s development journey so far

In February 2021, the Department for Education (DfE) announced the creation of 87 new Teaching School Hubs which were selected to provide high-quality professional development to teachers and leaders in England, with a £65 million investment over an initial three years.
    
Each Hub, all of which would go on to be operational and helping schools from the start of 2021-22, was given its own defined geographical patch and expected to be accessible to all schools within that area, serving on average around 250 schools each. In the DfE’s statement at the time The Rt Hon
    
Nick Gibb MP, minister of state for schools, said: “These new Teaching School Hubs will further support the profession by providing the best possible training and development opportunities. It is important that teachers and school leaders feel supported in their career. The Hubs will make this substantially easier, with expert practitioners able to give experienced advice to those schools able to benefit from it.”
    
So, two years on from this initial announcement – and halfway through the initial three-year funded cycle – how are these Hubs getting on?
    
At Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Teaching School we provide high-quality training and professional development to support teachers and leaders at every stage of their career with the aim of raising teaching standards and contributing significantly to school improvement. We offer Initial Teacher Training (ITT), Early Career Framework (ECF), National Professional Qualifications (NPQ) and wider Continuous Professional Development (CPD). These are the key learnings from our Hub’s development journey so far.

Have a vision, but deliver what is useful now

We believe that children deserve high-quality education, and to achieve that our children should attend schools with high-quality teachers and leaders in all phases. As part of this we want teachers and leaders to have the best professional development they can (and locally we are exploring wider collaborations to support other school staff). A simple underlying mission to “deliver what is useful to people” has been at the heart of everything we have delivered/achieved to date. Strong leadership during initial set up and delivery from Hub Strategic Lead Lesley Birch, Hub and Trustees at Meridian Trust (Cambridge Primary Education Trust and Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust until April 2022) has been an integral strategic component of our vision and ethos.

Build strong and supportive partnerships

Under the overall principles of the TSH Framework – but focusing on strategy, delivery and implementation (set-up and operations) during our first year – we have created what we believe is a centre of excellence in the region, working collaboratively locally and nationally through strong, supportive partnerships which promote and value fairness, equality, inclusion and diversity. Existing relationships with MATs/schools, other Teaching School Hubs and the Teaching School Hubs Council have been critical to our progress. This extends to our delivery partners – lead providers, curriculum hubs and research schools. Our approach has been very much around achieving operational excellence.

Focus on engagement, deepen relationships

Starting the 2021-22 academic year with a core team of three, we devised a Hub engagement plan that is appropriate to the region we serve. Integral to the success of the Hub has been the deepening our relationships with schools, Trusts and partners in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough over time. We see ECF as the start of a professional development route for individuals, and NPQs for middle leaders – as a result, recruitment of other team members is tailored for those audiences. We have sourced a wide range of expert facilitators/coaches, including specialists in the areas being supported through our NPQs. We ended the year with a near doubling in the team, and further investment in engagement as we seek to support those schools we are not currently working with.

Listen to schools, respond to their needs

We have sought and responded to feedback from participants and schools, especially with ECF localisation and key stage groupings for face-to-face sessions. This has also been a growing feature of our facilitator training. Local experts delivering locally (and sharing their own experiences with participants), with national experts supporting executive leadership level professional qualifications. The team has responded to rapid changes in criteria and policy, including Teaching School Hubs designation as an Appropriate Body (an organisation which quality assures statutory teacher induction), which has impacted on both recruitment and operations. This comes back to our ethos of wanting every teacher and school leader to have the best professional development they can.

Be accountable

We have met and exceeded targets set by the DfE through a combination of growing reputation, sustainable relationships and new programmes and we now expect to double the number of leaders and teachers that we support in the 2022-23 school year. Specific achievements in the Hub’s first year of operation include supporting 380 Early Career Teachers (ECTs)/380 mentors against a target of 200 ECTs/132 mentors, including 162 schools and 47 programme facilitators.
    
Regarding NPQs, we have supported 237 recruits against a target of 231, spanning 13 cohorts, and collaborating with partner Hubs in the eastern region.
    
Regarding CPD, we have supported 74 participants against a target of 65, becoming a Chartered College of Teaching Learning Partner, and facilitating a unique network of Curriculum Hubs to ensure a coherent and high-quality professional development offer for schools.
    
In a DfE survey of headteachers, 100 per cent agreed they would recommend working with Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Teaching School Hub; 100 per cent of respondents thought the training delivered by the Hub was likely to have had an impact on pupil outcomes; and 100 per cent said the training they received from the Hub was of high quality.

Set new goals, guided by your community

Overall, we have tried to make the changes to how new teachers are supported, and leaders developed, as easy as possible for schools. We do not have a single ‘cold spot’ across our region where we are not operating, but we want to explore opportunities to deepen our relationships further. In 2022-23 we are offering new NPQs in Early Years Leadership and Leading Literacy, bringing the number of NPQs being delivered to nine. As we look forward, a new strategic board for the Hub was convened from October with full responsibility for the Hub’s direction. The board is fully representative of the communities we serve, and our specialisms in areas such as early years and SEND.

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