Trusts and other local networks of schools can partner with Ambition Institute to lead the delivery of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in their schools from September 2024.
With our current and future partners, we will bring ambitious and committed teachers into the schools that need them the most. We want to provide teachers with the best possible start to a fulfilling career because evidence shows that high quality professional development for teachers has a significant effect on pupils’ learning outcomes.
But what are the benefits of doing it? What difference will it make for your staff, pupils and communities?
Here, we discuss how delivering initial teacher training with Ambition Institute can help your trust or local network of schools to actively tackle recruitment challenges, improve teacher retention and make an even bigger impact on pupils’ education.
1. Tackling recruitment challenges
Recruitment is a challenge for many trusts and in many local areas. The latest evidence shows that the challenge of getting enough high-quality teachers into classrooms is growing (NFER, 2022). Even if recruitment isn’t yet a challenge, you may have a people or growth strategy that relies on developing a high-quality teaching workforce.
Delivering ITT is a strategic solution to fulfilling your specific needs. By having control over the recruitment, placement and training of trainee teachers, you can address the needs of your schools and create a diverse and talented pipeline of teachers that are the perfect fit. For example, you could place trainees at the beginning of the academic year in the schools that need them most.
And if you are looking to expand your network of schools, delivering ITT and taking a lead in growing the next generation of teachers is an appealing offer for prospective joiners, with greater opportunities to be gained from joining you on your journey.
2. Improving teacher retention
Evidence tells us that teachers with access to CPD will stay within their school (Sims, 2017). Findings also suggest teachers who have access to high quality continuous professional development are more likely to stay in teaching (Zuccolo and Fletcher Wood, 2020), especially in their first five years of education (Ronfeldt and McQueen, 2017).
Having ownership of ITT means that you can influence what teachers learn and what they experience from the very beginning of their career. Over time, trainees not only become experts within their subjects, but also become expert in your trust or school’s context, giving you a pipeline of talent for roles across the trust or local network of schools.
Trainees will benefit from continuity of ongoing development across the ITT core content framework, early career framework and the National Professional Qualifications. This golden thread of development will give you the confidence that all your educators, from trainees to leaders of multiple schools, are building and augmenting their practice from the same evidence-based framework. Teachers can pursue new challenges in different contexts within your network, confident in the shared language and evidence-base underpinning their development.
This will allow you to build a highly skilled and motivated team, made up of lifelong educators, who have had consistent access to evidence-informed, expert-led development from their very first days in front of a class. The result for your trust is a professional development strategy that supports talent management and workforce planning across your schools.
3. Fulfilling your education mission
A great teacher changes the future every day. Especially for children who’ve had a tough start in life, a teacher can be the critical factor in their success. That’s why every teacher should have access to high-quality professional development from the very outset of their career.
Research shows us that CPD has the potential to close the gap between beginner and more experienced teachers. In fact, the impact of CPD on pupil outcomes compares to the impact of having a teacher with ten years’ experience (Education Policy Institute, 2020).
Whatever your trust or local network of school’s mission, it’s sure to have providing the best education for pupils at its heart. Leading the delivery of ITT can help you fulfil this mission by giving trainees teachers, who will go on to support thousands of pupils over the lifetime of their career, the very best start.
Want to find out more about partnering with Ambition for Initial Teacher Training?
Take a look at our partnerships page, or contact our team.