Matt Hood to move on from Ambition Institute

Matt began work on Ambition’s predecessor organisation, the Institute for Teaching in 2014, before overseeing its merger with Ambition School Leadership in 2018 to create Ambition Institute – a graduate school that helps educators serving children from disadvantaged backgrounds to keep getting better.

Having played a leading role in shaping Ambition Institute’s new strategy, programme suite and brand, he is now looking forward to a well-earned break. He is planning on taking an extended honeymoon with his husband, Frontline chief executive Josh Macalister.

Matt has been instrumental in shaping the debate about what expertise in teaching, school and system leadership looks like. Under his leadership, Ambition Institute’s programmes have drawn on the latest research and evidence and strengthened their focus on helping educators to develop the domain-specific expertise needed to effect change in classrooms, schools and trusts across the country.

His legacy is a suite of educator development programmes that will reach more than 6,000 educators each year, from new teachers through to school trust CEOs, aiming to improve the lives of thousands of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Matt says, “I’m really proud of what my wonderful team have built together over the past five years. I have said many times that I believe England’s education system has the potential to be the best in the world – where every child, no matter what their background, gets a great education. But to get there we have to become the best place in the world to be a teacher. Making that a reality alongside our partners in schools, universities and government is what we have been working on at Ambition Institute. But there is more to do.

“We have to get the great conversations about teaching that have sprung up across the country over the past five years into every staff room; with the early career framework now in place we have to take a fresh look at all of the other professional standards and frameworks to make sure that they are aligned and form attractive career pathways for educators; and we have to keep building the evidence base so that we can make ever better bets on what’s likely to work best. I am confident that Ambition Institute will continue to make an important contribution towards helping educators and the wider system to keep getting better.”

Rebecca Boomer-Clark, Chair of Trustees at Ambition Institute, says, “It’s not an overstatement to say that Ambition Institute simply wouldn’t be here without Matt. He has been instrumental in shaping the sector’s debate about what expertise in teaching, school and system leadership looks like, initially as founder of the Institute for Teaching and for the last year in his role at Ambition.

“He really will be missed, but the whole team wishes him all the best in his next steps.”

Matt’s programmes brief will now be led by Marie Hamer – Executive Director of Learning Design and Teaching, and a fellow co-founder of the Institute for Teaching – and Tom Rees, Executive Director of School Leadership.