3. Role of Teaching Schools
As well as offering training and support for their alliance themselves,
teaching schools will identify and co-ordinate expertise from their alliance,
using the best leaders and teachers to:
1 play a greater role in training new entrants to the profession
2 lead peer-to-peer professional and leadership development
3 identify and develop leadership potential
4 provide support for other schools
5 designate and broker Specialist Leaders
of Education (SLEs)
6 engage in research and development
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4. Who can be a Teaching School?
Designation is open to…
• any phase of school: nursery, primary, middle,
secondary, 6th form college, special or pupil
referral unit / short stay school
• any type of school including independent,
academy, federated, faith school, free school,
studio school, university technical college (UTC)
grammar school or school leading a chain
• smaller schools, such as smaller special or
primary schools, as the model enables more than
one school to share the designated role of
leading a teaching schools alliance
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5. Who can be a Teaching School?
Designation criteria … a high bar …
• a clear track-record of successful collaboration with other schools
• Ofsted outstanding for overall effectiveness, teaching and learning
and leadership and management
• consistently high levels of pupil performance or continued
improvement
• an outstanding
headteacher with
at least three years
headship experience, and
outstanding senior and
middle leaders with capacity
to support others.
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6. Teaching School numbers
216 Teaching Schools now approved
• 85 Primary
• 106 Secondary
• 24 Special Schools
• 1 Sixth Form College
• About 10% from Church Schools- matching their size in system
• Around 150 more about to be announced (they were told this week)
• 150 more bidding this summer/ autumn to be announced Spring 2014
• Perhaps some more in cohort 6 to strategically target gaps
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7. Review of designation
• A role and not a reward
• Each year judged against action plan success
criteria (which should reflect local priorities
and national KPIs), moderated by peer review
• College also looks at school performance,
Ofsted data and status of the headteacher
• All teaching schools reviewed in year 4 - those
demonstrating positive impact within their
alliance will be re-designated
• The brand must remain strong and credible -
teaching schools can be reviewed at any time
of they no longer meet eligibility criteria
• However, the intention is to retain designation
where there is capacity, progress and clear
evidence of quality…
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8. Teaching School National Lead Status
Each Teaching School identifies up to 3 areas it is particular strong on
These can be subjects or strategic issues like business or behaviour
A small number have identified ICT as a lead area
If Teaching Schools are going to lead the self improving system into
the 21st century should the role of new technology not be near the
top of their agendas?
A group of Lead ICT TSAs formed NTAB and successfully lobbied DfE for new
technology funding for teaching schools which was announced by Michael
Gove here at BETT last year and has now passed to the schools
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9. TSNTAB Membership
•Bob Harrison Chair •ITTE
•Lord Jim Knight Vice Chair •Apple
•Lord Phil Willis •NAHT
•Sheffield Hallam TSA co founder •ASCL
•George Spencer TSA co founder •Google
•+ 3 Lead ICT Teaching Schools •Toshiba
•+8 TSAs with DfE New Technology •Microsoft
funding •IAA
•HEIs: NTU, SHU, Plymouth, Roehampton •Intel
•BCS/CaS •LA rep (Somerset)
•Naace •RBCs (rep YHGfL)
•Vital/OU •UTCs (rep Sheffield UTC)
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10. Work done by NTAB so far
• Commissioned a study with support from VITAL into the capacity of the
teaching schools to support new technology
• Set up a simple website to enable contact (ntab.org.uk)
• Started a termly newsletter (please sign up)
• Collaborated with CAS to offer CPD around the computing curriculum
• Supporting 10 teaching schools with local CPD networks- lots of emphasis
on 1:1, mobile devices, free and open source software, new technology to
enable cross curricular independent learning, support for computing in
primary and secondary
• Made international links via Ken Walsh to start good practice networks with
USA, Australia and the Far East.
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11. Plymouth University Research-Teaching
Schools ICT Capability
• ICT Capability very variable across and between TSA’s
• Confident about own teachers but less about providing cpd for others
• Focus phase specific
• Lack of understanding about implications of new national curriculum
• Lack of confidence in leading CPD in this area
• Primary more concerned with TEL than ICT
• Secondary TSA less confident about Computer Science than Digital Literacy
and IT
• Little awareness in TSA about use of social media for cpd
• Little awareness of TeachMeets and Digital Leaders as effective cpd
• Need for coordination and network of support
• Coaching and Research needed to underpin effective cpd
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12. What next for NTAB?
• Looking for partner organisations to collaborate with who are interested in:
• Supporting schools with Technology Enhanced Learning
• Helping primary and secondary schools implement the new ICT National
Curriculum PoS
• Looking to develop the vocational curriculum around technical support
(UTCs)
• Supporting school leadership programmes around the strategic leadership
of new technology
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