Aimed at “boosting the quality of teacher and leader development nationally”, the body is being funded with around £120m from the Department for Education and has been tasked with developing and delivering evidence-based teacher and school leader development programmes.
The initiative is to be led by the School-Led Development Trust, which has been set up by four school trusts in England:
- Star Academies will support the NIoT’s North West Campus.
- Outwood Grange Academies Trust will support the North East Campus.
- The Harris Federation will support the London and South East Campus.
- Oasis Community Learning will support the Midlands and South West Campus.
The NioT is aiming to have Degree-awarding powers which will make it the only university in the UK focused solely on the development of teachers and school leaders. It has also pledged to make its research available for free to all teacher training providers.
The NiOT will be delivering National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership (NPQEL) and National Leader of Education (NLE) from September 2022 and the full suite of National Professional Qualifications from February 2023. It will also offer Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework training from September 2023.
The training will be delivered through the four regional campuses with 12 regional “Associate Colleges” supporting delivery.
Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said: “The Institute is going to revolutionise the way teachers and school leaders receive training in this country, with cutting edge research alongside training delivered by national experts.”
Melanie Renowden, the founding chief executive officer of the National Institute of Teaching, said they were “uniquely positioned to create a bridge between evidence and education practice”.
She continued: “It is not just that we know schools and work well with schools. Our trusts and our partners are delivering education excellence in classrooms across England, often in communities that have the toughest of deals, where our work has the potential to make the biggest difference. We will investigate what has been working, codify what we learn and share it across the school system."
However, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, sounded a word of caution: "We remain concerned about exactly how the institute will work alongside established teacher training providers where there are regional campuses competing for the same pool of graduate trainees. It is going to be important that the institute complements the existing system rather than leading to a muddle of teacher training routes.”
For more information, visit www.niot.org.uk