National Roll-out of Teaching School Hubs

Tender description

In the department's Recruitment and Retention strategy, published in January 2019, we committed to improving our support for teachers, ensuring that they receive high quality training and development at every stage of their career - from Initial Teacher Training (ITT) through to leadership qualifications. Central to this programme are the ITT Core Content and the national roll-out of the Early Career Framework, which set out an entitlement to new, evidence-based support and training over the first three or more years of a teacher's career, as well as support for their mentors. At the heart of this new system will be Teaching School Hubs (TSH). The concentrated focus for TSH on teacher training and development will see a return to the original vision behind teaching schools, recognising teacher and leader development as the most important form of school improvement. The TSH programme will create a network of 87 centres of excellence for teacher training and development, replacing the current network of around 750 teaching schools. The Department would like to invite high performing schools, rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, to apply for up to 81 competitive grants that will be awarded in up to 81 areas of the country. A further six areas make up the total of 87, which cover the whole country and ensure all schools have access to a TSH. These six areas already have an operational TSH, designated in the test-and-learn phase in 2019. To be considered to become a Teaching School Hub, the lead school must be: 1. Eligible, according to the full eligibility criteria set out in the application guidance; 2. Located in the hub area for which it is applying, or within a reasonable travel distance. An interactive map showing the areas can be found in the Jaggaer e-tendering portal. Applications that do not meet these criteria will not be assessed Role of Teaching School Hubs The new hubs will provide high quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their career. They will be expected to play a significant role in delivering the Early Career Framework when it is available nationally from September 2021, and to seek to be involved in the delivery of new Specialist National Professional Qualifications (NPQ) and Leadership NPQs. They will deliver school-based Initial Teacher Training (ITT). TSH will also promote and deliver other high-quality evidence-based professional development to school leaders and teachers. They will also quality assure statutory induction for early career teachers through an Appropriate Body role.