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Supporting teacher development
Bringing teachers from state and independent schools together through partnership projects helps develop new and innovative approaches to classroom learning. Such initiatives provide valuable opportunities to share knowledge, resources, skills and expertise for the benefit of pupils and teachers alike.
Well-established school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) initiatives involving independent schools include the National Modern Languages (NML) SCITT, set up by Silverdale School and Sheffield Hallam University, and the National Mathematics and Physics (NMAP) SCITT, run by Wycombe High School in conjunction with Headington School and the University of Buckingham. Not only do they help counter the teacher recruitment crisis but they are particularly important as part of efforts to tackle the need for new teachers in shortage subject areas.
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The range of partnerships that focus on teacher training opportunities is vast. In Newcastle, Royal Grammar School has become a recognised hub for training in Lego electronics. This is paving the way for the independent school to host and run its own training and ongoing CPD in this area of expertise to all state and independent schools in the region.
Some teacher training partnerships have an especially wide reach. Members of staff from Shrewsbury School have in recent years been working voluntarily with the Ankawa Foundation to support young Iraqi graduates in their quest to improve teaching in Iraq. This partnership (which moved online during the pandemic) takes the form of a summer school at which Shrewsbury teachers deliver bespoke mentoring to Iraqi teachers in PE, English, maths and art and design, as well as providing lectures and seminars in pedagogy and educational philosophy.
“We are so touched that teachers in England are standing beside us. It helps us feel that we are not alone. ”
