Over the course of the past few weeks, I have been heavily involved in recruiting teachers to join the Academy in September. This is always an exciting and fulfilling part of my job, and a big responsibility; I want to make sure that we have the best possible teachers in front of our students so that they will have the best possible education at Churchill.

I am delighted with the appointments we have made so far. Applicants to Churchill have been attracted by our vision and values, our high standards, and our reputation for training and developing staff. We take this aspect of our work very seriously. We firmly believe in Dylan Wiliam’s maxim:

“Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.”

Dylan Wiliam

This process of professional development continues throughout a teacher’s career – up to and including the Headteacher! – but it begins with initial teacher training. We have always been heavily involved in this process, welcoming groups of trainee teachers to the Academy for their teaching practice and school experience placements throughout the year and across a range of subjects. Ensuring that this initial phase of training lays a solid foundation for a long and successful career is essential. And this is where – hold on to your hats everyone – the Department for Education has actually had quite a good idea.

From September 2021, newly qualified teachers will no longer be “NQTs”. Instead, they will be part of a new “Early Career Framework” to guide new entrants to the teaching profession through two years of well-designed training and professional development, fully funded by the Department for Education. These years are designed to build on the initial teacher training year (whether school-based on university-based) to ensure that Early Career Teachers get the best possible start to their time in the profession.

At Churchill, we are ahead of the curve as we have been running a two-year induction for new entrants to the profession for a number of years. This feeds into our wider professional development programme which includes opportunities for staff at all stages of their careers. We know that it is only by investing in our staff that we can continue to be successful in the medium and long term.

There is a well-publicised recruitment and retention crisis within the teaching profession. For many years, not enough new teachers have been trained, and too many experienced teachers have been leaving. Teaching is a hard job, with heavy demands on time and emotional investment in the young people in our care. It can be very challenging. However, here at Churchill, we firmly believe that there is no more rewarding job. We know that the most successful teachers are well-trained, with the time and support behind them to make a positive difference every day. We do all we can to provide that training, that time, and that support – so that our teachers can give of their best every day.

The pandemic has seen an rise in applicants to the teaching profession. I think people have seen the difference that schools and teachers have made to young people through this crisis, and the impact that a good teacher can have. I am thrilled that this has encouraged more people to think about becoming teachers. I have been a qualified teacher since 1997 and I have been proud to be part of this profession every single day since then – and never more so than during my time as a Headteacher. The government’s reforms to early career teaching are a positive step. Here at Churchill we will continue to do all we can to continue to advocate for our profession, and to ensure that the we train, develop and recruit the very best in the next generation of teachers.

If you are interested in teaching as a career, or simply want to find out more, you can visit the Department for Education’s Get Into Teaching website. And if you are interested in joining us at Churchill, you can visit our Work With Us or our Train With Us pages.