Martin Lee, Facilitator: Professional Learning for All

CTSN SCITT Director Martin Lee is a facilitator on the NPQ Leading Teacher Development (NPQLTD) delivered in partnership with Teach First. Here we speak to Martin about how he got involved in the NPQLTD, the objectives of the programme and why others should consider applying to it.

Tell us about your role on the NPQLTD.

“I meet with the NPQLTD cohort eight times during terms one and two to reflect on their learning activity. Through these online seminars we discuss issues and get the benefit of other people’s perspectives. I am also involved in two face-to-face conferences through the year.”

Why did you offer your services as a facilitator?

“At CTSN SCITT we have undertaken a lot of activity with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Teaching School Hub since its inception, and the wider network of Teaching School Hubs. We also had an extremely strong working relationship with schools partnerships pre-dating the Hubs, and were initially one ITT provider for 10 Teaching Schools, so the Hub set-up is the obvious extension to that and for our support. I am particularly interested in how ITT fits into the ECF – establishing a joined-up process within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – and the NPQTLD is pertinent to teacher education.”

Who is this NPQ specifically aimed at?

"It is for teachers and school leaders who have, or aspire to have, responsibilities for leading the development of others in their school. On our NPQLTD cohorts so far the majority are assistant headteachers, phase leaders, subject leaders and ITT leads. ITT is interesting because the recent ITT market review report outlines an aspiration for lead mentors to take the NPQLTD or one of two other specialist NPQs.”

Why should others consider becoming facilitators?

“On a moral purpose level it is brilliant. You have the opportunity to help colleagues gain a national qualification and support the growing number of schools which have teacher education and CPD based on an ever more secure understanding of professional learning. This goes to the heart of what a professional is – professionals take responsibility for ownership of their knowledge base – and this NPQ is the process where we help them engage in the evidence base and apply it in schools: educating teachers who, as a result, can be more creative and design for the process of learning for their pupils.”

What does success look like for NPQs?

“Fundamentally NPQs bring a stronger understanding of the evidence base which underpins professional learning, and for schools to recognise them as such. We need to ensure that these principles are extended beyond the ECF into teacher education at all levels, including those responsible for teacher development. Outcomes should include discussing the evidence base, taking it back into school, and bringing common understanding amongst those responsible for teacher learning/teacher education. That should help them design highly efficient teacher educator programmes relating to their own context.”

Interested in becoming an NPQ facilitator with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Teaching School Hub? We are looking for excellent and successful leaders with a good understanding of the latest evidence-based research into one or more of the following: effective pedagogical practices, effective behaviour management and leadership, effective teacher development or effective school leadership. Click here to access our NPQ facilitator application form.