Schools will benefit from a three-year programme of
support, with each of the six successful schools acting
as a regional hub and will receive funding to support
between 200 to 300 other schools in the local area.
This will give struggling schools direct access to the
expertise from school leaders with a track record of
improving challenging schools. Support could include
delivering tailored professional development for
teachers, hosting observations and visits or deploying
system leaders to offer advice and guidance to local
schools.
This forms part of a new scheme, launched by the
department last year, to simplify and strengthen how
the government drives up school standards, building on
the successes of the Teaching Schools and National
Leaders of Education programmes.
It also underlines the government’s determination to
back teachers by attracting and supporting the best
talent into the classroom and rewarding the great work
they do. It has already announced plans to raise
teachers’ starting salaries to £30,000 as well as
announcing an extra £14billion funding over three years
for schools.
The six new hubs will be based in five areas of the
country, including North Yorkshire, Sheffield and
Devon, building on the Government’s ambition to drive
up school standards in areas of the country most in
need of support.
Schools Minister said:
It is vital that we back our best school leaders and
help them to support struggling schools so that we
can continue to drive forward the high standards we
are already seeing in schools across the country.
These new Teaching School Hubs will make it easier
for the best school leaders to share expert advice
and help schools in their local communities, ensuring
that those schools facing the greatest challenges are
supported as simply and efficiently as possible.
The six new hubs will help struggling schools to boost
professional development opportunities for teachers,
improve school-to-school support and strengthen staff
recruitment and retention and will initially be tested
in five areas, from February 2020.
The newly reformed system forms part of the
government’s commitment to revamp the current system of
school leadership support, building on the department’s
first ever integrated recruitment and retention
strategy launched last year.
