Teacher Training at The John Wallis Academy

1. New Teacher Handbook 2022/23

2. New Teacher Resources

3. Teachers' Standards

4. Steplab

1. Mentor Handbook 2022/23

2. Mentor Development and Professional Learning

3. Mentor Resources

4. Teachers' Standards and Content Frameworks

5. Steplab

1. Key Information for Subject Leads and Directors

2. Teacher Training Roles and Course Requirements

3. Teachers' Standards and Content Frameworks

4. Steplab

1. Early Career Teacher Handbook 2022/23

2. Early Career Teacher Self-Study

3. Early Career Teacher Registration Form

4. Policy for the Induction of Early Career Teachers

5. Teachers' Standards

6. Kent Teach ECT Manager

7. Steplab

To ensure trainees receive targeted development focused on what’s essential at any given stage, our Professional Learning Programme sequences the curriculum carefully. This begins with a focus on the gatekeeper skills of planning, assessment and classroom management during the start of a teacher's development.

The new teacher's in-school development then follows a sequence of learning aligned with their particular pathway and the Core Content Framework which aims to provide practical guidance routed in the very best of educational theory, in an order designed to embed effective habits facilitated through robust instructional coaching and deliberate practice.

To ensure new teachers, not only begin to quickly understand how their pupils learn best, but also learn effectively themselves, our training programme aims to incorporate best practices for learning, rooted in evidence-based educational theory.

For this reason, deliberate practice is an explicit component of our teacher training programme. Defined and deliberate practice towards carefully crafted targets, supported by access to a range of outstanding practice, helps new teachers to build clarity and confidence in all aspects of their teaching.

Programmatic alignment is a key feature of effective programmes. At the John Wallis Academy, we support the training of new teachers through multiple pathways: PGCE, Schools Direct, Teach First, and Early Career Training.

All pathways have different requirements and the inputs any one teacher might experience will likely be varied. Although this variety can contribute positively to their experience, we aim to find the areas of consistency between the pathways to ensure our provision aligns with these to reduce the challenges that arise for new teachers as a result of inconsistency.

Our programme consists of multiple elements including a comprehensive Professional Studies Programme, Mentor Coaching, External Training, and Whole School and Team level Professional Learning. We aim to ensure all elements and support roles along the teacher training journey are aligned with our values and mission and provide a high-quality and coherent experience for all of our new teachers.

Deliberate practice is an explicit and critical component of our teacher training programme. Defined and deliberate practice towards carefully crafted targets, supported by access to a range of outstanding practice, helps new teachers to build clarity and confidence in all aspects of their teaching.

Reflection is also an explicit and critical component of every teacher's development at The John Wallis Academy. We ensure all of our new teachers make regular use of reflective journals to, not only keep an accurate record of their success and development, but engage in critical thought about their learning.

The teaching profession is experiencing a teacher recruitment and retention crisis. 40-50% of teachers are leaving the profession within the first five years of teaching. The consequences of hiogh teacher turnover are particularly high for pupils from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

Our training programme is designed to ensure that all of our new teachers get the right guidance and support to make a successful and confident start to their careers in teaching and are motivated to stay in the profession.

Teacher training at the John Wallis Academy emphasises instructional coaching which is more granular, centred around deliberate practice, and more frequent in order to drive the more efficient and effective embedding of successful teaching habits.

The mentor role is the most vital component to the quality and outcomes of any teacher training programme. The mentor acts as the main point of support for any new teacher, both in terms of their development as a teacher, and their wellbeing.

We invest time to ensure all of our subject/phase mentors engage in frequent professional development and are given multiple opportunities for supervision across the academic year to ensure they are in the best position to support their new teachers.

Our Teacher Training Programme embraces multiple partnerships to ensure that our Teacher Training Provision is of the highest quality.

We are partnered with Canterbury Christ Church University, Teach First, Kent Teach, StepLab, and the Ambition Institute to ensure that all of our new teachers have access to the best support and learning materials to be successful in their training and develop into excellent teachers.

Our Teacher Training Programme embraces multiple partnerships to ensure that our Teacher Training Provision is of the highest quality.

We are partnered with Canterbury Christ Church University, Teach First, Kent Teach, StepLab, and the Ambition Institute to ensure that all of our new teachers have access to the best support and learning materials to be successful in their training and develop into excellent teachers.