Programme Director, Now Teach

Now Teach was set up in 2016 to encourage people who have already had one successful career to retrain as teachers. These people will start a movement of senior professionals re-deploying their skills in the classroom and teaching the children who need it most. Now Teach exists to find them and help them become formidable teachers.

One of the biggest problems facing secondary schools in the UK is the shortage of maths, science and language teachers. At the same time, there is a colossal waste of talent as people who are reaching the end of one successful career want to do something meaningful.

Now Teach was co-founded by Lucy Kellaway, a lifelong columnist on the FT who in September started training to teach in the inaugural Now Teach cohort and Katie Waldegrave, a Teach Firster who founded the literacy charity First Story. They founded Now Teach with a mission to serve challenged schools, and address educational inequality, by recruiting and retaining exceptional late stage career changers into critical teaching vacancies. 

Since launching in November 2016, over 1,500 people have expressed interest in retraining as teachers after successful careers doing something else. Our first cohort of 47 started training to teach in September 2017 and we are making great progress on recruiting our next 80 to start in September 2018, across London and Hastings. 

Our ambitions are big. In a few years, we aim to grow from a London-based programme into a national organisation. We want to start a movement that will make it seem perfectly normal when someone who has had one career announces that they want to teach in a challenging comprehensive.

The Programme Director role is critical to the success and direction of Now Teach. We need to provide a unique and highly effective support programme to ensure the retention of Now Teachers within schools during their training, NQT year and beyond. The success we have with retention will define the impact of Now Teach.

This role will develop our key partnerships with training providers, schools and MATs, ensuring we deliver a programme that meets their needs, works within the current system and delivers results. As well as managing the programme team, the Programme Director will play a key role in defining the strategy and growth of Now Teach working with the Chief Executive, Operations Director and Board to build an organisation to match the ambitions that we have.  

We are looking for an exceptional individual with teaching and leadership experience with a focus in teacher training. We are seeking someone dynamic, open to change and with the ability to embrace a start-up environment. They need to be ambitious and driven to deliver the Now Teach mission. A key aspect of the role will be to mentor and support the programme manager in order for their role to expand into new senior opportunities as Now Teach grows.

Reports to: Chief Executive

Start Date: Ideally March 2018, or as soon as possible

Location: London

Salary: Negotiable depending on experience (+11% employer pension contribution)

Working arrangements: We are willing to be flexible and would consider part-time, or other working arrangements for the right candidate. 

Closing dates for applications: 11am on 28 February 2018

Applications will be reviewed and interviewed on a rolling basis with a final deadline of Wednesday 28th February. 

If you would like to have an informal and confidential discussion about the role, or have any queries, please contact Katie Waldgrave on Katie.Waldegrave@nowteach.org.uk. For technical queries, please contact the Ark recruitment team on 0203 116 6345 or email recruitment@arkonline.org.