Head of Faculty: System Leadership

About the role

The National Institute of Teaching (NIoT) has an unswerving commitment to high quality, evidence-informed teacher education, and is on a mission to improve the quality of teacher and leader development across the system.

Heads of Faculty are pivotal roles in the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT), connecting our content design, development and research with delivery. They are responsible for the continuous improvement and outstanding quality of our programmes (ITT, ECT, NPQ and NLE) and lead on the national delivery of core programme elements.

The Head of Faculty is the “go-to expert" in the NIoT for all things around our system leadership programmes. They will work closely with the Regional Principal with responsibility for System Leadership programmes, the NIoT’s leadership team and founding FMATs and Associate Colleges to enhance the quality of content design and delivery to ensure the NIoT delivers programmes that develop system leaders to thrive in the long term.

The curriculum for all our programmes brings together the best of national design, cutting edge research and the best knowledge from the sector.

Key responsibilities

Key responsibilities for the Head of Faculty fall into four areas:

Continuous improvement (including design)

• To listen to and engage with participants, schools and Regional Champions who deliver our programmes
• To gather and share feedback on our content and work with content designers and the Regional Principal on the improvement of the programme including aspects such as curriculum, mentoring, progress and placement
• To work with the Research and Best Practice team to ensure that cutting edge research is embedded into what and how we design and deliver
• To identify trends in feedback on a national level
• To drive and monitor the national improvement plan

National delivery

• To own the delivery the national parts of our curriculum with support from internal and external system leadership experts
• To own and plan the programme of study for these programmes
• To ensure suitable personnel are in place to deliver the programme of study
• To develop relevant programme resources and handbooks, for programme members and those supporting the delivery of the programme

Marketing, recruitment and digital

• To embed organisational recruitment practices and ensure parity across the regions.
• To chair regular meetings with those delivering these programmes to discuss programme delivery and identify national trends
• To identify issues and develop solutions, including those related to digital learning platforms
• To help shape and refine NIoT processes around programmes: from recruitment to delivery to assessment stage

Preparation and Implementation of New Programmes

• To work with the team responsible for developing any new leadership programmes, ensuring that milestones are achieved and outcomes are high

Essential Criteria

• A commitment to the aims of the National Institute of Teaching
• Significant experience of senior leadership within schools
• Experience of leading successful leadership training, including onboarding, design, delivery and evaluation
• Experience of intervening to update curriculum design and delivery to ensure success of cohorts
• Outstanding expertise of developing rigorous and effective training for those delivering leadership programmes
• A commitment to the importance of rigorous, evidence-led training that produces exceptionally qualified leaders and system leaders, ready to thrive in the profession
• A deep understanding of how frameworks and research and practice intersect to ensure high quality programmes.
• Outstanding track record of development and delivery against tight timelines.
• Exceptional interpersonal and written communication skills.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
• A highly developed network with school and sector leaders.
• Qualified Teacher Status

Desirable criteria

• Successful experience as a headteacher and/or as a CEO of a MAT
• Expertise on leading successful system leadership training, including onboarding, design, delivery and evaluation of successful system leadership programmes
• Experience of analysing the progress of cohorts to ensure the retention, engagement and progress of programme members
• Relevant postgraduate degree
• Previous experience of working in a remote and geographically distributed team
• Working in matrix style organization where the balance of collaboration and accountability is optimised.

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking to help shape the quality of the NIoT's system leadership programmes, and who wish to utilise their skills and expertise in a fast-paced, newly set-up organisation.

Working at the National Institute of Teaching

The role will be based from one of our South and West campuses in either Bristol or Birmingham. This is a hybrid working role with both working from home and on campus with travel across the two sites for the delivery of events and meetings. This will be agreed with your Line Manager. Some travel across our other four regions for events and meetings may also be required.

Contract: Full-time, two year fixed term contract until August 2025

Salary: £65,000 per annum + benefits

The role will be based from one of our South and West campuses (Birmingham/Bristol). This is a hybrid working role with both work from home and on campus with travel across 4 regions for QA visits and meetings. This will be agreed with your Line Manager.

Key benefits available to all National Institute of Teaching staff:

• Flexible start and end working times (core hours between 10am and 4pm).
• Flexible working opportunities.
• 27 days’ holiday a year (plus 8 bank holidays) and membership of a Local Government Pension Scheme.

Diversity and inclusion

The National Institute of Teaching is committed to creating a diverse environment and ensuring that all qualified applicants receive equal consideration for employment. We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment practices and are open to job shares, secondments, part-time, and flexible working schedules.

We think a wide range of different work and educational experiences could support you to be successful in this role. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries, and are committed to employing a team that has diverse skills, experiences and abilities.

Other things to know

• All National Institute of Teaching staff are subject to a check by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The level of check which will apply shall be an “Enhanced” level check.
• We regret that we are currently unable to sponsor visas.