News12th March 2019
Ambition Institute, a new organisation dedicated to supporting teachers and school leaders to keep getting better, has launched.
A result of the merger between Ambition School Leadership and the Institute for Teaching, the new graduate school combines the mission focus of a charity, the academic rigour of a traditional university, and the essential classroom connection of a teaching school.
Ambition Institute’s programmes will offer support to educators at every stage – from new teachers through to multi academy trust CEOs and trustees – to ensure there are expert teachers in every classroom being led by exceptional school leaders.
All of Ambition Institute’s programmes are designed to deliver impact on pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, ensuring they have the same opportunities to succeed as their classmates. Ambition School Leadership and the Institute for Teaching have already supported over 14,000 teachers and school leaders, reaching around 1.5 million children.
It is widely acknowledged in the sector that children from disadvantaged backgrounds don’t do as well as their peers. On average, disadvantaged children are four months behind in their overall development at age five, and as much as 19 months behind by the time of their GCSEs. The Department for Education’s recent Recruitment & Retention Strategy also highlighted the acute struggle of schools serving areas of disadvantage to recruit and retain teachers.
Interim CEO of Ambition Institute, Melanie Renowden, said: “Improving teaching and school leadership is the best way to make sure every pupil gets a great education. No other aspects of the school system have as much influence on pupil achievement, particularly the achievement of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“Just as importantly, developing educators at all levels also improves job satisfaction and the retention of talent in the system. At a time when we know that over a third of teachers leave the profession in the first five years of their career, we have to help teachers and school leaders develop their expertise, and their careers, in different ways.
“There is enormous power and potential in the educators in our school system. We’re confident that Ambition Institute will support even more of them to keep getting better, bringing the sector as a whole closer to giving every child the edcation they deserve.”
Ambition Institute was launched with a leadership event at the Oasis Academy South Bank, with talks and a panel discussion from the education sector. The charity’s new brand, which has been developed by its own in-house marketing and communications team, will also be introduced.
The event featured a panel made up of experts from the education sector and further afield, including Dame Rachel de Souza – Chief Executive at Inspiration Trust, Tom Rees – Executive Director of School Leadership at Ambition Institute, Jessica Clarke – Head of Leadership and Talent EMEA at Bloomberg, and Dr Amanda Goodall – Associate Professor at Cass Business School. They debated the merits of domain-specific expertise in education leadership and beyond.