Teaching School Hub (TSH) Annual School Leader Satisfaction Survey for 2023 - 2024

The results are in from our annual Teaching School Hub (TSH) School Leader Satisfaction Survey for 2023 – 2024.
​
School leaders were invited to complete a short satisfaction survey on how they believe they have been supported by SWIFT on the Golden Thread programmes plus other Continuing Professional Development, including the High Prior Attainment training day led by The Colyton Foundation.

We are consistently committed to listening and responding to our school leaders and teachers and are grateful to those of you who took the time to feedback about what matters most so that we can improve our programme delivery.
​
Working together as SWIFT, Colyton and Kingsbridge Teaching School Hubs seek to deliver programmes intended to upskill staff in order to boost teacher recruitment and retention; ultimately, to promote better educational outcomes for all pupils in schools, especially the disadvantaged. Hence, it is important to us that our programme delivery is high-quality, relevant and adds value to the endeavours of busy schools in our constantly changing times.
 
A key survey question was whether leaders had been able to access professional development relevant to their setting’s needs and development goals. Certainly, this has individual implications for us as a starting point – although future planning would benefit from more detail. However, a resounding 63% completed agreed, 31% somewhat agreed and a thoughtful and very honest 6% neither agreed or disagreed. 
 
School leaders were also invited to note their satisfaction with their school’s overall experience of working with Teaching School Hubs last year. 69% completed agreed, 30% somewhat agreed and 1% neither agreed or disagreed. The numbers speak for themselves. But clearly prompt a deeper thinking about the sometimes-subjective understanding of survey dynamics. 

With opportunity for further comments, we are very grateful to those school leaders who took the time to share their thoughts. Overall, the prompt, supportive responses and smooth administration and organisation by our SWIFT Team was praised.
 
Several leaders praised our support for Early Career Teachers (ECTs) as part of the Appropriate Body Service and the guidance and advice provided for them to fully support the ECT and help them to make robust progress and they liked our platform to upload and provide evidence for their ECTs.
 
Particularly positive was a comment about benefitting from being part of our wider SWIFT network and appreciation of professionalism and core values. Partnership is at the heart of our SWIFT work and it is rewarding that is reflected back at us. Another school leader commended our seminars as productive, meaningful and relevant, which is very positive.
 
One leader had yet to work with the Teaching School Hubs, which is a valid consideration for us about our marketing and how we present SWIFT to schools. We certainly understand that the educational landscape can be cluttered and confusing.
 
Guiding comments were constructive about improved clarity of our communications. For example, dates for expected termly ECT progress forms to assist time management and planning for schools. Although interestingly, another praised the clarity of ECF assessments etc.
 
Given the variety of communications from different members of the SWIFT Team, one school leader would ideally prefer to have a single point of contact. We also value the reflective comment about SWIFT emails being crisper and concise in view of numerous email communications and we will take this point seriously in considering the reading workload for school leaders and teachers.
 
And finally, in tune with the modern time, one responder was interested in climate awareness training for leaders. It is important to us that we bring meaningful training to you, so watch this space.
 
64 school leaders responded to the survey and we are grateful for your honest feedback and reflections that will helpfully steer us in our onwards work.
61% leaders responded from Devon schools, 23% from schools in Plymouth and 16% in Torbay.
Primary school leaders were the highest responders at 55%, followed by 34% from secondary, and 6% from Special Schools, 3% Alternative Provision and 2% from the private sector. 

Questions were based on the following Golden Thread programmes:
 

• Appropriate Body Service | statutory induction provision for Early Career Teacher (ECTs).
• Early Career Framework | a framework of standards to help ECTs + Mentors succeed at the start of their careers in partnership with Teach First and the National Institute of Teaching.
• New Suite of National Professional Qualifications | leadership qualifications delivered in partnership with Leading Schools South West (LSSW) and Teach First / National Institute of Teaching:
  • NPQ for Leading Teaching
  • NPQ for Leading Teacher Development
  • NPQ for Leading Behaviour and Culture
  • NPQ for Senior Leadership
  • NPQ for Headship
  • NPQ for Executive Leadership
  • NPQ for Leading Literacy
  • NPQ for Early Years Leadership 
  • NPQ for Leading Primary Maths

Of those school leaders who responded to the survey, 52 had accessed the Early Career Framework, 37 the Appropriate Body Service, followed closely by the National Professional Qualifications at 30. Of course, when you do the maths, you will note that schools might have accessed more than one of the Golden Thread programme mainstays. Seven accessed our professional development offer, which is perhaps slightly lower than we might have hoped and we will certainly consider the implications. But it was positive that all school leaders had accessed some aspect of our services.
 
For the Appropriate Body Service, we are pleased to provide various aspects as part of our Teaching School Hub statutory duty. ECT registration with the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) was the number one service accessed by 40 responders, followed by 30 for formal assessments, 26 who had accessed information/support for meeting induction requirements, whilst six benefited from ECF fidelity checking (which it is worth noting is only applicable to schools not accessing Department for Education-funded induction). We understand the importance of teacher induction for schools and we are heartened that those school leaders who responded demonstrated that they find practical value in our Appropriate Body Service.
 
Looking in more detail at what professional development school leaders had accessed, allowing for the fact that they were able to select as many aspects that they considered to be applicable, the results were interesting. Online training sessions were more popular than in-person events at 24 to 17; which we have perhaps come to expect, even in our opened-up post-Covid lockdown times.

Education conferences where teachers and/or researchers present their research or discuss educational issues were attended by eight colleagues. Participation in a network of teachers formed specifically for the professional development of teachers by TSHs was accessed by four school leaders; which might be fewer than thought, although very often these events, such as Subject Leader Briefings and Professional Communities are attended by teachers and other colleagues, rather than school leaders.

Nevertheless, the results were encouraging and thoughtful feedback and we are grateful to all those school leaders who took the time to respond.

Beyond the survey, please feel able to message us with any comments, reflections and/or suggestions about how we can work better and smarter to serve you. We are always pleased to hear from you and you can click on the links below to contact us.  

Report by Jude Owens, SWIFT Executive Assistant

email SWIFT

email jude owens