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.   

Heading up the content design and programme evaluation team, the Director of Teacher Development ensures the high quality of our content across our four golden thread programmes (ITT, ECF, NPQ, NLE). The successful candidate will manage a team of experienced content writers and designers as well as QA and Evaluation professionals who collectively help improve the quality of our content. 

The successful candidate will be a visionary who can help us set a new bar for high quality content across teacher and leader development. They will use the best research insights including from our Research and Best Practice function as well as cutting edge practice from schools. Creating a close connection between design and delivery is one of the core principles of the NIoT. To achieve this, the Director of Teacher Development will work closely with our Heads of Faculty and Campus Principles to drive content improvement based on the experience in schools. 

This is an exciting opportunity to build and lead a new function that will be central to setting and continuously raising the bar of what high quality teacher and leader development looks like for participants on programmes and the pupils they serve.  You will lead the team that builds programmes and teachers and leaders will really value as it helps them be more successful in their job and is respectful of their time as teachers and school leaders. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Develop, steer and guide the content design process by working closely with the content designers to ensure high quality, coherent and unique design in line with our principles across all NIoT content 

• Lead on the quality review process for design of content and with feedback, lead on the continuous improvement of programmes for design and delivery 

• Be a key point of contact for our delivery teams (Regional Principals, Heads of Faculty and Excellence Fellows) in our four Regions and support the improvement of our programme content and ensure that their insights are used to inform quality programme design and delivery 

• Support the Content Development Managers with the prioritisation of design requests across all four golden threads 

• Work with the Performance and Improvement Manager to develop an approach for the collection of feedback from Faculty and Excellence Fellows 

• Ensure that programmes that involved academic award weave research and practice seamlessly and that workload of participants is well managed. 

• Work with the student experience manager to ensure that participants on programmes are well supported and that the insights are built into design and delivery 

• Oversee and plan our national deployment of tutors across all four programmes of the Golden Thread 

• Define the standards of what quality looks like for our tutors and support the development of relevant tutor training materials 

• In the long-term: Lead the development of an accreditation process for tutors to become NIoT Excellence Fellows 

• Support the Institute’s Research agenda by a) ensuring that research insights are embedded into the content, supporting continuous improvement and b) feeding insights from faculty back to our Research and Best Practice team to identify future research areas 

Additional Responsibilities 

• Identify cross-cutting needs and issues related to content design and development and support their resolution by working with the Executive Director of Programmes 

• Deal with any immediate problems or emergencies according to the Institute’s policies and procedures 

• Undertake other reasonable duties (with competence and experience) as requested, in accordance with the changing needs of the organisation. 

 Essential Criteria 

• A commitment to the aims of the National Institute of Teaching 

• Higher education degree in a relevant discipline  

• Proven track record of leading teams that design and develop programmes for teachers and leaders 

• Proven ability to develop a consistent tone of voice in written content, obtained, e.g., in an editorial capacity 

• Proven ability to quality assure material and build in evidence informed changes into programme design and delivery 

• Understanding of instructional design methods 

• Ability to build strong relationships with a diverse group of key stakeholders 

• Excellent track record of delivery on collaborative projects against tight timelines 

• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills 

• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail 

 Desirable criteria 

• Experience in the education sector, ideally as a teacher or instructor 

• Relevant postgraduate degree 

Further Information 

• 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. 

• This post is a full-time position and will be offered on a permanent contract. We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment practices and are open to job shares, secondments, part-time, and flexible working schedules. 

• 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.