From teacher to leader: My NPQ journey

D6 is a brand new sixth form located in the heart of Darwen, Lancashire and formed of three schools - Darwen Aldridge Community Academy, Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio and Darwen Vale High School.

Recently appointed as the head of D6, Victoria tells us about her experience on the NPQ in Leading Teaching (NPQLT) and the NPQ in Senior Leadership (NPQSL), and how they’ve supported her in her career progression from humanities teacher to senior leader.

My journey into teaching

I graduated from university with a degree in psychology. At the time, psychology wasn’t really a subject offered by schools, so I ended up working in sales and recruitment.

A few years on, I wondered whether I could now become a psychology teacher – and discovered I could. That’s how I ended up at Darwen Aldridge Community Academy (DACA).

I taught humanities here at DACA for around eight years, then progressed to head of social sciences, head of sixth form at DACA and now head of sixth form at D6.

Gaining knowledge on the NPQLT

When I did the NPQLT, because it’d been so long since I was an early career teacher, a lot had changed in terms of pedagogy. So, it was great to find out about more recent research.

All of that new knowledge really helped me in my head of social sciences role.

Social sciences are multifaceted. I was responsible for criminology, psychology, sociology and health and social care.

The knowledge I gained on the NPQ helped me navigate approaches for four very different subjects and bring the whole faculty together.

How it made me a more effective leader

I’ve continued to use and implement the strategies and techniques that I learnt on this NPQ.

For example, we have a new absence policy. My NPQ helped me think about absence more holistically, including the reasons for absence.

Doing the research prior to actually putting a new strategy in place has made my strategy more effective.

Being challenged by the NPQSL

There’s some crossover with the NPQLT and NPQSL, but that has helped me to secure my knowledge, particularly around ‘changing projects’ and ‘implementing projects’.

The NPQSL has been much more challenging, with more complex concepts covered. For example, governance, which is something I'd never looked at.

So that has been really valuable to me.

The NPQSL has enabled me to delve into the data and understand the planning stages of projects more.

Before, I’ve worked on things where we’ve implemented ideas straight away but doing that groundwork and understanding why that's important has been instrumental for initiatives we have implemented within the sixth form.

Making change happen

The strategies I've learned through the Teach First NPQs have really helped me decide how I’m going to implement new things and make them work.

Leading a small department is very different to leading across three schools.

Without the training I've had over these last two years, I wouldn’t be in the position to be the head of D6.

I'm going to be doing more implementing over the next year than I have ever done in my career.

Before doing the NPQs I would have thought, ‘Right, this is a strategy and we're going to stick with it’.

Now I'll be thinking, ‘This is a work in progress, let’s try this over a year and adapt our policies throughout the year’.

The power of a seminar

The programme's seminars have been really beneficial.

The day before my interview for head of D6, I attended a training session. As part of my interview, I had to prepare a presentation about my vision for D6 and how I'd get collaboration between all three sites.

When I came out of the training session, I scrapped my entire presentation and redid it that night.

I think that tells you just how impactful the work is.

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" is one of the quotes from the day which really stuck with me.

Culture is particularly important when you're working across three schools. Even though the schools are part of one trust, they each have their differences.

What might work in one school might not work at another, and we need to find a system where all of those things can integrate together.

Making connections

The contacts that I've made and the relationships I’ve built with people on the course have been so important.

Having that group of people who are all in a similar mindset and level of leadership has been really useful.

Progress your career with an NPQ

If you’re considering any NPQ then go for it!

You do have to spend a bit of time planning and preparing for the sessions, but ultimately that work will really progress your career.

I have used all the information I’ve gained from seminars and training in each of my interviews for senior leadership roles.

Because of the job roles the NPQs helped me to secure, I was never worried about what projects I had to do as evidence for my NPQ – I was already doing that within my job.

Also, the way that the NPQs are developed and run has been really thought out for teachers - it just fits so well with a teacher's job.

If you are career driven, then you really need to do this to ensure that you're in line with other practitioners and that you have the skills and knowledge to be able to do the role which you want to apply for.

It’s been quite an inspiring journey, and I’m excited for what’s next.

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