ECFEST: Securing your first teaching post
In the first webinar of ECFEST 2021, Professor Dame Alison Peacock (Chief Executive, Chartered College of Teaching) chaired a discussion around providing guidance for early career teachers on the recruitment process and securing their first teaching position. Joining the discussion was Andy Taylor (Senior Lecturer in Primary Education, University of Worcester), Rhoda Flindall (Headteacher, Ashcroft High School), and Nazam Latif (Head of Science and Director of STEM, Ashcroft High School).
- Learn how to find out if a school is right for you with a working culture you can thrive in
- Hear from experts on how to make your application stand out from the crowd
- Find out what your interview might entail and how to impress your potential employer
Teaching Vacancies is the free national service for applying for teaching jobs: better for schools, better for teaching. Since Teaching Vacancies launched two years ago, schools have listed over 45,000 vacancies. Join the thousands of teachers using Teaching Vacancies today to find the best jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk
Shared resources:
- Download the audio transcript
- ECFEST – the online festival for early career teachers
- Interviewing for a job
- Applying for a job
- Looking for a job
- Teaching Vacancies
- Choosing the right school for you
- #InThisTogether – Supporting Black and Asian women in the profession
- BAMEed Network – Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Educators
Our guest speakers:
Andrew Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Primary Education, University of Worcester
Andrew has taught in schools in Gloucestershire for 16 years as a class teacher, assistant head and Deputy head teacher. He has led a variety of subjects and curriculum areas over the years including English, Maths, Computing, PE, Teaching and Learning and Assessment.
Andrew has supported NQTs and students as the lead mentor in schools and has really enjoyed being able to support each of them in building their strengths to be the best teachers they can be. Over his time in schools Andrew has honed his coaching and mentoring skills. Through this he has become an advocate of the Department for Education’s Teaching Vacancies service. A free and easy-to-use service from the government to help job-seeking teachers find their perfect teaching role more easily.
For the past 2 years he has worked for the University of Worcester supporting trainee teachers and helping to develop their provision for Early Career Teachers.
Andrew also tweets under the handle of @MrTs_NQTs. A twitter feed with advice and guidance for trainee, Newly Qualified and experienced teachers, with over 20K followers.
Rhoda Flindall, Headteacher, Ashcroft High School
Rhoda Flindall is on a mission to ensure that every child is able to access an excellent education, and secure success. Trained as an English teacher, she has a unique background with excess 20 years experience in education.10 of those years have been in leadership focusing specifically on eradicating the gap between the disadvantaged and non disadvantaged. Rhoda’s specialisms include school improvement, inclusionAn approach where a school aims to ensure that all children are educated together, with support for those who require it to access the full curriculum and contribute to and participate in all aspects of school life, leadership, safeguarding, behaviour, and strategic change management. Having worked on leadership teams to relaunch schools in the past in inner city London, Rhoda is currently a Headteacher relaunching, rebranding and renaming a school, following a successful and rapid school improvement journey.
Nazam Latif, Head of Science and Director of STEM, Ashcroft High School
As Head of Science and Director of STEM, Nazam’s main priority is to ensure that the vision and positive ethos of Ashcroft High School is reflected across the entire breadth and depth of the science curriculum. Building on the department’s successes to date, he will work with his team, as well as senior leadership, to take science and STEM teaching and learning on to new levels in support of the evolution of the curriculum.
