Sarah Dunsby, Head of Geography at Bushey Meads School tells TDT about her experiences on our National Professional Qualification for Leading Teaching (NPQLT) so far.
Why did you choose to take a National Professional Qualification with the Teacher Development Trust?
I’ve just been recently promoted and that’s why I decided to take the NPQLT, as I thought it would be a really good stepping stone into helping me become a better leader and understanding how to effectively lead and plan curriculums.
So far, my experience has been really positive, I’m just over halfway through my course and TDT and my provider, Shared Learning Trust have been outstanding. Not only have they supported me throughout the whole process, but they have been really helpful in giving me deadlines, which has been really handy alongside the email reminders.
The NPQLT course
It can seem a little bit daunting with the workload that we already have as teachers, however I think it has been really useful and it has helped me become a way better leader. Not only that, it has also made me evaluate my processes more. I definitely feel that the way I’m thinking now is much more of what a leader should be thinking about, and I do attribute that to the course.
The course is laid out really well which makes it very manageable. I’m able to do about 40 minutes a week, maybe a little bit more, maybe a little less depending on how motivated I am to complete the work. We normally have about 5 weeks or so to complete each section of work, which means that it can be done all in one week if you want, but it is quite intensive then. I split it up and the way that TDT have recommended is very helpful.
“I definitely feel that the way I’m thinking now is much more of what a leader should be thinking about, and I do attribute that to the course.”
Long-term Impact
I do find that I’m thinking more laterally and about what my long term goals are. This is especially when we’re looking at schemes of work. I’m finding this really useful when I’m actually getting down to the ‘nitty gritty’ of why I’m teaching something and how I am going to let my other teachers in my department know what I want them to teach. In previous situations I’ve found that I was just giving my staff lessons to teach with no real focus, and now I think that studying on the NPQLT has provided that focus.
Final Thoughts
So that’s my views on it so far, I’m really, really enjoying it and I’m really happy with the progress I’m making. I hope that in the long term it’s going to have a really good impact on not only my relationships with my team, but also further down the line I’ll be able to bring all those skills and experiences that I’ve learned from the NPQLT into more managerial roles within the school.
Their Journey. Your Journey.
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