Riona Gifford

Fast Track Teaching, run by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL), is the first accelerated leadership development programme in education designed to help raise the standards of leadership in schools, to enhance teachers' performances and ultimately improve the achievement of pupils Launched in 2000, Fast Track Teaching works to develop those teachers in the early stages of their careers who have already demonstrated the potential to rapidly progress into senior leadership positions, focusing on allowing them to develop their leadership skills and providing access to a support network both inside and outside their schools.

It is through this network that Fast Track teachers are working to inspire, innovate and communicate to improve education, using meetings as a forum to develop ideas and discuss classroom challenges.

Fast Track Teaching also helps those teachers that have moved from another career make the transition into teaching - working with them to utilise the skills they developed in their previous careers and allowing them to accelerate the progression of their new role in teaching to an equivalent position of seniority as their previous job.

To date, there are nearly 190 graduates' of the programme nationwide, with 48 Fast Track Teachers currently working in schools throughout Oxfordshire.

These teachers are working with their colleagues and with parents to improve education and enrich the school experience for local children, aiming to inspire them in schools via their dynamism and innovative, forward-thinking teaching methods.

n To find out more about Fast Track Teaching, visit: www.ncsl.org.uk/fasttrack or contact the Fast Track Recruitment Team e-mail: applicationenquiries-fasttrack@ncsl.org.uk or call 0845 058 1066. Headteachers interested in employing a Fast Track teacher at their school should contact the Fast Track Central Support Team, e-mail:schoolenquiry-fasttrack@ncsl.org.uk uk or call 0845 601 5921 Riona Gifford - the high flyer Riona Gifford, a physics teacher and Head of Key Stage 3 at Gosford Hill School, was spurred on to join Fast Track Teaching to benefit from the tailored leadership development offered to every Fast Track teacher .

At 26, Riona started her professional life by training to become an RAF instructor, taking part in an intensive and demanding training programme that strengthened her leadership and teaching skills. In doing so, she realised that she wanted to carry these skills forward into another career. "Teaching seemed to fulfil all my criteria," she said.

"Fast Track Teaching has enabled me to become proactive in developing initiatives within my school which, at this early stage in my career, I might otherwise feel too intimidated to suggest and carry out. This, in turn, has allowed me to have more influence in my school, allowing me to progress my career quickly."

Emmanuel Botwe

As part of the Fast Track Teaching programme, each teacher is required to carry out a project with a wider school focus', this is an objective that enhances the teachers management and leadership skills, and contributes to the development needs of the school. For her wider school focus, Riona implemented a scheme to modernise and improve Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) lessons for Year 7 pupils in her school by working with her colleagues to improve pupils' learning skills.

The aim of the project was to make PSHE sessions more beneficial, working to examine how pupils learn most effectively. Riona has developed the concept into a series of 14 lesson plans which focus on various learning techniques such as memory retention, listening skills and word redundancies, linking these back to how the brain functions.

The lessons are brought to life using a variety of case studies and brain teaser puzzles which her pupils really enjoy. She said: "The scheme was very well received by pupils and staff alike, and there is scope to implement the lesson plans into the school curriculum on a permanent basis. Fast Track has helped me cultivate my existing leadership skills and the mentoring system has allowed me to better understand my strengths and weaknesses and work to develop these."

Emmanuel Botwe - liaising with local schools Emmanuel Botwe, 26, decided to become a teacher while working as a schools liaison officer at Oxford University.

In this role, Emmanuel was responsible for devising campaigns to encourage state schoolchildren to apply to university and it was this contact with local schools and their pupils that inspired him to apply for teaching.

Now the Head of Year 9 at Oxford Community School, Emmanuel was keen to join the Fast Track Teaching programme because he felt through doing so, he would have a real chance to help shape the future of education. He said: "It makes teaching cutting edge, which is as it should be - we are working with the people who will shape our future, so it is vital that we inspire them to fulfil their potential and that we generate an atmosphere of enthusiasm among them.

"The programme is brilliant in terms of training opportunities and mentoring, but for me, the best thing is the networking opportunities it provides, giving me a wealth of new ideas and skills to bring back into my classroom."

For his wider school focus, Emmanuel implemented a scheme to help improve learning amongst Year 8 pupils, working to identify under-achievers and work with them to understand the reasons behind behaviour patterns such as poor attendance and poor punctuality. Using this information, Emmanuel was then able to look at ways he could improve the achievement levels using a number of mentoring systems. In the near future, Emmanuel plans to initiate a breakfast club in his school, to ensure all pupils arrive at school on time and that they have a healthy, nutritious start to the day.

Urbaid Ansari - from consultant to the classroom Urbaid Ansari, 43, worked locally as a business consultant for 20 years before retraining to become a teacher. Urbaid felt unfulfilled and wanted to move to a career which would provide him with different challenges each day.

Urbaid, who now works as an ICT teacher at Fitzharrys School in Oxford, decided to join the Fast Track Teaching programme as he was keen to progress his teaching career as quickly as possible.

He said: "I had been working as a business consultant for 20 years and was ambitious to progress into a similar leadership role in teaching, utilising my existing skills and experience to benefit my pupils' - drive forward ideas in the classroom and improve aspects of the school as a whole."

"Joining Fast Track Teaching gave me access to a range of networking opportunities and exposure to some of the main people driving to improve education.

"I found the extra training really useful, but for me, the best thing about Fast Track was the fact that I was allocated a Personal Leadership Tutor (PLT) mentor. Obviously, the transition between changing careers was quite a challenge, and there were times when I found it quite difficult. My PLT has been fantastic for talking through the issues I was facing and working out a solution."

One such challenge was when Urbaid realised he had been unaware that one of his pupils had a learning difficulty that was affecting his day-to-day life in the classroom.

Urbaid felt that if he had been aware of the difficulty, he would have tailored his lessons to help prepare him for his exams.

"While it is a legal requirement for all special education needs to be recorded by the school, there was no requirement for these notes to be circulated to the teachers.

"This could mean that pupils with special needs might not receive the quality of teaching they need," he said.

As a result, Urbaid has been working to implement a system to flag up special needs to teachers in his school, providing them with a better understanding of the individual's needs and helping manage and provide for them more adequately.

"I have never regretted my decision to move careers into teaching. No two days in the classroom are the same, and it is a fantastic challenge to work with young people to help them reach their potential and generate an enthusiasm for education among them."

11:59am Monday 14th January 2008

Urbaid Ansari

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