Introducing The Excellent Teacher Programme
A Weekly Professional Development Journey for Teachers and School Leaders
Listen to the podcast version here
Launching Tuesday 6th January 2026
If there is one challenge every school leader returns to again and again, it is this:
How do we build excellent teaching consistently, sustainably, and meaningfully across a whole staff team?
Not through one-off INSET days.
Not through overwhelming reading lists.
Not through quick fixes or borrowed strategies.
But through something coherent, cumulative, and grounded in the real work of classroom practice.
The Excellent Teacher Programme is my response to that challenge — a structured, high-quality professional development pathway releasing every Tuesday from January 2026, designed to strengthen teaching at every level of experience while supporting leaders to shape a culture where practice genuinely improves over time.
Each weekly instalment includes a short video, a podcast version, and an in-depth written article, accompanied by a beautifully produced workbook that prompts reflection, supports goal-setting, and turns ideas into action. The aim is simple: 20 minutes a week that actually makes a difference.
Why This Programme? Why Now?
Schools are under pressure. Teachers are under pressure. Leaders are trying to protect the quality of teaching while balancing workload, retention, curriculum reform, and pupil need. Yet the one thing that most reliably improves outcomes — excellent teaching — often receives the least structured, least sustained development.
The Excellent Teacher Programme offers:
Consistency
Every member of staff receives the same message, builds the same foundations, and develops a shared language of practice.
Depth
Each module is rooted in cognitive science, educational research, and the disciplined craft of teaching.
Practicality
Ideas are translated into classroom action through modelling, examples, prompts, and reflective workbook tasks.
Sustainability
Twenty minutes a week is achievable for even the busiest teacher or leader. Small steps, taken together, produce significant improvement.
For leaders, this programme functions as a ready-made CPD spine: a strategic thread running across terms, supporting coaching systems, mentoring, induction, and performance development.
For teachers, it is a personal and professional growth journey — structured, manageable, and meaningful.
The Structure: 8 Modules, 40 Sessions of High-Quality CPD
Across the year, participants will move through eight carefully designed modules. Each includes five focused units, building knowledge and skill in a logical progression.
Rather than scattershot CPD, this is a deep, coherent curriculum for professional learning.
Module 1 – Purpose, Professionalism, and Pedagogy
Examining what makes excellent teaching possible: identity, values, intellectual ambition, collegiality, and the discipline of ongoing growth.
Module 2 – Understanding How Pupils Learn
Memory, attention, schema, misconceptions, retrieval, spacing, cognitive load, metacognition — the building blocks of secure learning.
Module 3 – Planning for Progress and Curriculum Coherence
How teachers turn curriculum intent into daily learning: sequencing, clarity of purpose, adaptive planning, and long-term understanding.
Module 4 – Instruction, Modelling, and Explanation
Techniques for making thinking visible: explicit teaching, worked examples, dual coding, scaffolding, and the careful release of independence.
Module 5 – Questioning, Feedback, and Assessment for Learning
High-leverage talk moves, formative assessment, reducing marking workload, and feedback that actually moves learning forward.
Module 6 – Relationships, Behaviour, and Classroom Culture
Creating emotionally safe, consistent, respectful environments where pupils feel calm, connected, and ready to learn.
Module 7 – Inclusion, Equity, and Adaptive Teaching
Understanding barriers, strengthening literacy and vocabulary, using scaffolds strategically, and promoting representation and belonging.
Module 8 – Reflection, Collaboration, and Continuous Growth
Developing habits of improvement, working with coaches and mentors, engaging with professional networks, and sustaining wellbeing and purpose.
Every unit includes insight, modelling, examples, and small, actionable next steps — all captured in the accompanying workbook.
This means the course is not just something to “watch” or “read,” but something to do, reflect on, and build into ongoing practice.
How Weekly Releases Will Work
Every Tuesday, subscribers will receive:
• A high-quality video session (short, clear, and practical)
• A podcast version (ideal for commuting, walking, or planning time)
• An accompany text version Substack article
• A downloadable workbook page guiding reflection and action
This rhythm creates a habit of professional learning — not overwhelming, not time-intensive, but focused and cumulative.
Leaders may choose to integrate the programme into:
• whole-school CPD
• phase or department meetings
• coaching conversations
• ECT mentoring
• appraisal and development goals
• staff induction programmes
Teachers may choose to use it independently as part of their professional growth portfolio.
Subscription and Access
To access all materials, join the monthly or annual subscription:
£5 per month
or
£50 per year
Paid subscribers receive:
• Weekly video, podcast, article, and workbook
• Full access to the entire programme archive
• A complete year’s structured CPD pathway
• Materials suitable for individual or whole-school use
For leaders, this is a cost-effective way to provide a high-quality, research-informed CPD curriculum without the planning burden.
For teachers, it is an investment in becoming more confident, intentional, and expert in the craft of teaching.
A Programme Built for Real Change
The Excellent Teacher Programme is grounded in a belief that teaching is a moral, intellectual, and deeply human profession. When teachers grow, children thrive. When staff feel supported and professionally nourished, schools become calmer, more purposeful, and more hopeful places.
This programme is not about quick wins. It is about disciplined expertise, reflective practice, and the small, powerful steps that transform classrooms over time.
I would be delighted to have you and your staff join me on this journey.
The first session arrives on Tuesday 6th January 2026.