A national network of Teaching School Hubs was created in 2021, to support the recruitment and retention of our teaching workforce. Over the past two years Generate Teaching Hub has been reflecting on our structure, context and impact. From this we have created our Theory of Change.

What is a Theory of Change?

A Theory of Change is a process that enables reflection on why something happens, what is being done and how the impact of the activity will be measured. More detail on what such a process involves can be studied here.

Generate’s Model

Firstly, we mapped the national problems (our challenge) and forces (our context) that surrounded the creation of the Teaching School Hub structure.

Next, we listed the local action (our response) that we are taking, accounting for any assumptions we have to make (our variables) and the local outputs or KPIs (our targets) that are currently set.

Thirdly, we listed the long term impact we are seeking in strategic outcomes (our influence) and how this assists in the national outcomes (our contribution).

Why is a Theory of Change Useful?

By mapping our Theory of Change we allow partners and stakeholders to understand our role – to connect great teachers to the best professional development in Halton, Warrington and Wigan – and why we are structured the way we are. We have a DfE appointed designation and have created a local approach based on partnership working; building the capacity of local schools and sharing their expertise through generating learning, collaboration and improvement.

Holding together our plans is our ‘why?’, the reason we act the way we do. We understand this to be coherence. Our Independent Hub Assessor has helped us reflect on this motivation and coherence is the thread that holds Generate’s activities and partners together. Generate Teaching Hub exists because we understand that the more coherent leadership of teaching is in our locality, the better the outcomes for our children and young people.

A Dynamic Process

Our Theory of Change is not static. It will be reviewed annually and as the context of our work changes our response will adapt. Our designation has expanded in this 3rd year and our work grown so that nearly 1,500 local teachers and leaders are involved in one of our programmes at all times. We are now seeking more insight into the impact of our work and this year (2023/24) we will be investigating the view of school and trust leaders on the impact of professional development.