Meet the ITT team: Emily Beach

Teaching is a vocation, a calling

Emily comes from a long line of teachers stretching back generations. So, when she became a teacher herself, over 20 years ago, she knew what she was letting herself in for. “Teaching is a vocation, a calling”, explains Emily. “You’re putting in a lot of hours, a lot of effort. You’ve got to have that strong professional and moral compass, that drive to make a difference to the lives of young people.”

Mr Taylor brought literature alive

While she was a child herself at primary school, maths was Emily’s favourite subject. But when she reached secondary school, it was her English teacher—Mr Taylor—who transformed her life. “He brought literature alive”, she recalls. “When we read To Kill A Mockingbird, it was like the story was playing out in front of us, as he read all the characters with their different accents and mannerisms.” Emily didn’t know it when she first stepped into his classroom, but she had met a schoolteacher who would shape the course of her life. She went on to study English at university, then trained as a secondary school English specialist. “And then it was me in front of my own GCSE class”, she adds, “reading the books to them just like Mr Taylor had read them to me”.

Emily has a term for people like Mr Taylor, who shape our lives in profound and wonderful ways: a magic weaver. “It comes from an inspirational book called The Magic Weaving Business, by Sir John Jones”, she explains. Ask anyone to list the people who have influenced the course of their lives for the better, and there’s bound to be at least one teacher on that list. And to Emily’s delight, there was another ‘magic weaver’ waiting for her, when she was just starting out in the teaching profession. “During my first year of teaching, I was really left alone”, she says. “But in my second year, a new member of staff arrived and took me under her wing. I call her Mother Madge, and she changed my life. She has mentored me throughout my whole journey, she’s still there now, telling me how proud she is of me, supporting me every step of the way.”

The importance of mentoring and 'magic weavers'

It was thanks to the support and friendship of people like Mother Madge that Emily realised the importance of mentorship, especially for teachers starting out in the profession. And as her career started to blossom, she saw that her own passion lay in training the next generation of teachers. Emily worked at a multi-academy trust for nine years, where she led their ITT programme. This was initially accredited by another organisation, “but we were determined to apply to the Department of Education for our own accreditation”, she explains. “I spent six months working on the application at the dining room table. In 2017, we opened our doors to our first cohort of trainee teachers.”

Two years later, Ofsted graded them ‘outstanding’ across all areas. This was a huge achievement for Emily and her team, and for the schools and children they served. “For me”, says Emily, “the real success story was the deep and meaningful partnerships we had created, which meant that we could provide the highest quality teaching to children in disadvantaged areas.”

There were plenty of tears shed when Emily left her multi-academy trust to take up her new position as Head of Initial Teacher Training at NIoT, in September 2023. “I loved my old job”, she says, “but I hugely admire what NIoT are doing, and I relished the opportunity to be part of it.”

This is the legacy that I want to leave

For Emily, it’s about creating a provision that is at the forefront of teaching and learning, while working with expert colleagues from across a wide range of fields. “I’m very interested in how evidence-based research can help inform curriculum design and delivery”, she says, “and this is a real strength of the National Institute of Teaching.” And for Emily, it goes back to that strong professional and moral compass with which she began her own teaching career. “This is the legacy I want to leave”, she explains, “that as Head of ITT, I have recruited, trained and empowered the best possible teachers to support the children in our care”.

Magic weavers create more magic weavers. Emily explains how she gets trainee teachers to draw around their hands on a piece of paper. She tells them to use the outlined digits to identify the magic weavers who made them into the people they are today. “And of course, one will always be a teacher”, she smiles. Past students will get in touch with her to tell her that, now they are teachers themselves, they can see that Emily was one of their magic weavers. “I am so lucky to have had so many magic weavers in my life”, Emily says. “The person who made me love English, the person who showed me how to become a great teacher, the person who made me believe I could be a leader. And now, I want to create the next generation of teachers who will become magic weavers for the children in their care.”