Employer: National Institute of Teaching (NIoT)
Location: The role is hybrid, with the majority of your time spent working from home and the opportunity to connect with colleagues in person at one of our campuses around once a fortnight. There is also an annual all staff away day which involves travel and an overnight stay. Campuses in Beckenham, Birmingham, Blackburn, Doncaster, Redcar, Bristol or Bradford
Temporary: Temporary until 31 August 2031
Working hours: Full-time
Salary: £71,821 per annum plus benefits
Closing date: 20 November 2026
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Teach Lead Change is a new partnership between the NIoT and Teach First, delivering the High Potential Initial Teacher Training route. Teach First leads trainee attraction, selection and placement, while the NIoT delivers the PGCE and leads research and continuous improvement. This role offers the opportunity to build the research team that will help the partnership learn and improve.
Lead a research team. Turn evidence into practice. Help shape the future of teacher education.
How can we attract, develop and retain teachers and understand the difference they make to pupils? Join the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT) as Head of Research and lead a dedicated team exploring these questions through rigorous research with practical purpose.
At the NIoT, we believe teaching is a fundamental societal good, a privilege and a responsibility. We bring researchers and programme teams together to tackle real challenges, strengthen teacher education and turn high-quality evidence into better practice.
Teach Lead Change is a new partnership between the NIoT and Teach First, delivering the High Potential Initial Teacher Training route. Teach First leads trainee attraction, selection and placement, while the NIoT delivers the PGCE and leads research and continuous improvement. This role offers the opportunity to build the research team that will help the partnership learn and improve.
Reporting to the Executive Director of Research and Best Practice, you will lead the TLC research team and develop and deliver its research plans within agreed partnership priorities and the NIoT’s research strategy. Across an anticipated six to eight projects in three research clusters, the programme will explore the journey from attraction and selection to training, retention and impact on pupils. You will be accountable for the team’s research quality, delivery and continuous improvement, working within approved resources and governance arrangements.
You will lead the research team’s contribution to the partnership’s continuous improvement activity, helping programme colleagues understand the evidence, identify opportunities and evaluate agreed changes. Working alongside those responsible for programme delivery, you will connect research with practical improvements while keeping operational decisions with the relevant programme leaders.
As part of the NIoT’s multidisciplinary research community, you will provide methodological leadership and uphold high standards across the team’s work. As Principal Investigator for the partnership’s theory of change and overarching synthesis, you will bring findings together into clear, useful insights for teacher education. You will also support colleagues to produce high-quality publications and resources that reach practitioners, policymakers and the wider sector.
Collaboration will be central to your success. As the principal research contact for the TLC programme, you will build effective relationships with colleagues at Teach First and the NIoT, coordinate research access, data-sharing and ethical approval arrangements through established processes, and provide specialist advice to partnership governance groups.
We are looking for an experienced research leader who combines methodological expertise with the ability to develop people, manage complex projects and communicate clearly about what evidence can and cannot tell us. You will bring doctoral-level expertise or an equivalent record of leading rigorous research, experience of supporting researchers and a collaborative, curious approach.
The role is hybrid, with the majority of your time spent working from home and the opportunity to connect with colleagues in person at one of our campuses around once a fortnight. There is also an annual all staff away day which involves travel and an overnight stay.
If you are excited by the opportunity to build a collaborative research team, deliver ambitious research and help turn evidence into meaningful improvements in teacher education, we would love to hear from you.
Closing date: 20 November 2026
Corporate Responsibilities
To ensure that the responsibilities of the role are carried out in a way which reflects the mission and the values of the NIoT.
To be aware of and observe all policies, procedures, working practices and regulations, and in particular to comply with policies relating to Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety, Confidentiality, Data Protection and Financial Regulations, reporting any concerns to an appropriate person.
To comply with all reasonable management requests.
Key Responsibilities
Programme leadership and design
Lead the TLC research team and develop and deliver its research plans within agreed partnership priorities and the NIoT’s research strategy, with accountability for the team’s quality, delivery and continuous improvement. Recommend significant changes to the portfolio, sequencing or resources to the Executive Director of Research and Best Practice for approval.
Lead the development, validation and maintenance of the partnership’s theory of change with partner colleagues, using it to inform research questions, improvement recommendations and outcome measures within agreed priorities and governance arrangements.
Translate agreed research priorities and partnership requirements into deliverable work plans, delivery processes and dissemination activity. Implement agreed governance and decision-making arrangements, coordinating ethical and data-sharing approvals through established processes and escalating matters outside delegated authority.
Lead the research team’s contribution to the partnership’s continuous improvement plan, using evidence to recommend and evaluate agreed test-and-learn pilots and service improvements. Work with programme leaders to prioritise issues, with operational decisions and implementation retained by the relevant programme leaders.
Identify time-sensitive research opportunities, including baselines before process changes, pilot data before instruments inform decisions and instrument revisions before reporting windows. Coordinate their delivery within agreed priorities and resources, seeking approval where changes to scope or commitments are required.
Partnership working and governance
Act as the principal research contact for the TLC programme, providing specialist advice and progress reports to the Joint Steering Committee and convening the Innovation, Improvement and Impact Committee within agreed terms of reference. Strategic partnership decisions and major resource commitments remain with the Executive Director and relevant governance bodies.
Develop and coordinate research access, data-sharing and ethical approval arrangements with partner colleagues and relevant specialists, securing approval through established organisational processes. Ensure research use is distinguished from programme improvement, including where the partner holds delivery responsibility and data.
Hold scientific standards where research findings bear on decisions the partner has taken or is taking, maintaining honesty about what the evidence can and cannot support.
Deliver accurate and timely research reports required under the partnership agreement, maintain consistent research governance documentation and escalate delivery risks or proposed changes to contractual commitments to the Executive Director.
Uphold research integrity and manage conflicts of interest within the team in accordance with NIoT policies, including declarations arising from the NIoT’s dual role as delivery provider and research partner. Escalate significant or unresolved concerns through established governance arrangements.
Research design and methodological leadership
Act as Principal Investigator for the theory of change and for the partnership's sector-facing synthesis.
Set and quality-assure the methodological standard across a portfolio spanning psychometric validation, trials and controlled pilots, realist and theory-based case study work, longitudinal cohort tracking, and impact evaluation.
Specify, commission and quality-assure specialist work within the approved budget and procurement arrangements, including psychometric validation and quasi-experimental impact design, drawing on expertise the post-holder does not personally provide.
Supervise and conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses of education data as the portfolio requires.
Contribute to the academic environment at the NIoT, for example teaching and marking at Masters' degree level.
Team leadership and development
Build the research team through staged recruitment and induction of senior research fellows, research fellows, research officers and research assistants within the approved staffing structure, recruitment plan and budget.
Line-manage senior research fellows and research fellows, and provide academic supervision through them to research assistants.
Develop colleagues through the NIoT’s established appraisal, development and progression frameworks, applying agreed criteria consistently and transparently. Recommend changes to the team structure or staffing requirements to the Executive Director for approval.
Manage the allocated research budget, staff deployment and workload within agreed financial and staffing limits. Monitor expenditure, capacity, quality and delivery risks, adjusting activity within delegated authority and escalating significant variances, competing priorities or proposed resource changes to the Executive Director.
Impact, dissemination and sector contribution
Lead the translation of findings into published papers, implementation tools and resources for practitioners, policymakers and the wider sector.
Prepare high-quality written outputs and provide support and supervision to early career researchers to do the same.
Represent the programme's findings externally, including to national and international audiences working on teacher recruitment, selection and standards.
Communicate and liaise with the teams designing and delivering the programme across both organisations, with school staff, and with other education stakeholders throughout the project life cycle.
Other Responsibilities:
To support with regional delivery at your local campus. This will involve setting up for delivery sessions and welcoming participants/trainees.
To sit on the viva assessment panels for a maximum of three days per year to support the process.
To attend and support the delivery of the annual NIoT Graduation Day
Essential Criteria
A commitment to the aims of the National Institute of Teaching
An interest in the education sector and a belief in the value of teachers and school leaders
Experience of translating agreed research priorities and contractual or partnership requirements into deliverable work plans, delivery processes and dissemination activity within established governance, approval and reporting arrangements.
Experience of constructing or substantially developing a theory of change, and of using it to derive research questions and improvement activity.
Doctoral-level research expertise in social science, education, psychology, research methods or another relevant field, or an equivalent record of leading rigorous research.
Excellent understanding of mixed-methods research, including experimental and quasi-experimental approaches, and the judgement to specify, commission and quality-assure specialist analysis within agreed resources and approval arrangements.
Experience of monitoring and evaluation research and of using findings collaboratively to recommend and evaluate programme improvements.
Experience of leading and line-managing researchers, setting clear priorities, supporting their development and providing academic supervision to early career researchers.
Experience of managing complex research projects, including collaborative projects to tight timelines, with responsibility for allocated budgets, staff capacity and delivery risks, and sound judgement about when to escalate issues or seek approval.
Prior record of publishing high-quality written outputs.
Commitment to upholding high ethical standards and best practices in educational research, including where findings bear on a partner's decisions.
Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills, with the ability to build effective relationships across organisations, explain complex evidence clearly and provide constructive, evidence-based advice to senior stakeholders within agreed decision-making arrangements.
Excellent organisation skills and attention to detail.
Enjoys working collaboratively and flexibly (including in a hybrid working environment) and approaches problem-solving with curiosity.
Desirable Criteria
Proven interest and/or experience in teacher training and professional development, and/or working in or with schools.
Experience with designing and/or conducting randomised or non-randomised experiments in the context of programme design and delivery improvement.
Experience of leading a research programme delivered jointly with one or more partner organisations, including where a partner holds the delivery and the data.
Experience of realist or other theory-based evaluation approaches.
Experience of recruiting and building a research team.
Experience of securing or deploying research funding.
Experience of contributing research evidence to national or international policy development.
Working at the National Institute of Teaching
Contract: Full-time. Temporary until 31 August 2031
Salary: £71,821 per annum plus benefits
Key Benefits:
Flexible & Hybrid working
At least 27 days’ holiday a year (plus 8 bank holidays)
Local Government Pension Scheme
Comprehensive employee benefits including enhanced parental leave
Further Information
The National Institute of Teaching is committed to creating a diverse environment and ensuring that all qualified applicants receive equal consideration for employment. We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment practices and are open to job shares, secondments, part-time, and flexible working schedules.
We think a wide range of different work and educational experiences could support you to be successful in this role. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries, and are committed to employing a team that has diverse skills, experiences and abilities.
Notes:
To ensure a fair and robust selection process, we expect all application responses to be based on your own original thoughts, skills and experience. Our system includes functionality to identify AI-generated content, and applications where responses appear not to be the candidate’s own work may be disregarded.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications.
Candidates must already have the right to work in the UK, as we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.
This post requires a satisfactory enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) with a Children’s Barred List Check and Occupational Health Check is required as a condition of employment .
This document is an overview of the role.
The responsibilities will include but will not be limited to those listed above and it is anticipated that the role will evolve over time and as such the duties may change.
To ensure a fair and robust selection process, we expect all application responses to be based on your own original thoughts, skills and experience. Our system includes functionality to identify AI-generated content, and applications where responses appear not to be the candidate’s own work may be disregarded.
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