Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs)

Dorset is a beautiful and exciting place in which to live and work. Let's start with the Jurassic Coast stretching all the way from Devon to Poole Harbour. After that we hardly need our Hardy Country, the Olympic Sailing Centre in Portland, miles of sandy beaches, Brownsea Island and the many ancient and fascinating hill forts, villages and vales as well! It really is a great place to start your teaching career and enjoy life!

But for all the natural beauty, Dorset also has easy access to the bright lights, shopping and entertainment of Bournemouth, Southampton, Bristol and London. And, of course, it has excellent schools with Dorset pupil performance on most measures putting the authority well into the top 20% for the country. This is an excellent authority in which to launch your teaching career.

Dorset schools

All Dorset schools are comprehensive and co-educational, but sizes and age-ranges differ enormously, from small village first and primary schools, to 9-13 middle schools, and then 11-16, 11-18 and 13-18 secondary schools. The majority of our secondary schools are specialist colleges and a number have Training School status and many other very significant awards for the work they undertake and the success they achieve. Dorset Education is successful and our teaching is good.

Virtually all our schools have their own websites - do look them up when applying for jobs to see how they present themselves and how well they did in their last Ofsted inspection - you will be expected to have carried out this research as a minimum before applying and attending interview and may well be surprised with the high quality of work on view.

Support for Newly Qualified Teachers

For NQTs we offer phase workshops and conferences, most schools also buy into specialist classroom visits during the year to support NQTs in their progress and development, we also provide a detailed  handbook (pdf, 5Mb) (opens in a new window) .

We also offer training and support for school mentors to help ensure that all Dorset newly qualified teachers receive the support and guidance they are entitled to.

The authority works closely with Plymouth University, the Trading & Development Agency (TDA) and South West Initiative for Training (SWIfT) Integrated Masters Programme. This offers NQTs, and indeed all teachers, at no cost, full access to Post Graduate Certificate and Diploma of Education accreditation for work done as part of being a professional teacher. This work is undertaken by many of our teachers entirely within Dorset supported by the excellent on-line university facilities and support from both Plymouth and our own 'closed-access' specialist Initial Teacher Training library (ITT). We are very keen to promote and support the development of an exciting learning ethos throughout Dorset's Children's Workforce.

Finding posts

If you are interested in applying for a Dorset post please download the information and application forms and apply directly to each school for the posts advertised. Most are also advertised in the Times Educational Supplement (TES).

The Dorset teaching vacancies can be found on our job vacancies page (opens in a new window)  page and a full list of all our schools on our Schools database.

The authority does not operate a pool system for NQTs - applicants must apply directly to the school.

Please note that there is a limited amount of key-worker supported housing in the East of the authority - speak to your headteacher when applying.

Initial Teacher Training

For those wishing to enter the profession and train locally, Dorset and its schools are highly committed to the School-Based Initial Teacher Training Routes and runs a TDA-Accredited Designated Recommending Body (DRB), for Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP), Overseas Trained Teacher Programme (OTTP) and Registered Teacher Programme (RTP) places, as well as closely supporting a primary and a secondary School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT). Dorset is a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Pathfinder Authority and is committed to supporting local people into the profession wherever possible.

For information about Initial Teacher Training in Dorset please visit our Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) page.

• Senior Advisor (Teaching & Learning)
  Name: Jackie Broomfield
  Email: j.k.broomfield@dorsetcc.gov.uk
  Tel: 01305 224426
  Fax: 01305 224348
  Full details for Jackie Broomfield
• Dorset Teacher Education Partnership - Assistant Administrator
  Name: Wendy Bradley
  Email: w.bradley@dorsetcc.gov.uk
  Tel: 01305 224203
  Fax: 01305 224348
  Full details for Wendy Bradley