Mosaic by Penrose Education is a Corporate Member and long-standing partner of NASBTT with its online platform for ITTE bridging the gap between school and centre-based learning. In a wide-ranging interview, we spoke to Mosaic Co-founder Rob Caudwell about how the partnership has developed, the nature of the NASBTT collaboration today, and the benefits for both organisations and NASBTT members.
How did Mosaic’s relationship with NASBTT come about?
“It began through Ashton on Mersey SCITT. They recognised the value Mosaic could bring and were the first organisation to adopt it to support their SCITT programme. While we were onboarding them and getting everything set up, they suggested we should speak to NASBTT. As a NASBTT member themselves, they had clearly benefited from the support NASBTT provided and felt there could be real value in us building a relationship. At the time, we were a brand-new organisation, keen to listen to our first customer, but without fully appreciating how significant that introduction would turn out to be. Looking back now, it’s clear just how important that moment was. That early nudge led to a relationship that has played a key role in Mosaic’s growth and development. We are genuinely grateful to Ashton on Mersey SCITT not only for being our first customer, but for making that introduction at such a formative stage in our journey. It was a pivotal moment for Mosaic, even if we didn’t fully realise it at the time.”
So, did NASBTT help to move you in a particular direction?
“Yes, I think that’s fair to say. We were very clear from the outset that we were focused on teacher education, and so we recognised a strong alignment in purpose with NASBTT. What we hadn’t really anticipated, though, was that NASBTT would be interested in speaking to us. We had expected to be engaging primarily with SCITTs, universities, and people directly involved in delivering teacher education. I think we assumed we might need to grow a bit and become more established before reaching out to NASBTT. In reality, having that introduction at an early stage turned out to be incredibly helpful. From those first conversations, we found Emma Hollis in particular, and the NASBTT team more generally, to be extremely supportive and encouraging during our development. We received some genuinely valuable advice and support, and it quickly felt much more like a partnership than we had expected. We were able to be open about what we were doing, what we had already achieved, what we were excited about, but also where we felt we still needed help or were still finding our way. Overall, the relationship was far more collaborative than we had anticipated, and it was a brilliant introduction at the right moment. We’re very grateful for it.”
What is the nature of the partnership you have built with NASBTT?
“It has developed over a number of phases and has been genuinely formative for us. From the outset, it has felt less like a transactional relationship and more like a constructive partnership rooted in dialogue, trust, and shared purpose. Initially, our engagement with NASBTT was about sense-checking. At that point, Mosaic was in its early stages. We had an initial offer that we were proud of and that was beginning to be used by SCITT and university providers, but we were also aware that we had ambitious plans for how the platform could grow and better support the ITE sector. We wanted informed, external perspectives on both what we had built and where we were planning on taking our product. With Emma’s support, NASBTT helped convene a small working group of SCITT directors from across the network. This group was deliberately diverse, representing different sizes, contexts, and types of SCITT provision. Over the course of several meetings, we shared our thinking, tested ideas, listened to challenge, and iterated in response. Crucially, these were not existing customers, which made the feedback especially valuable and credible. That process was an important moment for us. It established a way of working that has shaped how we continue to develop Mosaic: building technology in genuine partnership with SCITTs and universities from across the sector. NASBTT played a crucial role in enabling that by making introductions and opening up some initial conversations that would have been far harder for us to access at that early stage.”
Have there been other practical opportunities?
“Yes, absolutely. Early on in our relationship, we began sponsoring the NASBTT conference. That was a strategic move for us, both to raise awareness of our work and to engage with the sector we serve. The conference has consistently been a brilliant platform – not just for marketing, but also for professional development. It gives our team the chance to hear the same messages as others in the sector and to stay connected with the latest thinking in ITTE. It’s an event we make a point of attending (whether online or in-person) every year because it’s genuinely valuable. We also offer NASBTT members a 25% discount. This is not something we do lightly, but the relationship we’ve built with NASBTT absolutely justifies the generosity of the discount. We also have regular opportunities to communicate with NASBTT members through newsletters and emails, which helps us maintain visibility and stay connected over the year. Throughout, we have been very conscious of transparency and integrity. We are a commercial organisation, but we also have organisational values that we take very seriously, and we have seen the mutual benefits of partnership working. To make authentic partnerships possible we have always been explicit about when conversations are consultative and when they are commercial. That clarity has helped build trust on both sides.”
What is it you value most about working with NASBTT?
“On a personal level, I’ve really valued my relationship with Emma. There have been multiple occasions where we’ve exchanged advice, explored ideas, or collaborated on projects that aren’t transactional at all. Sometimes she’s sought my input, sometimes I’ve sought hers – it’s a genuine collegial partnership, and that aspect of our relationship has been really important over time. NASBTT, and Emma in particular, bring a deep understanding of teacher education and fulfil a real and crucial advocacy role for the sector. That expertise has been invaluable – we’ve often turned to them to sense-check new ideas or explore potential projects. There have been many times over the years where we’ve discussed initiatives, and those conversations have helped shape our approach. More broadly, our relationship with NASBTT reflects our wider approach to the sector. Our mission is to support teacher education and help create a motivated, well-equipped teaching workforce. To do that effectively, we need authentic, long-term relationships with the organisations and people who share that goal.”
Finally, how do you reflect on the impact of NASBTT membership and partnership?
“One clear example that comes to mind is the development of what is now Mosaic for Appropriate Bodies. A couple of years ago, Emma approached us with the idea and that suggestion sparked a collaboration that has grown into a core part of what we offer today. Another example is our work with the Chorus initiative. Just over a year ago, we approached Emma during the early idea stage, exploring how to deliver a research-focused project effectively. Her immediate support and continued involvement on our Advisory Board has been invaluable. The data we hope to generate is intended to benefit the wider sector, including NASBTT, providers, and educators, which reflects the kind of long-term, mutually beneficial relationships that NASBTT membership encourages. We now work with 60 providers across the UK – from small SCITTs to large universities – and even have early engagement internationally, including in Australia and Canada. About a quarter of student teachers in England have a Mosaic account, and we anticipate that growing to roughly a third by this time next year. These numbers reflect not just the reach of our work but also the ways NASBTT partnership has helped us scale thoughtfully and effectively.”