Teach Secondary 13.3
CLOSE-UP ON… PERFORMANCE REVIEWS DENISE INWOOD ISFOUNDERANDCEOOFBLUESKYEDUCATION–ANONLINEPLATFORMUSEDBYTEACHERS INMORE THAN40COUNTRIESWORLDWIDE,TOENABLETHEMTOSUPPORTTHEIRPROFESSIONALLEARNINGANDOBJECTIVES ANDLINKTHEMTOASCHOOL’SSTRATEGICGOALS; FINDOUTMOREATBLUESKYEDUCATION.CO.UK Schools are rapidly moving away from one-off annual performance reviews linked to data-informed objectives, and towards a much more supportive and developmental approach. This prompts the question – what can be done to give teachers more ownership of their professional development, and become more actively involved in how it’s planned? Maintaining an ongoing dialogue throughout the year between a teacher and an assigned reviewer is one option that will likely result in a positive change to how teachers view their CPD – so how can you get the most out of it? 1 TAILOR CPD TO BOTH TEACHERS AND THE WIDER SCHOOL Teachers should begin by thinking about their existing experience, knowledge and needs. Are there any current or persistent challenges they wish to address? Anything that impacts upon their work on a daily basis? How might overcoming these challenges connect to their longer term career objectives? Teachers should carefully consider how their personal objectives align to whole school plans. Ideally, professional development will connect teachers’ individual professional needs with wider school priorities, making this an important point to raise in discussions with their reviewer. 2 ENSURE OBJECTIVES ARE CLEAR Much has been written on how to set particular development objectives. The acronym ‘SMART’ largely captures the best advice, in that these objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-focussed. In this way, professional development objectives can be presented with greater clarity and clearer success criteria, making them easier to review at a later stage. 3 SET ACHIEVABLE GOALS Good CPD should reflect the different ways in which we grow and develop professionally on a day by day basis. Teachers should set aside time for regular check-ins with their reviewer throughout the year. Break up long-term goals – which can seem daunting – into smaller, more incremental milestones that are achievable and valuable in and of themselves. 4 UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT Teachers should look to capture evidence of their professional learning and reflect on how it has impacted upon their teaching practice. A teacher should regularly review their development objectives and progress towards attaining them – just as they would with a student in their class. Be aware that ‘professional development’ doesn’t necessarily always equate to formal qualifications or external training; it could just as easily involve reading articles, having discussions with colleagues or observing lessons. Prioritise student learning over all other factors (bar health and safety). Eke out every second of every minute of every hour of every lesson to ensure students are learning. Simultaneously, guard against any distractions to the learning process – be it off-task chatting, or indiscreet adults popping by your classroom for one reason or another. If you’re consistent and unrelenting in doing this, you can shape your classroom’s culture and norms. Your unrelenting focus will become the students’ unrelenting focus. Your high expectations will become theirs . Your way of doing things will become co-opted by them . At the same time, they’ll start making rapid progress, resulting in a win-win for both learning and behaviour management. Consequently, your students will buy into you as their teacher, trust you as their teacher and feel contained by you as their teacher. That doesn’t mean you can’t also have a bit of fun, a joke, a laugh. All of that is fine, but never at the expense of the learning – only ever as an aid to it. Robin Launder is a behaviour management consultant and speaker; find more tips in his weekly Better Behaviour online course – for more details, visit behaviourbuddy.co.uk DO THIS PRIORITISE LEARNING 76 teachwire.net/secondary
Made with FlippingBook
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTgwNDE2