Teach-Secondary-14.1

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sally Newton is secondary partnership manager at the Tommy Flowers SCITT provider of primary and secondary PGCE and apprenticeship courses into their own practice. CPD shouldn’t be seen in isolation, as a sequence of ‘one and done’ training sessions that all staff are required to attend before moving on. By its very nature, CPD is continued and ongoing, and could therefore entail not just facilitator-led sessions, but also observations of expert practitioners, co-planning opportunities with colleagues within and beyond department areas and meetings with line managers. There may be scope for coaches or mentors to discuss colleagues’ progress in relation to specific individual or whole school CPD targets, or for junior staff to shadowmore experienced colleagues to see their expertise in action, and hopefully identify their own next steps for improvement. The ‘know it / do it’ gap Closely linked to issues of time restraint and stress is the ‘know it / do it’ gap. We might know that implementing a ‘thinking hard’ element within each lesson we teach is a good idea; we may agree with the training we’ve undertaken, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll return to our classroom and suddenly upend all of our resources and materials overnight. We might know that something is an excellent idea, but not really know how to employ it within our own practice. Some of the most effective CPD sessions I’ve attended would give attendees a ‘takeaways’ pack of resources that we could quickly and easily adapt for use in our own lessons. That’s why, when I now deliver my own CPD sessions to colleagues, I’ll usually share what I call ‘Examples of Excellence’ – exemplar materials and shared format documents that teachers can readily adapt for their own lessons and learners. One instance of this that comes to mind was a guided reading document I saw being shared by a history trainee. Questions were carefully constructed around each paragraph, so that key information was easy for pupils to identify and extraneous cognitive load was reduced. This document went on to be widely shared with other trainees across a variety of departments, with the format retained, but the content changed to suit different subjects and the reading content required for each lesson. The Goldilocks effect Getting CPD ‘just right’ for everyone in the room is often challenging for school leaders when faced with a staff body who might range from a Year 1 ECT to someone who’s been teaching for over 20 years. Capturing the interest of that keen and eager ECT – who’ll be desperate to absorb all the training and apply everything – while retaining the attention of that old hand who’s heard it all before (and may view ‘adaptive teaching’ as little more than a rebranded ‘differentiation’) is a daunting task, but it can be done. Before introducing any new whole school initiatives, undertake a staff survey in order to gauge the differing levels of confidence and need with respect to specific training. Getting that buy-in is everything – if teachers feel that they’re involved in the decision-making process, it can greatly increase their general levels of engagement. School leaders can also offer expert teachers the chance to involve themselves in the delivery of CPD, rather than have them passively sit throughmore of the ‘same old, same old’. Why not offer staff some degree of choice as to what CPD they wish to undertake? The options available can still relate to the same thread – such as ‘ Increasing students’ ability to think hard ’ – but there could be different sessions or activities to attend, thus ensuring everyone gets to access opportunities that will offer themmeaningful and lasting development. A growing number of school leaders are now undertaking the overhauled National Professional Qualifications in a range of areas, including ‘Leading Teaching’ and ‘Leading Teacher Development’. This, combined with the continuing drive for research-informed practice, has resulted in the barriers to effective CPD being widely discussed, and attempts at overcoming them. For me, ensuring that staff are involved in CPD decision- making processes, and can take ownership of the opportunities available and how to embed themwithin their practice, is the most crucial element for success. 33 teachwire.net/secondary C P D TEACH SECONDARY SPECIAL CPD