Advancing teaching and learning: capitalising on professional development

scameron — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:02:18 +0000

To continually improve on teaching and learning, you need to ensure your staff are equipped and skilled at delivering the latest initiatives. This means they need regular and ongoing professional development opportunities so that their practice continues to advance to the next level.

How to deliver CPD on promoting e-safety for pupils

scameron — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:54:13 +0000

Every school feels a responsibility to its pupils and their parents regarding e-safety. This training session offers practical tips and advice on helping pupils keep themselves safe online and gives suggestions on how staff and parents can promote good practice

Rationale

Experience suggests that:

Professional development: creating a bespoke programme

scameron — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:14:40 +0000

The role of gifted and talented coordinator in English primary schools is complex; it involves the development of the school's G&T policy and the responsibility for managing the school's register of G&T children. Importantly, however, it is a leadership position in which the G&T coordinator plays a central role in developing colleagues' practice (Campbell et al 2004; Clark and Callow 1998).

Developing outstanding leaders for challenging schools

scameron — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:09:42 +0000

In January 2006, Lord Adonis, then under-secretary of state at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, invited representatives from the National College, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and the children's charity Absolute Return for Kids to visit New York to examine a new charity - aptly called New Leaders for New Schools - set up to find and accelerate suitable candidates for headship.

Finding the time: the challenge of CPD in SEAL

scameron — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:08:55 +0000

The adoption of a whole-school approach to developing social and emotional learning (such as the SEAL programme) has major implications for schools and the professional development of the adults who work within them. For the first time, all teachers within a school (not just ‘specialists') are being expected to deliver some form of SEAL curriculum.

Delivering professional development on questioning techniques

scameron — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:10:04 +0100

Most teachers will have discovered the importance of questioning in their classrooms and probably been introduced to Bloom's Taxonomy as part of their teacher training or subsequent Inset. This training session translates that into practical tips and advice on using questioning to secure pupil progress and dispels the myth that only higher-level questioning is worth using in the classroom.

Rationale

Research indicates that:

Developing partnerships with parents

scameron — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:31:09 +0100

Studies carried out over the last 10 years have demonstrated the benefits of supporting parents to be fully involved in their young children's learning and ensuring that the influence of the home learning environment is ‘enduring, pervasive and direct' (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003).

Last-minute Ofsted training

scameron — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:06:59 +0100

This is a CPD training session I hope you do not have to use soon. When Ofsted calls, however, you won't have time to plan a training session, so this plan can be picked off the shelf ready to use. It may seem that nearby schools are being regularly picked off by Ofsted, and every Friday morning you are awaiting the phone call. Maybe you have no idea when you will be inspected.

Writing your own policies

scameron — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:15:45 +0100

Policies in early years settings are there to guide the actions which practitioners need to take to fulfil the vision and aims of the setting and to act as a point of reference against which decisions can be made. Developing a wide range of policies in an early years setting will help to:

How to deliver CPD on tackling off-task behaviour in lesson

scameron — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:35:23 +0100

When teachers are asked what makes the biggest day-to-day difference in improving students' progress the answer is rarely better resources, smaller classes or more frequent lessons. More often it is getting pupils to stay focused and on-task.

The government’s plans for future developments in CPD

scameron — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:28:08 +0100

‘Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.’
Aristotle

Is your school’s CPD in tune with new policy?

scameron — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:54:35 +0100

‘People are easily led. The more you feed them baby food, the more they want it. I’m trying to encourage people to start growing up, walking on two feet – thinking for themselves… I don’t have answers, I have questions.’
Terry Gilliam

How creative is your school’s professional learning?

scameron — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:48:16 +0100

‘Creativeness is the ability to see relationships where none exist.’
Thomas Disch

How many times do you hear people saying ‘I’m not creative’? Where does such a thought come from? While it’s shocking to hear a child say something like that, hearing adults express that view is bordering on the tragic!

The future for professional learning

scameron — Mon, 10 May 2010 11:22:20 +0100

‘We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.’
George Bernard Shaw

Creating support systems to promote staff well-being

scameron — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:20:23 +0100

During recent years, schools have rightly focused upon the development of social and emotional aspects of learning, and as a result there has been a significant increase in the focus on pupil well-being. When quoting from the Office of National Statistics (2000), Young Minds, a charity committed to improving young people’s mental health and well-being, noted that more than 10% of 5-15 year olds are affected by mental health problems.

Getting the best out of your early years team

scameron — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:52:33 +0100

In Early Years Update eBulletin December 2009 , we looked at the make-up of teams and the different roles people play as team members. As the leader of an early years team you have a vital role to play in coordinating these different roles, and using the skills and abilities of individual team members effectively.

Child protection training: new staff and support staff

scameron — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:13:44 +0100

The matter of child protection training during staff induction can be easy to overlook. The recruitment process can be time-consuming and it is easy for senior leadership members to hand over the new recruit to another member of staff without following up the next stage in their appointment. These difficulties can be even more acute with supply staff. The pressures of the school day can leave them isolated and without the most basic guidance they need.

A quick roundup of the main political parties’ school manifesto points

scameron — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:58:34 +0100

With the 2010 general election looming, if you want to know more about what the main political parties want to do with education should they get the chance, this information sheet excavates the relevant sections of their manifestos for an at-a-glance guide.

Good CPD according to Ofsted

scameron — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:51:50 +0100

Accountability breeds response-ability.
Stephen R Covey

In this CPD Update we dissect the report to get to the heart of what we need to know about CPD in schools.

Leadership and professional learning

scameron — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:12:20 +0100

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
Eric Hoffer

Educational visits coordinators – what you’ve asked to know

scameron — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:40:05 +0100

I have been amazed at the number of emails I have received from SBMs regarding the previous issue, ‘Being an effective educational visits coordinator’, so I would like to expand on the role of the EVC and share with all of you the information that SBMs have requested. First of all I would like to remind EVCs that the LA has overall responsibility for health and safety on all outdoor visits; this is a responsibility that cannot be devolved but elements can be delegated to individual establishments, ie schools.

Charging for school visits

Taking the lead in professional development to support SEN

scameron — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:53:39 +0000

Leading development and supporting colleagues
In this issue we focus on the important part of a SENCO’s role: leading, developing and supporting colleagues in their approaches to pupils with SEN. We have touched on this in previous issues this term as it’s such an integral part of your work, so now we offer a self-evaluation tool for you to use in considering your effectiveness.

How to evaluate the impact of CPD

scameron — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:00:32 +0000

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.
CS Lewis

Impact evaluation – starting points

Great CPD is an all-important element of a successful career in education, but access to learning opportunities shouldn’t be left to chance. With effective impact evaluation of CPD, you can help to encourage more of what is shown to work so that time and energy isn’t wasted on trivial pursuits.

Staff training in child protection

scameron — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:42:47 +0000

There has never been a greater need for training in child protection. With Lord Laming’s report The Protection of Children in England (2009) came a heightened awareness of the importance of ensuring that staff in all areas of children’s services know how to recognise abuse and what to do when it happens.

Personalised learning for all staff in schools

scameron — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:24:38 +0000

Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.
Confucius

Ensuring support staff are included in CPD

scameron — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:37:41 +0000

Limited resources balanced against numerous needs may mean that difficult decisions have to be made around spending for professional learning. But that shouldn’t affect the degree to which access to new learning is deemed to be fair across all types of staff in your school.

‘When I was a young coach I used to say, 'treat everybody alike'. That’s bull. Treat everybody fairly.’
Bear Bryant

How to be a reflective early years practitioner

scameron — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:03:57 +0000

The quality of provision in any early years settings is dependent on the skills, attitudes, knowledge and experience of everyone who works there. Reflective practice is the key to quality improvement as it helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different aspects of a setting’s provision.

Is your school committed to lifelong learning?

scameron — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:43:46 +0000

Change is the end result of all real learning.
Leo Buscaglia

There’s a state of mind – an attitude – that is essential if schools are to maximise the professional learning that can happen on a day-to-day basis. But is it right to assume that this attitude is automatically in place or should we work to nurture it? This week we explore all this and more…

Does your school’s professional learning help to enhance its SEN provision?

scameron — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:27:32 +0000

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.
Robert Collier

With Happy Days’ Henry Winkler fronting a new DCSF campaign focused on improving attitudes towards children with SEN, now is a great time to explore the ways in which all professional learning in your school feeds into enhanced SEN provision. This week’s CPD Update helps you to do just that…

Ensure the CPD in your school equips teachers to meet the decade ahead

scameron — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:55:54 +0000

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and the learner are located in the same individual.
Arthur Koestler

A new term, a new year and a new decade! What will the next 10 years have in store for the young people we teach? If we can’t answer that question with any certainty, how can we plan appropriate professional learning? This and more gets our focus this week.

National training for new SENCOs: what will it cover?

scameron — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:13:06 +0000

Happy New Year to you!

Any New Year resolutions? Apart from the less eating/drinking-and-more-exercise type of intentions, you may be thinking of some professional goals this term. The roll-out of national training for new SENCOs began last September, with some providers just getting going this month, so we thought it might be timely to put you in the picture about what the training will cover. Over the coming term, we will help you to audit and update your own professional standards, whether you’ve been a SENCO for two years or 22 years.

Reviewing what professional skills have been learned this term

scameron — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:39:26 +0000

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.
Henry L Doherty

Time to pause and reflect is essential for our effectiveness, and the end of the Autumn term is a great time to take that all-important step back. This week, we explore how to make the most of this exercise in looking for learning so that the new term kicks off with purpose.

Freeing up time for professional learning

scameron — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:52:47 +0000

Time is like money; the less we have of it to spare, the further we make it go.
Josh Billings

Poverty of time is such a common complaint of teachers and other school staff that it has become synonymous with working in education. But is that a healthy attitude to expose children and young people to, and does it really need to be that way?

Sustainable CPD: 5th Annual CPD Update Conference

scameron — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:06:06 +0000

The aim of life is self-development. To realise one’s nature perfectly – that is what each of us is here for.
Oscar Wilde

Hot ideas for sustainable CPD
The conference heard from a wide range of speakers on all the top issues of the moment in the world of professional learning in schools today. Here is a selection of wisdom which was shared on the day to inspire you over the months to come…

Putting community cohesion at the heart of CPD

scameron — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:26:35 +0000

The first duty of a human being is to assume the right functional relationship to society – more briefly, to find your real job, and to do it.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Community cohesion is big news. It’s talked about endlessly in corridors of power, actively pursued in local authorities and actually happening in schools across the country. Ofsted is particularly interested in the ways in which we interpret and promote it, too. Such is its importance that it really has to have a high priority in our plans for professional learning.

Keeping a professional learning journal

scameron — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:58:42 +0100

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Confucius

One of the most effective ways of boosting the professional learning that staff undertake in your school is through encouraging the use of professional learning journals. Far from being simple descriptive documents, these journals about reflection, change and development can do more for self-esteem and self-worth than just about any other development tool.

Induction of NQTs

scameron — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:42:20 +0100

Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
E E Cummings

The induction of newly qualified teachers remains one of the most important tasks a school can undertake regarding the professional learning of its staff.

A new look for Ofsted inspection

scameron — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:11:37 +0100

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.
Buckminster Fuller

What will the National College's remit changes mean for CPD in schools?

scameron — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:53:46 +0100

Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.
Doris Lessing

The National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services has a new remit, not to mention a new name. Formerly called the National College for School Leadership, the institution’s name has been changed to reflect an extension of its work to include directors of children’s services (although it will still be known as the ‘National College’).

Placing wellbeing at the heart of CPD

scameron — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:20:29 +0100

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
From Beannacht by John O’Donohue

Spotlight on the CPD coordinator’s role

scameron — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:57:08 +0100

Between stimulus and response is the freedom to choose.
Viktor Frankl

Whether you have taken on the role of CPD coordinator for the first time this term or are an old hand at the job, it’s well worth taking a moment to reflect on what you are hoping to achieve, what you consider to be the key focus of the role and how you can be the kind of facilitator who will lead learning in all the right directions. This issue helps you through those reflections and offers ideas for enriching your role and improving outcomes.

Introducing the new teachers' code of conduct and practice

scameron — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:45:23 +0100

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
Leonard Cohen, Anthem

The Child Protection and Safeguarding Handbook for Schools

scameron — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:26:29 +0100

Please click here for latest information and to order this book

Children need to be safeguarded and sometimes, as we know from the tragic deaths reported recently, need to be protected from any form of harm that threatens them. The job of safeguarding children cannot be left solely to parents or carers. In today’s society all other adults in contact with a child or young person need to share responsibility for their wellbeing also.

Continuing Professional Development

What makes CPD sparkle?

CPD: what's on offer for your TAs

CPD for RE: what works best?

The changing role of the deputy head

Coaching the teachers

Starting points 2: How can I meet differing learning needs in the classroom?

Making CPD count: a trainer and adviser's perspective