Public Critique

I really liked this short video clip from John Seely Brown (courtesy Steve Wheeler via Twitter @timbuckteeth John Seely-Brown: Tinkering as a mode of knowledge production http://bit.ly/oJl8er )

It obviously has applications for all kinds of education but it started me (yet again, sorry) thinking about teachers' professional development. Next year, at my school, we will be employing four strands for the in-house programme (effective leadership, effective classrooms, innovation and technology, career development) but they will be arranged so that anyone who wants to mainly follow one strand but dip into others will still be able to. Each strand will be led by two or three leading practitioners and everyone involved will be eligible for accreditation. We will be using our VLE to record group developments.

So how does this link with John Seely Brown's talk? I was really struck by the notion of public critique. In my last post I mentioned how lucky I am to be able to observe many teachers in many areas of the curriculum and to share these ideas. Surely, we can take this a step further by sharing our critiques on the VLE so that, having developed trust within a small group, we can begin to share these ideas together.

I would hope that the trust will build to be whole school and then phew! who knows?

vision activity for CPD

I have been thinking a lot about communicating a shared vision - and also ensuring that ths is not a one way process. I'd be grateful for comments on this CPD idea: first few minutes, work alone and circle the ten things most important in the wordcloud (see below). Then in small groups, dicuss your reasons and come up with a collaborative version on a new copy. Finally feedback to whole group ..

and what words have I left out that should be in it?

Thanks for any help.

more CPD ideas

At our Heads of Department meeting today I asked how we could improve the in house CPD prgramme - the following came up either at or just after the meeting ... please comment
The main point on the school overall SEF that is on my own performance management (hey, I can use this as evidence for that as well) is developing effective classrooms through CPD. Was very grateful for ideas during and after the meeting today - will also get some feedback from the pastoral meeting that was taking place at the same time.

I am wondering if the draft revised CPD timetable could be revised yet again with something like the following:-

1. A subject based conference - probably would have to be just one hour but that might work if we go straight into groups. This would most probably have to be on one of the Thursday sessions (i.e. not a twilight CPD, see below for ideas about that). We could open up to all our partner schools. I don't think there would be much funding for this one - maybe everyone could bring a plate of food! I would suggest that for this we just host it in each department and see who turns up and play it by ear? Any other ideas?
2. Use the twilight CPD session to run workshops which staff sign up for before the event.

Suggestions: Philosphy for Children, Behaviour, Interactive whiteboard for beginners and advanced, Community Cohesion , Using Fronter, Restorative Justice , Teaching Outside Your Subject Area, Using publisher and excel, I would provide simple refreshents for this one from the CPD budget.

3. Leadership Conference for middle and senior leaders, including aspiring leaders and open to partner schools as for number 1 above
Suggestions:

Workshops – delegates select from:  working with partners in Higher Education;  maximising student potential; the importance of CPD; other?


Please, please comment .........

more on CPD essentials

Thanks to coments on last post. I am still trying to put something together. More comments very welcome!

Rationale


• There should be personalisation for teachers as well as for students.

• There should be a seamless progression from Beginning Teacher (PGCE/GTP) to Head teacher.

• All teachers should be exemplar learners.

• Accreditation should be awarded which is transferable to other institutions.

• CPD should be linked to performance management and drive school improvement.

• Interest in research evidence and participation should be encouraged.

• Collaboration between colleagues and networking/partnership between schools and institutions should be encouraged.

Methods

1. Weekly generic sessions are run (many by members of school staff) from which teachers and other staff may select which to attend, referenced to performance management and the school improvement plan.

2. Meetings should also contribute to professional development through sharing good practice and dissemination of ideas.

3. External CPD is bid for and must be related to performance management and improvement plans.

4. Personal one to one coaching is developed through group training sessions and diaries/blogs.

5. Whole staff days and half days are run, many with bought in speakers.

6. Online interaction is encouraged (originally via a wiki, now through the school’s learning platform).

7. Partnerships with other schools enables conferences and cross pollination of ideas and practice.

8. The school provides small bursaries for MA, sports coaching or NVQ qualifications.

Accreditation

1. Chartered London Status.

2. Courses accredited by the College of Teachers (affiliated to the Institute of Education): Reflective Practice in Education and Personalised Learning Exchange. (Certificate of Educational Studies or Diploma of Educational Studies). Qualifications are open to all staff and governors, not just teaching staff. Cost borne by the school.

ICT and eLearning

• This is an area for development although the school demonstrates leading practice in the use of the learning platform compared to other secondary schools within the Local Authority.

• A discussion forum for staff has been started on the school’s learning platform.

The key to CPD in schools

I am trying to put together a very brief "this is what professional development for teachers in schools should look like" document.

This is my starter, please comment:

• There should be personalisation for teachers as well as for students.


• There should be a seamless progression from Beginning Teacher (PGCE/GTP) to Head teacher.

• All teachers should be exemplar learners.

• Accreditation should be awarded which is transferable to other institutions.

• CPD should be linked to performance management and drives school improvement.

• Interest in research evidence and participation should be encouraged.

more thoughts on teacher PD - what's the next step?

Just saw this on Twitter:

@rliberni RT @MZimmer557: Nice!- Have PD like a conference. Offer sessions and allow teachers to attend what meets their needs #edchat
 
It's got me thinking yet again about teacher PD and trying to avoid a one size fits all approach.
 
I think we do quite well, see earlier posts re acreditation, coaching, weekly generic sessions run in-house - mainly by our own staff, but with some external sessions as well.
 
I have tried to get a weekly 'this worked for me' session going too but no luck with that as yet. Maybe I could use the forum facility on our VLE for this and have a weekly edchat type thing there.
 
Now I do like the idea of choice of sessions though and I am going to think how we can organise that. Thanks for that @rliberni  and  @MZimmer557
 
comments welcome

CPD - continuing, collaborative or both?

I recently had quite a long chat on Twitter with @ToughLoveForX (Michael Josefowic from Brooklyn) about CPD. It started with a look at what the 'C' stood for. In the UK, CPD is in fairly common usage for school teachers. In other education sectors, it may be referred to as just PD (professional development). So what does the 'C' stand for? Officially it s 'continuing' as it is about how teachers continue to develop professionally and personally throughout their career. It can be through school based activities, work shadowing, peer observation, coaching/mentoring, externally provided courses, study. I firmly believe that leading PD enables the leader to learn as much as those on the 'receiving end'.

At my school, we run an in-house course accredited by the College of Teachers (www.collegeofteachers.ac.uk) and I am hoping to introduce an accredited coaching scheme this coming academic year. Teachers can also go on external courses but the budget for these is limited. We also have some teachers and other staff who offer their expertise on a CPD directory (for example, drop in my lesson to see how I use multimedia, talk to the bursar about arranging trips) and have a VLE with resource sharing pages and space for staff to post their professional reflections. CPD leaders can use their experiences towards accreditation as well. Newly Qualified Teachers carry out action research which aids school policy development.

Next year, I would like to add podcasting and open up to other schools, around the world if possible, through holiday schools.Michael suggested the 'C' might stand for collaborative - this because he hadn't come across the acronym used in this way before. The more I think about it, the more I like it. How can I get more collaborative activities off the ground?

Michael pointed out some very important factors - teachers need to select what they want to do for CPD, there should be little financial constraint for individual teachers, and sharing of good practice between more experienced and less experienced staff benefits both. I heartily agree.

What do others think?