Leadership

The Effects Of High-Quality Professional Development On Teachers And Students

This new report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI), commissioned by Wellcome, undertakes a detailed review of the evidence on the impact of teacher professional development. The study examines 53 randomised controlled trials evaluating teacher development programmes, in order to establish their impact on pupil and teacher outcomes.

Teacher professional development is a promising approach to improving teaching quality and pupil outcomes. Evidence on effective teacher professional development is not yet conclusive, but the recent increase in rigorous evaluations of professional development interventions invites fresh analysis.

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      string(2074) "to ensure they meet their desired goals. Then when the efficacy of interventions is established such interventions can be subsequently rolled out more widely within and across schools.Finally, on the right hand side of the model is the changes in learning behaviours and cultures we would expect to see as a result of teachers engaging in our approach. In particular our approach is designed to foster critical knowledge-centred professionals who are able to analyse data, critique and apply research to problems of practice. It aims to develop teachers who can work through learning networks to seek out and offer collaborative support; who are contributing to a school, school alliance or school trust knowledge base, as well as sharing their learning more widely through contributions to conferences and professional journals. Above all, we have designed our approach to ensure that teachers are able to develop approaches to teaching and learning that they can critically assess and refine. Correspondingly, over time, this means teachers will develop a growing repertoire of effective practices that they can draw on in order to respond effectively in any teaching and learning situation.Professional learning on-line through PDTTo bring this model to life and to enable you to use it in a meaningful way, we will be developing a comprehensive set of on-line professional development units for teachers. Video based and provided in manageable chunks of seven minutes in duration, our approach to professional development centres on how you can engage in learning that supports and is supported by creativity, authenticity and solidarity; that is cyclical and iterative, that is evidence-informed, logically driven and impactful; and that results in both new ways of thinking and acting to improve teaching and learning.We hope you find our manifesto for change as exciting as we do and we look forward to progressing on this journey with you in future issue of Professional Development Today."
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Professional Development

Professional Development Today: a manifesto for change

18 Apr 2018

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      string(3440) "department, it was evident that many of uswould need training to enable us to use them effectively.At the time over half the colleagues in the departmenthad identified the need to extend their knowledge and useof interactive whiteboards as an important target whichlinked to whole school targets for improvement in theuse and implementation of ICT across the curriculum.Through lesson observations it became clear which staffhad the greatest level of expertise in this area. We hadPolicy andpractice15……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………recently been joined by two highly enthusiastic teacherswho had some knowledge and practice in the use ofthe interactive whiteboard. They agreed to share theirexpertise and help provide training for the benefit ofother colleagues. They were also keen to extend their ownknowledge and skills further through working togetherto provide departmental inset. They were motivated inaddition by having the opportunity to take forward adepartmental initiative thus giving them both valuableleadership experience.Their first planned activity was to teach two lessonsto be observed by other colleagues in the department,during which they demonstrated various ways in whichthe interactive whiteboards could be used. Secondly, theyused the departmental CPD inset day to show colleagueshow to put together a PowerPoint presentation and togive us all a topic linked to a specific year group whichwe worked on during the rest of the session applyingour new skills. Not only did we gain valuable training inhow to put a presentation together, we also finished thesession with seven different PowerPoint presentationswhich were put in our departmental shared area forus all to use. Subsequent lesson observations clearlydemonstrated that these CPD activities helped staffto achieve their target to use the whiteboards more inlessons. This also impacted on students’ enjoyment oflessons as evident in student feedback.■■■ Positive gainsAs teachers we are often reluctant to share our ideas. Oneof the greatest benefits to my own teaching has been theaccumulation of ideas gained from lesson observations.With this in mind we set up a series of peer observationsin the department. As this was going to be the firstoccasion that some of us had been observed by anothercolleague within the department we decided that thiswas to be done on an informal basis. We agreed at ournext meeting that we would report one activity whichwe felt had been particularly effective or innovative. Atthe end of the period of observations, in our meeting slotunder the heading of CPD, we each shared one teachingstrategy or game we had observed new to us whichwe agreed to incorporate into the planning of futurelessons. Follow up lesson observations demonstratedindisputably that across the department as a team wewere deploying a far wider range of lesson activities toengage our students. Once again the feedback fromstudents was extremely favourable.Jayn WittDirector of MFLMillais SchoolCase Study taken from The CPD Co-ordinator’s Toolkit bySue Kelly published by Sage Publications 2006."
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Professional Development in Peril!

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Professional Development

Professional development - some thoughts on what works

15 Dec 2010

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      string(1994) "the needs and challenges of schoolimprovement now and for the future.Many of the lessons that the SBM has learntthrough their own professional development canbe personalised, extended and transferred for thebenefit of support staff colleagues. If the workforceis large and/or complex enough, establishing a middleleader structure can enhance the effectiveness of thewhole staffing structure as middle leaders can gainthe expertise and specialised knowledge to developtargeted and relevant CPD for their teams. Through,for example, the National College, TDA and NASBMprofessional development programmes, the SBM willhave the opportunity to learn skills and expertise todevelop this middle leader team which will enrich thewhole school leadership structure as it moves forwardto meet the 21st Century challenges ahead of it.■■■ In conclusionIt was Heraclitus’ view of the world in around 500 BCthat change is central to the universe and we shouldcelebrate this constant flux around us. More thantwo millennia later, our schools and young people arefacing a world of such change and unpredictabilitythat leaders can lose sight of the many reasons forcelebration.Like anything, school systems have to evolve if theyare to take on the challenges posed by life in the 21stCentury, and it is important for us to remember tocelebrate the opportunities that these changes bring.School business managers have plenty to celebrate astheir profession evolves and develops to embrace themany opportunities that different models and systemsof school leadership present. It is hard to imagine howleadership across clusters of schools, whether set in aformal arrangement or not, can be viable without theinclusion of a professionally developed and informedschool business leader working at a strategic level. Itis up to school business managers, therefore, to seize,embrace and celebrate these exciting opportunitiesand look with optimism to the future of 21st CenturySchools."
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Professional Development

Professional development for the School Business Manager

22 Jul 2010