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The Philippa BlogPut the New Standard for Teachers' Professional Development to Use
New Leadership Network Programmes in the West Midlands to be piloted from January
Route Map Fever
Gathering Steam with SKEIN Momentum
Taking the Next Steps Together with Braidwood Trust School for the Deaf
Philippa Blog
October and November have passed in a whirlwind of conferences and visits to schools.
A great example of a field visit was the intriguing and inspiring day we spent with the 5x5x5 team in Bath, who are supporting ten primary schools to embed Learning Through the Arts in the curriculum as part of Paul Hamlyn’s wonderful Teacher Development Fund which we have the privilege of managing and supporting. Just look at what we all got up to!
Some (almost all on Saturdays) have been full of uplifting energy like:
- The wonderful Canons Teaching School research conference where I offered an opening keynote alongside Keven Bartle from Canons High School and James Richardson from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), in my case on ‘Stepping stones and springboards: the nature and role of research based tools in closing the gap’ (which you can view at www.curee.co.uk/node/4912). Find out more at the hashtag #CanonsPark.
- The Learning First event at Cumbria University (#LearningFirst) on an incredibly cold and beautiful Saturday when I finally got to meet @MaryMyatt face to face in the workshop I led on how evidence helps to build ownership for change. Paul also contributed to a panel session some important thoughts on the role of governors in relation to assessment.
- The first ever ResearchED for FE (#RedFE) with a panel session from FEChat where the quality of discussion was second to none. Paul’s sessions on our RSA possibility thinking paper ‘From Compliance to Coherence - FE as a self-improving system’ (www.curee.co.uk/node/4909 ) and my session on Enhancing Learner success in FE through effective CPDL (www.curee.co.uk/node/4907) also generated lots of tweeting and even more in depth discussion.
But one, focussed on effective education for forced migrant children and young people, was deeply moving and challenging yet also very uplifting. I was as nervous as I have ever been about my own role (facilitating a group of 75 or so colleagues roughly 50% from the Middle East, 25% from Africa and South America and 25% from all over Europe) working in 3 languages over 4 hours - what could I possibly bring other than my willingness to learn with and from new people? But I ended up much wiser and also unexpectedly uplifted.
The event was organised by the world association of teachers’ professional associations Education International (EI) and the Open Society Foundation who both do amazing work supporting teaching, learning and teachers around the world. I encountered the most amazing poem for generating understanding of forced migration (www.seekershub.org/blog/2015/09/home-warsan-shire/) which I have read many times since, often with colleagues and I had the privilege of working with four roundtable groups who were hugely focussed on making a difference. It all took place in the wonderfully named Teachers’ House in Stockholm, an incredibly beautiful building full of art selected by teachers. I had the chance to meet and work with amazing teachers like Natalie Scott (@nataliehscott) who worked as a volunteer teacher in the Jungle in Calais and to whose blogs I am now addicted. You can find them all at www.nataliehscott.wordpress.com.
I won’t try to steal the organisers’ thunder by leaking recommendations, but I will offer one advance peep to give you another flavour of how uplifting all this was. The group working on effective support for further and higher education noticed just how important teachers’ diagnostic assessment is, that it is the thing they do most minutes of every day and that it is the only possible thing that can intelligently shape education experiences for the diverse range of students arriving in the camps and schools from such a wild array of hardship. There are teachers there doing this and doing it very well. It felt very good to meet some of them and also to meet some of their students - and to know that here is an organisation connecting them and thinking about them the world over.
Philippa Cordingley
Put the New Standard for Teachers' Professional Development to Use
To support the recently published new Standard for Teachers' Professional Development, CUREE are proud to announce a series of professional development opportunities deeply rooted in evidence and CUREE’s extensive expertise.
Following on from launch event workshops in the West Midlands and London, these exciting programmes will help colleagues make effective use of the new Standard and further promote its contribution to school improvement.
Increase the Impact of Your CPD on Staff and Pupil Learning
Evaluating Your CPD Programme - Tuesday 7th March, Tuesday 21st March and Tuesday 4th April 2017
How do you know that your CPD offer is having the greatest possible impact on staff and pupil learning?
This programme helps you use the new Standard for Teachers’ Professional Development to plan, support and evaluate the effectiveness of your continuing professional development and learning (CPDL) offer for your colleagues and your pupils.
In particular you will be able to access CUREE’s acclaimed tools for generating naturally occurring evidence for evaluating the impact of CPDL and connecting staff and pupil learning. Find out more and book at www.curee.co.uk/evaluating_your_cpd
Achieving Excellent Schools through Professional Learning
A regional workshop for Trustees and Governors - Wednesday, 8th February 2017
It has been pretty hard for Governors to get a grip on this, as you had no yardstick by which to judge your school’s plans or actions. But this has all changed with the publication this year by the Department of Education of the new Standard for Teacher’s Professional Development.
To help Governors understand the new Standard and to make effective strategic use of its guidance, CUREE are pleased to announce this briefing exclusively for Trustees and Governors. Find out more and book at www.curee.co.uk/governors_standard
Both of these opportunities will be delivered at our offices in Coventry, but can also be tailored to the specific needs of your school or organisation and delivered elsewhere. For more information contact Joe Askew at joe.askew@curee.co.uk or call us on 024 7652 4036
Joe Askew
New Leadership Network Programmes in the West Midlands to be piloted from January
“A personalised coaching programme designed to develop personal awareness and strategies to be an effective leader and to develop resilience...”
This was a fairly typical response when we asked school leaders in the region what kind of development programme would be useful to them. Other important design features were that the content should focus on the real issues facing new leaders and the process should recognise and draw on the existing knowledge and skills of the participants.
These leadership programmes arise from a consultation organised by the Teaching Schools Council West Midlands (TSC/WM) who identified executive heads and deputy heads in acting head positions (often ‘anointed’ rather than ‘appointed’) as leaders in need of some development support.
Part of the innovative regional approach to these programmes is that they are being co-developed with the potential participants through on-line questionnaires and scoping and design workshops.
Key principles in the design will be;
- recognition of the substantial and varied experience of the participants;
- matching content and process to participants’ real needs and the issues they are facing in these roles;
- consistency of content and process with the authoritative evidence of effective practice in professional and leadership development;
- extensive use of peer support/coaching to recognise that the participants are contributors and not just passive recipients; and
- an engaging, motivating and challenging process – generating outputs which support both self and programme evaluation.
These programmes won’t be ‘courses’, they will involve a lot networking and coaching and we expect the design to include opportunities to see and hear about relevant good and interesting practice in schools in the region.
The first pilot versions of the programmes will start at the end of January, will run for about a term and will be free to participants.
If you are interested in knowing more or would like to get involved, contact Paul Crisp at paul.crisp@curee.co.uk
Paul Crisp
Route Map Fever
CUREE’s Research Route Maps have been generating a lot of interest at various events over the last year or so, and in a pleasing coup for sustainability some of that interest has resulted in schools coming to us asking for their own bespoke Route Maps, which thus generate more interest, and so on.
Over the past few months CUREE has been contracted to create custom Research Route Maps for several schools or school networks, including West Lakes Academy and the Holy Rosary TSA in the North West, and has also agreed to produce adapted versions of the Route Map concept for the Education and Training Foundation’s online support for Qualified Teaching and Learning Skills (QTLS) status, and Right To Succeed’s targeted pilot programme in Blackpool. Perhaps the most encouraging thing about this flurry of Route Maps activity is the proof that the concept is both durable and flexible –a custom-designed Research Route Map can help support staff to engage with high quality research evidence via CPDL in a wide variety of contexts and circumstances.
If you’d like to know more about how they could support CPDL in your school, contact bart.crisp@curee.co.uk
Bart Crisp
Gathering Steam with SKEIN Momentum
We’re off to a great start and gathering momentum in a new initiative with our partner organisation ASCL. SKEIN Momentum was launched in the Autumn term and has already attracted interest from a number of schools across the country.
Based on large -scale international evidence about school improvement, SKEIN Momentum provides an expert, evidence based diagnostic and development planning service which gets underneath barriers to progress and gives schools a personalised, practical action plan that they can use to eliminate obstacles, build capacity and accelerate school improvement progression.
SKEIN Momentum gives you;
- capacity for and ownership of progress;
- a personalised profile against recognised benchmarks;
- practical recommendations based on research;
- a concise progress review to help you evolve your plan to increase momentum – together with an optional Leadership Enquiry to help implement your plan; and
- a clear pathway towards providing exceptional learning experiences and results.
For more detail about the background to the service, read Philippa’s recent blog highlighting one of the many interesting findings from the research at www.curee.co.uk/node/3289. A fuller report on the latest phase of the research can be found at www.curee.co.uk/node/3272.
We would be delighted to talk with you about how SKEIN Momentum can make a difference to your school. Simply email joe.askew@curee.co.uk or call on 024 7652 4036.
Gillian Sheail
Taking the Next Steps Together with Braidwood Trust School for the Deaf
We at CUREE were delighted to recently perform a SKEIN Evaluation alongside Braidwood Trust School for the Deaf in Birmingham, who are working hard to support the development of their staff at every level.
We’re proud to be able to continue to support colleagues at Braidwood as they start to move forwards with the recommendations in the report with the help of a CUREE Research Route Map. “The process has really helped us to think more strategically about our CPD provision, not just for teaching colleagues but for those in school-support services too, and the practical recommendations from the report have given us a clear idea of where to go next”.
After attending a tea and taster event in February 2016, Braidwood undertook a SKEIN evaluation of their CPD provision and received a full report in April. As a part of the SKEIN process colleagues from Braidwood took part in an engaging afternoon of interviews and focus group activities, providing their own valuable perspectives on the schools CPD provision alongside a digital survey and analysis of documents from the school.
The comprehensive report detailed practical action points and next steps for the school, and CUREE are looking forward to continue helping Braidwood in pursuing these through an extended Research Route Map around the theme of Challenge. The interactive Route Map resource provides a clear, iterative programme of study around a specific topic supported by curated research materials and resources. Braidwood’s Route Map has already been launched with colleagues from the school, and CUREE are looking forward to continue to support the school in its dedication to exceptional CPD!
SKEIN evaluation is a non-intrusive, independent service that measures your CPD provision against leading international research to identify practical next steps - find out how SKEIN can help you at www.skeinuk.co.uk/skein-for-schools. Research Route Maps are tried and tested tools to help schools access relevant research and evidence informed resources around a range of topics - view our sample Route Map online today at www.curee.co.uk/block-content/route-maps-sample.
Joe Askew