Emma Wilks, Interim Co-principal, Nishkam High School
But many early career teachers missed out on school placements during the pandemic, and with this the chance to develop the essential practical aspects of their classroom teaching.
What’s more, the increasing prevalence of issues such as pupil anxiety, poor attendance and low-level lesson disruption mean even the most experienced teachers are searching for new techniques to keep students engaged and progressing.
All too often, CPD falls short of what’s really needed, which is much more emphasis on who needs what training and importantly, how it should be delivered.
This is something we’ve been focused on at Nishkam High School in Birmingham, which is part of the Nishkam school trust.
Professional development restyled
Regardless of length of time in the profession, no teacher has ever taught the exact same students they’re teaching today. So, generic training aimed at all teachers may not always achieve the results schools are looking for.
We’ve ditched the emphasis on sage on the stage inset day – where an experienced teacher stands at the front of the room and presents to their colleagues – in favour of a much more targeted approach. One that gives teachers greater autonomy to shape their own professional development and encourages them to play a central role in the direction their training takes.
Shift of focus
We still run whole-school CPD sessions but they are much reduced, representing around 20% of the training we deliver. Large group training is reserved for broad areas such as statutory changes, safeguarding or health related training which is relevant for all teachers.
There are many more smaller group sessions taking place, often focused on specific faculty areas or teachers’ subject specialisms. This training is collaborative and weighted towards sharing best practice, so we might run a session for science teachers where discussions take place around the impact of two different teaching styles on student engagement. Attendees will all teach science and can share their own experiences in the classroom for the benefit of others. It means content is always relevant to the people in the room.
Encouraging collaboration
One of the best ways to understand how to improve your own teaching is to see it in practice. But rarely as a teacher do you get the chance to see a 360 degree view of your entire lesson to spot when a concept did not hit right or a couple of students are losing interest entirely. For that reason, we spoke to our teachers about installing video cameras in some classes.
Although this might sound a little unusual, our teachers are positive about the idea. The system we use from ONVU Learning gives them full control over the recordings – and whether or not they wish to share them with others. They often review the footage with a colleague and chat about how they could better engage their students in a class debate or make the delivery of a mundane topic more exciting.
It’s created an environment where teachers feel supported in working collaboratively and engaging in open, honest discussion of teaching practice, which makes it a really positive experience.
Being able to see what’s actually going on in the classroom from the recording makes the discussion much more valuable too and the learning is more meaningful for teachers as a result.
Lesson observations with a difference
Lesson observations still happen, but in conjunction with the recorded video which gives a much more realistic view of what goes on in the classroom each day.
Senior staff and observers talk through their feedback and the footage provides a visual capture of what went on, which adds to the conversation.
Observers can also look at other lessons the teacher has delivered to see what difference their presence made to the dynamic of the lesson in comparison to when they are not there. This offers a much more authentic picture of the teacher’s performance day to day.
Working together
There is a wealth of expertise that already exists across a school or trust. As budgets are squeezed, designing more targeted CPD that is built on collaboration and partnership is a positive and cost-effective way to galvanise the whole school community in driving change.
Delivering more CPD in-house maximises the time available for training and helps schools and trusts to better support teachers in improving outcomes for their students.
The CST Blog welcomes perspectives from a diverse range of guest contributors. The opinions expressed in blogs are the views of the author(s), and should not be read as CST guidance or CST’s position.
