CPD: the road ahead...
I have spent the last term working on a CPD structure that aims to deliver 3 things to the staff in my school. I want it to enable staff to continuously develop and improve their own practice. I want it to enable staff to be developed so that they are ready to take on leadership opportunities. Finally I want it to allow staff with an interest in academic study and research based practice to have the opportunity to explore this. More than this though I want staff to feel like they own the structure and within in, find ways in which they can be invested in, feel developed and feel valued.
The first part of the creation of this system was interviewing all the teachers in my school about their thoughts on professional development. It was an interesting and, in some cases, an enlightening opportunity. One of things that is found most disappointing was the number of teachers who are full time teachers in the classroom but felt like they should apologise for this, that their desire to teach rather than take on TLR responsibilities was something that they should not be proud of and it made me really reflect on the status of professional development. For many people, professional development happens to those who want more, who desire promotion and those who enjoy teaching, are happy teaching and do not seek promotion often feel as though they have a lower status and are less invested in. This is something that I felt was important to challenge. Many of these teachers are our best teachers, our most experienced teachers and people who we could all learn a lot from. The first route through my CPD model is therefore focused purely on learning and teaching and features different ways in which people can develop their practice, with teachers taking the lead (if they wish) in facilitating teaching inquiry groups and taking responsibility to mentoring and training newer teachers (if they wish) but most importantly having their expertise recognised and appreciated.
The second part of the CPD programme is about developing leadership. In both my current school and my previous school, there are a number of talented people who have ambitions to become school leaders at varying levels. My own experience was that I secured jobs and then figured out how to be ready for them but at every point in my career I had people willing to champion me and take a chance on me and willing to invest the time in me that I needed to be successful in a particular role. My concern at the moment is that people do not seem willing/have the time to champion people and get them ready for the next step. There seems to be a missing link – we are not investing the time that we should in brilliant middle leaders with potential, often closing the door to those deemed ‘not ready’ and failing to provide what they need in order to be ready. The second strand of my model therefore is all about development pathways. In the initial draft, I had planned a pathway for those aspiring to leadership as curriculum or pastoral leads and a key part of this process involves shadowing the role to see what it truly involves. There are the normal NPQML/SL/H routes that people often include but it seemed like what was missing was the crucial bridge between middle leadership and senior leadership which is so hard for people to make the jump between. The move from middle leadership to assistant Headteacher is intensely competitive and rigorous (in most schools) as it should be but I am keen to enable people to have the opportunity to understand how to be successful in securing the next step, empowering them to feel confident to move beyond their current context and learn to recognise how their current experiences have prepared them for the role or to evaluate where they need broader experiences to be ready for the opportunity. I think, I hope, I believe, that if done right, this could be quite a powerful developmental opportunity and one that will support staff and give them access to the all important ‘champion’ that they need to be successful.
The final element is about masters study and trying to find ways to enable staff who are interested to engage with academic and research. There are two obvious barriers to this interest – time and money. One route that I am currently exploring is the accreditation of existing CPD work so teachers don’t have to do things twice, the second is how in a world of falling budgets we can support people to study at masters level financially. I don’t have all the answers yet but I feel it is important to make a start.
There may be some gaps in the structure and I haven’t developed a parallel support staff model yet which is a failing on my part but I am keen to do something well rather than attempting everything badly. I am excited about it and look forward to launching it with staff later this month. I just hope they like it and feel it reflects the feedback they gave me.
The first part of the creation of this system was interviewing all the teachers in my school about their thoughts on professional development. It was an interesting and, in some cases, an enlightening opportunity. One of things that is found most disappointing was the number of teachers who are full time teachers in the classroom but felt like they should apologise for this, that their desire to teach rather than take on TLR responsibilities was something that they should not be proud of and it made me really reflect on the status of professional development. For many people, professional development happens to those who want more, who desire promotion and those who enjoy teaching, are happy teaching and do not seek promotion often feel as though they have a lower status and are less invested in. This is something that I felt was important to challenge. Many of these teachers are our best teachers, our most experienced teachers and people who we could all learn a lot from. The first route through my CPD model is therefore focused purely on learning and teaching and features different ways in which people can develop their practice, with teachers taking the lead (if they wish) in facilitating teaching inquiry groups and taking responsibility to mentoring and training newer teachers (if they wish) but most importantly having their expertise recognised and appreciated.
The second part of the CPD programme is about developing leadership. In both my current school and my previous school, there are a number of talented people who have ambitions to become school leaders at varying levels. My own experience was that I secured jobs and then figured out how to be ready for them but at every point in my career I had people willing to champion me and take a chance on me and willing to invest the time in me that I needed to be successful in a particular role. My concern at the moment is that people do not seem willing/have the time to champion people and get them ready for the next step. There seems to be a missing link – we are not investing the time that we should in brilliant middle leaders with potential, often closing the door to those deemed ‘not ready’ and failing to provide what they need in order to be ready. The second strand of my model therefore is all about development pathways. In the initial draft, I had planned a pathway for those aspiring to leadership as curriculum or pastoral leads and a key part of this process involves shadowing the role to see what it truly involves. There are the normal NPQML/SL/H routes that people often include but it seemed like what was missing was the crucial bridge between middle leadership and senior leadership which is so hard for people to make the jump between. The move from middle leadership to assistant Headteacher is intensely competitive and rigorous (in most schools) as it should be but I am keen to enable people to have the opportunity to understand how to be successful in securing the next step, empowering them to feel confident to move beyond their current context and learn to recognise how their current experiences have prepared them for the role or to evaluate where they need broader experiences to be ready for the opportunity. I think, I hope, I believe, that if done right, this could be quite a powerful developmental opportunity and one that will support staff and give them access to the all important ‘champion’ that they need to be successful.
The final element is about masters study and trying to find ways to enable staff who are interested to engage with academic and research. There are two obvious barriers to this interest – time and money. One route that I am currently exploring is the accreditation of existing CPD work so teachers don’t have to do things twice, the second is how in a world of falling budgets we can support people to study at masters level financially. I don’t have all the answers yet but I feel it is important to make a start.
There may be some gaps in the structure and I haven’t developed a parallel support staff model yet which is a failing on my part but I am keen to do something well rather than attempting everything badly. I am excited about it and look forward to launching it with staff later this month. I just hope they like it and feel it reflects the feedback they gave me.
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