CPD Team

The Learning Rounds report provides a comprehensive overview of the range of engagement which the CPD Team, Education Scotland has enjoyed with establishments, schools and local authorities. The team is very appreciative of the opportunties to colloborate with colleagues as the model has evolved across a range of settings. We are also very aware that Learning Rounds is featuring in self evaluation and professional development activities across the country and would be delighted if other experiences could be shared on the Learning Rounds Community LINK.

The post in which CPDCentral welcomes its 700th member and launches a free, CPDRequest service!

CPDCentral membership reached the 700 mark yesterday. Our 700^th member is Joe Kane (a thoughtful and innovative faculty head from John Ogilvie High School in South Lanarkshire whom I have also had the pleasure to meet). Among many other things, Joe is interested in harnessing the power of a learning round to continue to embed learning through technology in his school.

To celebrate our 700th, we are offering our 1% CPD service, CPDRequest.

The National CPD Team at Education Scotland will arrange CPD for you on any topic, for free, if you can get 1% of the CPDCentral membership to join you in this topic. Here’s how it works:

• you come up with a topic and its likely impact on learning where you are
• 6 other CPDCentral colleagues join you
• we source an interesting practitioner in your topic area
• we arrange an online CPD opportunity for you (usually a CPDMeet)
• the CPD is made available to all CPDCentral members through our online CPD catalogue

Oh, and for goodness sake, don’t tell a soul. We’ll be snowed under with requests for all this relevant CPD with real impact on learning!

Remember, 7 is the magic number!

Following on from the seminar on the potential of the Learning Rounds in an inter-agency context the team has been engaging with Kersland School in Renfrewshire and Barshare Primary school in East Ayrshire to explore the potential of the model. Kersland is an all through  special school which caters for children  and young people with complex  additional support needs and Barshare Primary has three integrated additional support needs classes. In each situation there is involvement from a range of agencies . In Kersland the Learning Round focus is on the delivery of the school policy on communication and in Barshare on practice in support of inclusion. In both schools the LR observation teams include teachers, support staff, educational psychologists and speech and language therapists.

Initial feedback from colleagues is very positive in terms both of individual CPD and the potential for enhancing collegiate understanding and response to shared “next steps”. The initiatives in both schools will continue for the remainder of the session and the National CPD team will publish a final report on the Learning Rounds on line community on GLOW.

Con Morris from the National CPD Team is part of a the steering group for Scottish  Government’s Technologies for Learning Strategy. This aims to further the use of technology in learning and assessment for the benefit of Scotland’s learners and Scotland’s economic growth.  

Part of the exercise is to find out more about how technologies are already being used for teaching and learning. You can help by completing a quick and easy, anonymous survey.  Your views and opinions will help develop the strategy. 

Please select the link below and remember to complete it by 27 April 2011

Technologies for Learning survey for teachers and practitioners 

A similar questionnaire is being developed for parents and young people.

Please feel free to contact Con directly and/or leave your thoughts on CPDCentral

Margaret Alcorn from the National CPD Team is taking part in a high profile event aimed at teachers from all over the UK is coming to South Lanarkshire.

In partnership with MCMC, the National CPD Team led a national workshop on 19 January to explore the potential of the Learning Rounds approach in the context of multi-agency, collaborative professional development.

The workshop was attended by over 30 colleagues from education , psychological services , social work services , Scotland’s colleges and the independent and voluntary sector. The team is compiling a report which will be circulated to all interested parties . Initial feedback indicates that there is an appetite for the approach as it provides a structure which is inclusive and has immediate relevance to the professional learning  of colleagues who have shared statutory and policy responsibilities for ASL, GIRFEC and MCMC .

The team is working with two local authorities to explore the delivery and impact of the approach and we will keep you informed of progress!

We’ve been working hard to bring a new look to the CPDMeet experience for you! Our commitment to offer at least one CPDMeet per week (of term time) is on track and we kick off the 2011 programme on January 12th with CPDMeet18: Louise Jones of Highland Council on their approach to  e-safety, a subject that no educator can afford to ignore. With a few details to finalise for  CPDMeet 19 which will hopefully take place the following week on Tuesday 18th, the next in the series is CPDMeet 20  on Thursday January 27th , and it will be of interest to many educators. Graeme Logan of the Teacher Education in Scotland Review Group  will lead a discussion on the findings of the review, and we are hoping that many of our colleagues in Teacher Education Institutes will be able to join us on Glow  for this one.

The teacher education theme is continued in CPDMeet 21 with Dr Dan Tierney of Strathclyde University talking about the MLPS experience in Scotland – have we got it right, and inviting interested professionals to discuss and offer their own suggestions as to the way forward for primary languages in Scotland. CPDMeet 22 is slightly different as it will consist of a follow-up discussion from CPDMeet 17,  where Ian Stuart inspired a group of CPDMeeters with his discussion on using wikis for collaborative learning. Ian has set up a wiki in the share area for CPDMeet 17 for attendees to experiment with. CPDMeet23 takes on technology; Brian McLaren, formerly of the Consolarium team takes us through games-based learning on February 24th and the last planned one in this series so far takes a look at interdisciplinary learning in secondary, with Mary Smith of Montrose Academy sharing her experience in CPDMeet24.

The programme will continue and further dates will be posted here and on Glow.  You will notice that the sign-up process has been streamlined: the new design offers one space where you can not only sign -up for the CPDMeet, share any relevant ideas, issues,or  interesting practice and meet other interested CPDMeeters beforehand; you can also make your CPD experience matter afterwards by endorsing it through CPDFind, by setting yourself a follow-up intention , by recording the experience in your CPDReflect, or by finding out more about CPDMeets and the topic for discussion. All of this brought to you cost free, straight to your desktop. Happy Christmas from CPDSanta!

At two recent CPD days with colleagues from a special school and a specialist service, the CPD team had the opportunity to explore an approach to considering the challenges of distributed leadership within the context of multi-partnership working.

The focus of the days was on personal and collegiate reflection on a shared understanding of the meaning and relevance of distributed leadership and the related professional development profile and reponses necessary to ensure that the service priorities are delivered. The implications for PRD were also considered.

The approach and an exemplar of the outcomes of the discussions will be available on CPD Find in early 2011.

As part of the PRD initiative the team has been looking at the 2002 document on Professional Review and Development. It is interesting to note that inspite of the fact that it predates Curriculum for Excellence by a number of years and it doesn’t articulate the importance of PRD and teacher professional learning specifically in relation to Curriculum for Excellence, it remains entirely relevant and valid for today’s purposes.

This is a guest post from Mike Farrell of the Developing Global Citizens Team in LTScotland

A programme of 5 Open Day Study Visits to secondary schools across Scotland is currently being finalised.  These will take place between January and March.  Many practitioners are increasingly becoming aware that the rich contexts and learning approaches associated with global citizenship are a powerful means of engaging with Curriculum for Excellence.  In this initiative, selected schools are offering an open door to senior leaders to share how they have led a whole school approach to global citizenship.  The school visit will be one part of a process of self-evaluation and planning by participants to take forward similar developments in their own context.  It will also be a stimulus for the development of professional learning communities amongst the participants.  For more information please contact m.farrell@ltscotland.org.uk