CPD Team

I had an excellent discussion this week with Catriona Oates of Scottish CILT. Like many others, Catriona is looking at how national organisations (such as SCILT) can add value to the culture of teacher-led CPD which is proving so valuable. We discussed a lot of examples such as the various TeachMeets and the recent Flashmeet about which Catriona kindly blogged. One of our conclusions was the need to facilitate online communities on Glow to ignite discussion topics and sharing of practice. Our conclusions?

• renewed determination to find, or be facilitators, for Glow groups such as CPDLead and SCILT
• use CPDShorts to focus on some key areas for debate / professional learning
• use CPDFind to bring colleagues to both of these things
• The MFLE community in Scotland (through LTScotland online service) was a leading and early success story for Scotland in the area of online CPD. Time to relight the fire?

Earlier this year, the National CPD Team suggested two associate projects to help build professional communities on Glow. Matthew Boyle has kindly agreed to work on a reflective practitioners’ community on Glow. Matthew is the CPD manager for Argyll and Bute and is a long-time member of the national CPD network and is well-respected for his breadth of knowledge in this area.

The cudgel for the second project, breathing life into CPDCentral (the main CPD community on Glow), has been taken up by Neil Winton. Neil is a principal teacher at Perth Academy and is a weel-kent figure on the web.

Neil and Matthew hope to post their initial thoughts on their respective challenges soon.

This is a guest post from Katie Barrowman of the Glow team

For all teachers interested in using Graphic Novels with their classes, there’s the chance to join an exciting CPD event via Glow Meet!

Dedicated academic Dr Mel Gibson recently wrote the Learning and Teaching Scotland resource Graphic Novels in the Classroom. Join this enthusiastic author for an inspiring hour of what comics and graphic novels can do for young people.

She is appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Thursday the 20th of August at 17:00, with her talk entitled Visual Literacy, Learning & Graphic Novels. If you can’t make it along to the festival, you can hear Dr.Gibson’s talk live on Glow Meet, and there will be the chance to ask questions.

Go to the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Glow Group for all the details on how to join in, and if you want to whet your appetite, check out the brilliant graphic novel resource, created by Dr. Gibson for LTS.

CPD for Faculty Leaders

Please find attached a paper summarising research by Lynne Robertson of the Teacher Capacity Team into the impact of faculty structures on the capacity for curricular change, in particular the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.

Lynne interviewed Faculty Leaders in 14 different authorities in order to gain insight into their views on what they believe is appropriate CPD for their role.

STEC 2009 Conference Website, Westpark Centre, Dundee. I hope you will visit the STEC 2009 conference website at http://www.gtcs.org.uk/About_GTCS/STECConference2009/STEC-speaker-presentations.aspx
where you will find the National Framework for Inclusion Document and Poster, the seminar presentations and summaries of the Round table discussions. There’s also a video of Sir Jackie Stewart talking about his school experiences and the impact that his dyslexia had on his early learning

Irene Ross, Learning and Teaching Officer in Moray, is at the forefront of supporting teachers to develop their questioning techniques. She is passionate about the benefits of the process and has supplied the following Shirley Clarke quote which sums up her thinking:

‘Studies about teacher questioning over the years have revealed that teachers mainly ask recall or social and managerial questions. These are, of course, the easier questions to ask, but have not challenged our children so that their understanding is furthered and deepened.

Although improving teacher questions is a continual and difficult process, it is an area of formative assessment which can result in relatively rapid, positive change in the classroom.’

( Shirley Clarke, 2005)

The attached document explores the questions that can be used to promote higher order thinking and was devised by a group of Learning and Teaching Officers in Moray as part of a policy document on Higher Order Thinking.

questioning-to-promote-higher-order-thinking1.doc

Leadership of Learning is a key theme of the Learning Rounds programme and the following is a good text if you want to read more about the issue:

What We Know About School Leadership. Nottingham: NCSL

This report presents an overview of what is known about school leadership, drawing together commissioned research and evaluations NCSL has undertaken, the outcomes of practitioner enquiries, seminars and think tanks, as well as literature reviews and work outside England and education. A key feature of the report is that school leaders should ‘generate and sustain discussion about Learning & Teaching’ (p.20).
It can be accessed on http://www.ncsl.org.uk/media-3e7-55-what-we-know-about-school-leadership.pdf.

The Scottish Education Awards 2009 were launched on Tuesday 18 November 2008 by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop MSP, at Shawlands Academy in Glasgow, winner of the BTScotland Greener Schools Award 2008.
The Awards highlight best practice in Scottish classrooms, celebrate schools and acknowledge the dedicated individuals who devote their lives to helping young people fulfil their potential. Entry to the Awards is open to all publicly funded schools, including secondary, primary, nursery and special schools.
Further details of the Awards and the categories can be found on the Scottish Education Awards website
Nominations are open until Friday 27 February 2009.

This is a guest post from a good friend of the CPD Team, Jean MacMillan from Determined to Succeed

Dear Colleagues

We are delighted to tell you that the Partnership with Employers website is now live.

The web site taps into a rich seam of video clips and resources related to and supporting work on employer engagement and entrepreneurialism. The site has been designed to allow teachers and others, working collaboratively or on their own and at a time and place of their own choosing, to explore a number of resources associated with employer engagement and entrepreneurialism.

The materials can be used to develop and enhance teachers’ understanding of the concept of partnership, the videos show the exciting and innovative teaching and learning that is going on across the curriculum in Scottish schools.  The resource should provide inspiration and the tools to support teachers across all sectors in the  development of  effective partnerships with employers,

Our aim is to keep the website fresh by adding new video clips and resources over the next few months.  You can also access the entire suite of training materials that are currently being used in the National Training Programme

Please disseminate this information as widely as possible, with only a few clicks we could reach thousands of colleagues across Scotland.

Thanks

Jean MacMillan

This post was contributed by Elizabeth Johnston of South Morningside Primary School in Edinburgh

Continuing Professional Development in schools is largely regarded as authority or management driven. Whilst working to attain Chartered Teacher status, I became confident about disseminating the expertise my colleagues and I had to offer our school as practitioners, focussing on concrete classroom applications. A ‘Reflective Practitioners’ Club’ makes this practice accessible and empowering for new as well as experienced teachers, and places it in an educational framework that encourages teachers to work collaboratively. It was agreed that this club would not have members of management, who by their presence, can, perhaps unintentionally, alter the group dynamic, inhibit proceedings, or intimidate would-be presenters! The minutes, however, are always presented to the Head Teacher to keep him informed. I have to mention here that our HT is more than happy to see this kind of ‘bottom up’ development work.

I have chaired the ‘RPC’ since it began in August 2004. Currently, we number around 10 interested teachers who meet every 6 weeks or so. We hold discussions on courses we have attended, educational research, and current approaches and strategies, in order to further the progress of our pupils. One of our members, who could not attend all the meetings, contributed the fortnightly Times Educational Supplements where interesting articles came under ‘any other business’ for discussion at our meetings. We have also carried out some ‘peer monitoring’ to enhance, develop or indeed, change our practice. We devised a simple form to provide written feedback.

Our members take part in presentations and workshops, both as leaders and/or participants. No member is ever expected to deliver a topic formally, but everyone is recognized as having some expertise that can be shared informally. Two other schools expressed interest in developing their own club and have subsequently been invited to attend.

Our meetings offer opportunities for group support and collaboration. Therefore, the only ‘rule’ is a belief system that is not written down, but is expressed in the words and actions of the people in the system.

RPC members feel better equipped with the skills and understanding needed to bring out the best in us, our pupils and our community. We have cultivated a personal and professional respect and are very supportive of each other.

Collegiality at this level brings much goodwill and enhanced practice that can never be budgeted for!