The “On Our Doorstep” event on the 17 March at Stirling Management Centre provided an opportunity for 37 colleagues to reflect on the potential of partners in providing CPD for all teachers from sources which may previously have not been seen as relevant unless working in specialist services.
The presentation from the independent sector outlined their model of CPD and partnership working ; the school library service was profiled as a source of collaborative working in addressing , for example , literacy across the curriculum; psychological services was presented as another viable resource for all teachers , particularly highlighting the source of reference materials available on line ; a CD Rom produced by Social Work Services for We Can & Must Do Better for Looked After Children is full of information and suggestions on how to deal with a range of issues which are not unique to children who are looked after; guidance being finalised by the Allied Health Professionals in partnership with Education rehearses examples of collaborative working in schools which has relevance for all staff.
The information and approaches suggested by the contributors has relevance to all the key agendas impacting on the profession – CfE : GIRFEC & ASL. We would encourage colleagues to explore these avenues which provides teachers with independent access to CPD as well as providing focus for collegiate discussion.
As a result of a discussion in a Dumfries and Galloway Glow group about teacher self-evaluation, I had the pleasure of an invite from Elspeth Penny (CPD manager) to a wee twilight session in Dumfries on the subject of CPD Tools for CfE yesterday.
Colleagues, 25 in total, were based across 2 sites, Lochside Educational Centre and Langholm Academy. The link was made using a videoconferencing technology (PolyCom I think) which is currently being rolled out across many local schools. It seemed to cope remarkably well with a fast-moving Prezi and my singing!
The focus of the CPD sessions was largely on CPDReflect as a Swiss army-knife for PRD but we managed to maraude through CPDFind, Twitter, Teachmeets, CPDShorts and discussion on the types and sources of CPD. Dumfries and Galloway use an online CPD catalogue (CPD Solutions)
It was heartening to arrive and find that all of the colleagues had Glow user IDs which allowed me to eschew my usual “here’s the link to the CPDLinks blogpost”. Instead we were able to build, on the fly, a Glow page which hosts our follow-up activities. The event started with Glow and will continue on Glow as I hope to be able to keep in touch with the impact of the session and offer ongoing support through the Glow site we built.
You will recall that last year in January 2008, the First Minister announced that the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) was to become a “self-regulating, profession-led body.”
Between April and June 2009 the Scottish Government issued a consultation seeking views on the functions and governance arrangements for an independent GTCS. I now attach a link to a document containing both the analysis of the consultation and the official Scottish Government response which indicates the way forward for the GTCS.
The key question in the consultation for us in the CPD world was of course Question 4 which explored the role of the GTCS in relation to CPD. In response to the issues raised, the SG is “not minded to significantly amend the functions of the GTCS to give the Council an overall lead in this area”.
However the GTCS will be asked to take lead responsibility in relation to the development and subsequent management of a system of re-accreditation of teachers. The Government suggests this fits well with GTCS overarching responsibility to ensure that the teaching profession provides the highest possible quality of education for children in Scotland’s schools, and will help embed a culture of ongoing professional development throughout the profession.
The GTCS will set the requirements for entry into the profession, set the standards that all teachers must work to, while taking on a new responsibility for helping teachers ensure their skills remain up to date.
There is more information on re-registration and how it might work in the document.
The CPD Team would love to hear your thoughts on this!
CPDReflect is the online PRD toolkit from LTScotland to help educators reflect on their work. Con Morris challenges you to start looking at this valuable toolkit What does it involve?
1. enrol with CPDReflect
2. have a play
3. add an example from your own area of practice
I spent this morning in the company of colleagues from the Highland Council (mainly Dave McCartney, Terry Kerr (CPD manager) and Louise Jones) looking at the various CPD offerings on the Highland Virtual Learning Centre and highland.gov web sites. We focussed on how national CPD tools can enhance the already forward-thinking, online practice in Highland. Specifically:
a trial of how CPDReflect could be used to exemplify and deepen understanding of the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Framework. This has recently been substantially revised for CfE
how Glow and CPDShorts could be used to bring collegiate CPD to existing excellent awareness raising CPD on the Highland toolkit and framework
how CPDFind could be further used to promote all types of CPD in Highland Council
how the excellent CPD sessions from the recent CfE Showcase could be revisited through regular GlowMeet events over the coming session
I look forward to going back up in December to help take these innovative ideas forward.
I have just had a smashing (not to say privileged) few days visiting the CPD festivals in Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Orkney Islands Council and Highlands Council.
One striking feature of all 3 events was the decreasing reliance on external CPD providers and the increase in local, practitioner-led CPD. For much of the time, I was ‘manning’ a table with a rolling display and sets of the eminently collectable CPD postcards but I also managed to fit in some visits to keynotes and seminars. I had a number of rewarding conversations as a result. Here are just some of them:
I spent this morning with colleagues in South Ayrshire including Fiona Taylor (erstwhile member of the CPD Team) and Alastair Smith. Among many highlights were a discussion on how CPDReflect could be used as a way of supporting the PDR process with colleagues across the whole of Children & Families work in the council.
As a first step, and with some support from the CPD Team, they are hoping to build on a mapping from SAC’s own leadership framework and the Standard for Headship.
Alastair and Fiona also demonstrated the considerable progress made in designing professional communities on Glow that align with CfE and outlined the plans to integrate them into CPD. We finished the formal part of the morning with how CPDFind might be the very tool that helps integrate CPD provision right across the authority. After all this hard work, Fiona kindly treated us to lunch!
CPDReflect, the online toolkit to help educators with the PRD process is here. Con Morris of the National CPD Team will take colleagues through a demo of the toolkit and how it can transform the PRD process and empower individual, and groups of, educators. This will be followed by a QA session and an opportunity to engage in a practical session on CPDReflect.
I was invited by Gillian Brydson to talk to 2 groups of colleagues from Dumfries and Galloway yesterday. In the morning, it was the PRI strategy group who (among other things) are currently reviewing the local PRI process. As always I learned a wee bit (eg their excellent response to an authority-wide online survey using Survey Monkey). It was good to see sharing of practice featured in the CPD network and the influence of the team’s efforts, especially the focus on the Standards.
I demoed CPDReflectand they are keen to adopt with one or more groups. Importantly, the group are also keen to incorporate CPDReflect ‘mentions’ into their PRI guidelines so that it is seen as a clear alternative to the paper process.
In the afternoon, I spoke to secondary CPD coordinators and (among other things) demoed CPDReflect again. One head teacher commented that it was a valuable addition to their PRD toolkit. “It might not suit all but some will take to it”
Next on their agenda, interestingly, was the Child Protection officer who outlined the compulsory Tier 1 ‘training’ on CPD which has to take place every 3 years. It would be interesting to offer online CPD in that area! Any one got some thoughts on that?
If you are visiting from Dumfries and Galloway, you will find the various links on the festival post.
Many thanks to Gillian and her colleagues for their hospitality and opportunity to learn with them.
And the title of this post? We had a laugh that we could rename the review process to the above if we used the innovative feature in CPDReflect?
Blog feed
CPDReflect, the online toolkit to help educators with the PRD process is here. Con Morris of the National CPD Team will take colleagues through a demo of the toolkit and how it can transform the PRD process and empower individual, and groups of, educators. This will be followed by a QA session and an opportunity to engage in a practical session on CPDReflect.
I was invited by Gillian Brydson to talk to 2 groups of colleagues from Dumfries and Galloway yesterday. In the morning, it was the PRI strategy group who (among other things) are currently reviewing the local PRI process. As always I learned a wee bit (eg their excellent response to an authority-wide online survey using 