You can view a position paper on the GTCS website along with the consultation which will run from Wednesday 1 February to Wednesday 7 March 2012. The scheme is a direct consequence of the implementation of Teaching Scotland’s Future.
The key purposes of a system of Professional Update for teachers are defined as follows:
To maintain and improve the quality of our teachers and to enhance the impact that they have on pupils’ learning
To support, maintain and enhance teachers’ continued professionalism, and the reputation of the teaching profession.
The results of this consultation will have a big say in the future of PRD, the way we evidence impact of CPD on learning and the nature of the online profile (also a TSF recommendation), please get involved!
Lots of you will remember the funding that Scottish Government provided to every local authority in 2006/2007 to support a range of coaching and mentoring projects. Given the renewed interest in this topic, as discussed at the recent CPD Network meeting, I thought it might be helpful to remind you of the outcomes from this piece of work. Below you will find the final report which contains a large number of case studies reflecting the wide range of activity that was supported by this funding.
Recently a few members of the CPD team visited the Teacher Development Agency in Birmingham. We were invited by John Westwell who heads up one of the Directorates in the TDA following a visit he and colleagues made to Edinburgh earlier in the year. We were keen to learn more about the work of the agency, and to explore any potential for shared activity or learning. A fuller report of what we learned will follow later, but we were particularly interested in the National Framework for Mentoring and Coaching which was first published by CUREE (Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education) in 2005, as part of the DfES’s CPD strategy. The Framework offers some principles of mentoring and coaching, some core concepts, describes skills for coaching and mentoring and offers a “non-prescriptive” comparison between coaching and mentoring.
I am aware that there is a lot of interest in coaching and mentoring in relation to CPD, and there are some useful articles and case studies on this site. Well worth a read!
As a result of our work with local authorites on PRD processes and procedures, we’ve been giving a lot of thought to the potential of PRD as not only a mechanism for professional development, but also a lever for system change. This diagram is intended to reflect some of our thinking on the issue.
The PRD meeting feeds out of, and back into, the professional learning continuum, which is made up of all the elements you can see along the bottom. It starts with self-evaluation based on any of the themes in the middle of the cycle,then moves into a coaching conversation, which results in a CPD plan which then feeds back into the professional learning continuum. Intervening coaching conversations support progress along the learning continuum, and lead into the next cycle.
As a model, this is aspirational, certainly. But is it useful? Is it worth aspiring to?
Welcome to the January 2011 CPDNews from the National CPD Team
Teaching Scotland’s Future
The Donaldson Review of Teacher Education
We are delighted to welcome this excellent, comprehensive report which offers fifty recommendations intended to develop the capacity of all teachers to deliver better learning outcomes for children and young people. Many of these recommendations, which address all aspects of CPD and leadership development, and which we have summarised here, are very relevant to the work of the team and the Network. Graham Donaldson offers the following key points on the review’s home page:
The highest priority must be given, at all levels, to strengthening both teacher quality and leadership in Scotland’s schools.
Selection for initial teacher education should be thorough, broad and rigorous and carried out in assessment centres.
A minimum level for literacy and numeracy should be agreed and tested at entry to teacher education courses; and student teachers should be expected subsequently to develop their skills to a high level.
All teachers should be skilled in supporting the development of literacy and numeracy skills in their pupils and in overcoming barriers to learning such as dyslexia.
The BEd degree should be replaced by degrees that combine academic study beyond education with professional studies.
Teacher education should be seen as a career-long process, with much closer working amongst schools, universities, local authorities and national organisations.
The professional development of experienced teachers should be guided by a new set of standards developed by GTCS.
Further high-quality, part-time routes to teaching should be developed.
A greater range of teachers’ professional development should be accredited with Master’s-level credits built into ITE qualifications and a Master’s account opened for each teacher.
More rigorous procedures should be established to assure the quality at all stages of teacher education.
Leadership skills should be developed right from the start of a teacher’s career and better pathways created towards headship.
The recommendations offer a clear agenda for future action for all of us who have a professional interest in teacher development, and we look forward to beginning the discussion on this together at the next Network meeting.
To support the work of the Teaching Scotland’s Future review team, HMIE were asked to produce an analysis of all aspects of CPD. They scrutinised documentation, and interviewed Continuous Professional Development (CPD) coordinators, probationer teachers and teachers in their second year of teaching. You can read their report here.
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SCOTTISH EDUCATION QUALITY AND IMPROVEMENT AGENCY (SEQIA)
As you know, this new organisation will initially bring together HMIE, LTS and some parts of the Scottish Government. It will aim to improve the efficiency of all the national bodies supporting education, and so it seems evident that it will offer a logical place to drive forward the work of the CPD Team and to ensure a coherent response to the challenges in the Donaldson Review.
We have had some early discussions as to how this might work, and there are lots of exciting opportunities emerging from these discussions. We will be sure to keep colleagues informed as the way ahead becomes clearer.
PRD News
Professional Review and Development
The online ‘Survey Monkey’ questionnaire on colleagues’ experiences of PRD has now been completed by well over 1300 schools staff representing 10 authorities. The surveys from 8 of these have been anaylsed in detail and an overview of the results is included in the Phase 1 Report of the PRD initiative can be found in the i-share area of the PRDShare online community
You will notice that the reported levels of satisfaction with the PRD process in our survey are much higher than as reported in Teaching Scotland’s Future. We are fairly sure that this is because those who have shown their interest and commitment to PRD by responding to our questionnaire, though giving valuable insights into their experience of PRD, are not a typical cross section. The finding in the review of teacher education that fewer than 50% of teachers regard the arrangements for PRD as ‘effective’ (42%) or ‘Very effective’ (10%) in identifying priorities for CPD, is almost certainly a more reliable statistic. Hence the importance of working together to make this process more meaningful for all.
The team has now begun a series of meetings with the authorities involved to discuss next steps. By asking authorities to focus their efforts on a particular, manageable, aspect of PRD, we hope to be able to collate and share insights and gain a deeper understanding of what we need to do to make PRD a valuable experience for all school staff.
We are building up a PRD Bank of Wisdom; illustrative examples of interesting goings on in PRD. Please get in touch if you have anything to share – we’d love to hear from you!
LEADERSHIP
The Network Leadership Advisory Group is scheduled to meet again to consider a Framework for Educational Leaders which is referred to in the Commentary from ‘CPD Educational Leadership Survey’ (2010). This framework is a redraft of ‘CPD for Educational Leaders’ (2003) and focuses on a continuum of professional development from early leadership onwards. Included as important features of the framework are the professional actions of leaders and the essential elements of vision, values & aims, knowledge and interpersonal skills. Over the next few weeks we will be seeking the views of a number of focus groups and will be in position to report on progress at the CPD Managers Network meeting in March.
DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP
The team is continuing its engagement with two local authorities to explore the nature of distributed leadership in specialist settings. The approach will be offered as a CPD opportunity in CPD Find.
FLEXIBLE ROUTE to HEADSHIP
We are currently planning the next cohort for FRH with coach role training at end of March and full engagement at end May with participants as aspiring headteachers. 13 local authorities are engaged with the current cohort 2010-12. Recently we have collated evidence to show the success of the programme which includes FRH graduates now in post as headteacher and we will be sharing this information with authorities across Scotland. Of interest is evidence of the building of coaching capacity within authorities engaged in FRH. Also of interest is the reference in the Donaldson Report to further development of flexible routes to headship.
HEADTEACHER’S CPD �
The CPD Team is already addressing another theme referred to in Donaldson, that of providing CPD opportunities for headteachers from the middle years of headship onwards. We expect to run with a pilot programme beginning Feb/March. The principles of this model of CPD are based on those of FRH and include critical self evaluation against the Standard for Headship, professional learning planning, coaching and impact on learing at both personal and school level. For further details contact jim.keegans@cosla.gov.uk�
LEARNING ROUNDS
The team is now considering with one local authority evidence of impact in relation to pupil gain following Learning Rounds Activity. Any consideration of this theme by other authorities whose schools are engaging in Learning Rounds would be very welcome. Please contact margareto @cosla.gov.uk
We are also exploring the potential of the model as a collaborative CPD activity with partner agencies – particularly in light of shared responsibilities in relation to ASL and GIRFEC. A seminar on 19 January attended by colleagues from education, social work services, Scotland’s Colleges , specialist services , psychological services, EIS, Scottish Government and the independent sector considered the opportunities and challenges which a multi – agency Learning Round presents.
The day was very positively received and a seminar report will be disseminated to all interested parties. Again if you would like a copy of the report please contact margareto@cosla.gov.uk The team will be piloting the approach with a local authority over the next few months. Again the outcomes will be shared with network colleagues.
The New Look CPDCentral is here!
Only one week into the new-look CPDCentral and we’re getting busy already. Find out more on the blog post “What is CPDCentral?”
To find out if you are already a member of CPDCentral, have a look at the list of colleagues here. If your face doesn’t appear, then follow this link http://bit.ly/cpdhello
“Recommendation 40 – Online CPD should be part of the blended, tailored approach to CPD for all teachers”
Coming up on CPDCentral
• look for more colleagues joining as the real publicity starts this weekend
• CPDMeet20 on Thursday 27th January at 4pm. Graeme Logan from the Donaldson Review team is going to lead a discussion on the findings. Sign up here.
• Cabinet Secretary, Mike Russell, is hosting a discussion online on the CPD needs of colleagues not fully employed, Wed 26th at 5.30pm. More on CPDFind and /or sign-up here
• work begins on the affiliation programme for CPDCentral. This will let you host your own CPD communities / opportunities but take advantage of the CPDCentral collegiate features
Changes to CPDFind
The national database of CPD, CPDFind is also changing. Graham Wilson and his gang of gurus at LTScotland are busy working on a version of CPDFind which will better reflect the way educators in Scotland access CPD. The deadline for these changes is end of March 2011. Here are a summary of the changes:
• local authority CPD managers will be able to publish opportunities only to their own colleagues
• local authority CPD managers will be able to identify and approve their own local CPD sources / providers
• establishment CPD coordinators will be able to do the same at establishment level
• simplified publishing of CPD opportunities
• the endorsement system currently operating will become an impact evaluation system with the option to endorse. Yes, you read that correctly!
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.
Despite a wild and windy day in North Ayrshire , Jim Keegans and I enjoyed a very warm sesssion with primary head teacher colleagues on the 28 October. At the invitation of Gary Johnstone , QIM we shared some thinking and prompted discussion on the appropriateness of a coaching approach to support the PRD process. Colleagues were very participative and the reflections and observations which emanated from the group activities and discussions provided very interesting feedback for the authority and enhanced our own thinking on these topical themes .
The National CPD Team in partnership with colleagues from Peel Primary and Irvine Royal Academy led a “full house” session at this year’s Scottish Learning Festival on the real life world of Learning Rounds. Margaret Orr gave an overview of the principles and purpose of Learning Rounds but the key inputs came from Lorraine and Kenny at Peel Primary and Stirling from Irvine Royal Academy with their schools’ stories.
Their inputs which can be viewed on link were very positively received and prompted a question and answer session . It was clear that attendees valued the insight from colleagues who had “walked the talk”.
The video footage will also be featured on the Learning Rounds Community of Practice site which will be launched in the near future. If you are engaged in Learning Rounds or considering it for the future your involvement in the CoP would be very welcome.
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GTC Scotland has launched a consultation on a proposed scheme for Professional Update.