Staff Development: the top priority for gained time this summer

Since starting as a head of department, my main priority each summer has been curriculum review.  By using the time to evaluate and plan for the following year, we’ve been able to make some great improvements to what we teach.  However, this year will be different.

The plans we made last summer did not, due to the impact of Covid-19, get fully implemented.  This means that to a large degree the first rollout of many of those changes will take place in 2021-22 (with a few tweaks to mitigate the impact of this year’s remote learning on student attainment).

Though other priorities (such as Y6 and Y11 transition, and small group interventions) remain, the fact that we do not need as much time for curriculum review means that the time for another priority is available.  In my mind, the most obvious contender is CPD.

Why prioritise CPD this summer?

It’s widely acknowledged that staff development is important to improving the offer for students, given that high-quality teaching is ‘the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils’ (EEF, 2019).  It’s only logical that if developing teaching works to narrow the disadvantaged gap, then it will also be a priority to narrow that so-called ‘gaps’ that have been impacted by Covid-19. Add to this the fact that many secondary teachers will have lost out on meaningful CPD because of TAGs.  Then add the possibility that improving CPD may improve teacher wellbeing and retention (Zucollo and Van den Brande, 2021).  It’s a no-brainer, surely?

However, flexibility and teacher autonomy will still be important if we want the CPD, especially given that the autonomy is an important factor in professionalism (Booth, Perry and Boylan, 2019) and teacher motivation (Teacher Development Trust, 2020).

What will this look like for my department?

For the teachers I lead in my school, we’re taking a two-pronged approach to this.  The first addresses subject-knowledge, by providing teachers with a list of resources that could help with specific topics that we teach (MASSOlit and Litdrive are a great starting point for English teachers, though we’ve also bought in various books over the past few years).  Staff can then use their gained time to access their choice of resources for subject knowledge before sharing this informally in our subject meetings.

The main bulk of the gained time, though, will be dedicated to collaborative CPD.  For this, teachers have the choice of accessing a peer coaching programme, team-teaching or collaborative planning (with the latter two being a possibility for those without gained time, as time is freed up for others to work with them in their existing lessons).

The majority of the department have opted for the peer coaching, which will serve to introduce them to the principles of coaching (an approach which will be a central facet of our CPD offer from September) as well as improving our teaching.  Through this, we’re going to use our gained time to:

• Access CPD sessions on coaching, including practise of coaching skills (Jim Knight’s book on ‘The Impact Cycle’ has proven invaluable for this)
• Observe each other teaching, using the coaching to set goals and give feedback

Through this, I hope to take my department’s CPD in a direction that means teachers get more of a chance to focus on their individual goals and needs, both this summer and in our CPD time next year.  Through this, we can then aim to continue to support our students in overcoming the impact of remote learning and absence that the past 18 months has generated.

References:

Booth J, Perry E and Boylan M (2019) Understanding Teaching as a Profession. Teacher CPD: International trends, opportunities and challenges. P35-41. Available at: https://chartered.college/download-international-teacher-cpd-report/

EEF (2019) The EEF Guide to the Pupil Premium. Available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Publications/Pupil_Premium_Guidance_iPDF.pdf 

Teacher Development Trust (2020) Guidance on Teacher Goal-Setting. Available at: https://tdtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Guidance-on-Teacher-Goal-Setting-1.pdf 

Zucollo and Van den Brande (2021) Why better CPD could be the answer to teacher retention. Available at: https://www.tes.com/news/why-better-cpd-could-be-answer-teacher-retention 

Do we need a dictionary of teacher terms?

Developing and maintaining a shared knowledge of what great teaching looks like (whether it be in an individual school or on a wider level) is often referred to as a priority in educational leadership books/blogs.  On this note, I’m really excited for Mark and Zoe Enser’s upcoming book on the concept of a ‘CPD curriculum’, which is bound to generate thoughtful discussion around the topic.

But, as an English teacher especially, I can’t help but wonder if we are clear enough about the terms that we include within this.  Do we need to work on developing a shared understanding of educational terminology, as well as what these concepts look like in practice?

I know that some colleagues dismiss terms like ‘schemata’ or ‘dual-coding’ as ‘buzz words’.  There are also others who see some educational terminology as off-putting or overly pretentious, especially when it comes to the word ‘pedagogy’.  However, I’d argue that for many (though, admittedly, not all) terms, they can be used as a valuable shorthand to discuss, evaluate and improve teaching.

Those of us who teach (or have studied) A level English language will be familiar with some of these ideas, as linguist John Swales (2011) explains how specialised terminology is used and shared by members of an occupational group to help them achieve shared goals.  That being said, there are some barriers we need to be aware of if we are are to avoid some of these terms becoming meaningless ‘buzz words’ or representative of a meaning that is contradictory.

Potential Problem 1: Lethal Mutations

This issue is summarised well in this Ambition Institute post from Nick Rose, who explains and illustrates how ideas/strategies from educational research can be misinterpreted, leading to them no longer being effective (or even having a negative impact on learning).

These issues can arise from a misunderstanding of the terms we use.  For example, I have worked with a teacher who shared an example of retrieval practice as students completing a quiz at the start of each lesson on previous content by referring to their notes.  Though this does have the benefit of elevating the importance of note-taking, most of us will be aware that retrieval practice happens when knowledge is (correctly or incorrectly) retrieved from memory.  For this reason, it’s unlikely that tasks that allow students to refer to notes will achieve the same benefits of retrieval from memory.

Potential Problem 2: Scary Terminology

As I’ve mentioned before, some teachers can see educational terminology as unnecessary, pretentious or even intimidating.  Though there are some terms that could definitely fit into each of these categories, I’d also argue that some of these reactions are a result of teachers who lack an understanding (or confidence) with their definitions.

I can see how this might then lead to a dismissal of some of these terms (as by dismissing the term, they can also dismiss their own anxieties around it).  I’ve noticed this in particular with terms like ‘metacognition’, where the meaning is often miscommunicated (some refer to it as synonymous with cognitive science overall), leading to an understandable confusion when a teacher encounters contrasting interpretations.  Like before, this can result in teachers not feeling confident in applying some of the findings from this area of study, as the term itself puts them off the idea.

Potential Problem 3: Changes Over Time

Another area English language teachers will be aware of is the common, perhaps even ‘normal’, process of the meanings of words/terms changing over time.  This is easy for us to see in words like ‘literally’ or ‘sick’, though it’s occurred constantly throughout time (‘girl’, for example, was originally used to refer to any child, regardless of gender).

In educational terminology, we know that sometimes meanings/terms can shift over time, usually due to the ways in which the term has been applied.  An example can be seen in the term ‘formative assessment’ (popularised by Black and Wiliam’s ‘Inside the Black Box’), which Wiliam tweeted about in 2013 to say that not calling it ‘responsive teaching’ was a mistake before explaining in 2018 that referring to it as ‘responsive teaching’ wouldn’t have worked, since ‘it would have given many people the idea that it was all about the teacher’s role’.

Where we all sit on the ‘formative assessment vs responsive teaching’ argument aside, it’s clear that we need to be conscious of when and how educational terms shift over time if we are to have a consistent interpretation of our shared vocabulary.

A Possible Solution?

It’s clear to me that the shared understanding of these terms needs to be clear within an organisation if we want to communicate a shared vision to our teams of what great teaching looks like for that specific community.  However, the problems involved make this no small task - linguists will also be aware of the problems with trying to effect language change from a position of authority (‘change from above’ in linguistic circles).

Perhaps, for these reasons, there should be wider consensus on our shared language: is it time for an international ‘glossary of educational terms’?  And, if so, how can we ensure that it overcomes the issues I’ve discussed without the teaching community losing ownership of our shared language?

Back to School (Again): Priorities for Returning to the Classroom

Between reading Peps Mccrea’s brilliant book on motivation and last night’s #EdChat on the pandemic's impact on curriculum, I’ve started to consider what I might need to prioritise when students start to return to the classroom.  Now seems a good a time as any to bring those thoughts together (especially given that next week is likely to be taken up with planning in the wake of the announcements due to come out on Monday).

This blog is mostly to help me crystallise my own thoughts about the return, but I’m hoping that some of my reflections might be useful for others as we plan for this.

Welcome Back!

My first priority is going to be making students feel welcome when they return.  For my own classes, the ‘meet and greet’ that’s part of our daily routines will be key.  I’m also hoping that referring back to some of our shared learning experiences - like me reenacting ‘Macbeth’ with my wig collection and desk figurines - will help with a sense of camaraderie when they are likely to be feeling worried about both being back in school and also the upcoming GCSE/A level assessment processes.

I feel that re-establishing positive relationships will be especially important for those who didn’t engage with all of the learning over lockdown in order to make them feel at ease and motivated to engage with learning going forwards.  I worry about some of these students, as the potential for teachers to berate them for not completing tasks risks losing their engagement going forwards: having a go at them for not completing some essays is not going to encourage them to engage in learning when we return (especially if they had good reason, such as limited internet or helping with the care of younger siblings).

I’m also conscious of how I will help other students to feel welcome.  It’s going to be important for us to be visible around school to greet students and remind them that they are part of a wider community.  This will be especially true for some English classes whose teacher left at February half term.  As well as giving their new teacher an introduction in their live lessons next week, I’m planning on popping by their initial physical lessons too so that they recognise their new teacher as part of the school community too.

Work Over Lockdown: What Have They Retained?

As I mentioned, I still want those who haven’t accessed all of the lockdown work to feel motivated to engage with lessons going forward.  However, it’s going to be just as important that I retrieve and build on the knowledge that we covered in this period for those who did.  What we did was valuable and students need to be aware of that.

For this reason, there’s going to need to be a delicate balance between referring back to that ‘lockdown knowledge’ and subtly scaffolding for those who missed the knowledge (or haven’t retained it, due to the limitations of remote learning and students' specific contexts).

Formative assessment (and the subsequent responsive teaching) will play a big part in this.  I’m really glad that I managed to gather different strategies for assessment whilst keeping 2 metres away from students earlier in the year (the use of mini-whiteboards, as mentioned in this earlier blog, will be vital to help me see what students do and don’t know).  As with the return to schools in September, frequent low-stakes checks of what students do and don’t know will mean that my teaching can be more targeted towards any gaps in knowledge or misconceptions.

Back To Norms

Mccrea’s discussion of social norms in 'Motivated Teaching' really made me evaluate some of my own practice (especially when I consider how I used to react if a large portion of a class hadn’t completed homework).  Re-establishing these social norms will be the lynchpin of a successful return to teaching in the physical classroom.

In terms of behaviour for learning, I’m lucky that I’ll be supported by a school-wide briefing on the first morning back.  We’ve already decided that a significant portion of the first day will be used for all teachers to deliver the same messages to their classes to recap what we do in terms of social distancing/keeping safe and also in terms of what great learning behaviours look like at out school.  Returning to these in my lessons will be important to embed them (both for myself and to support staff across the school), especially in terms of modelling and explicitly teaching these behaviours.

Though behaviour for learning is incredibly important, I’m also very conscious of how I’ll be embedding resilience into my students as part of the process of re-establishing norms.  Many of the students in my Y11 class have struggled with extended writing tasks over lockdown and I’m concerned that this might be due to a lack of resilience and confidence.  For this reason, I want to ensure that I’m doing everything I can to support them so that they feel confident enough to write an extended piece without a detailed structure to follow.

Image credit 

#EdCPDChat Reflections: Independent CPD

It was great to get back into the habit of #EdCPDChat on a Wednesday evening last week and discussing independent CPD seemed apt, given that the current situation has many of us working more independently (due to remote learning).

I was also grateful for this particular topic, as I’d reflected on the impact (and lack of impact) of my own independent CPD last summer (which you can read about in this previous blog post).

Q1: Barriers to independent CPD

@EnserMark mirrored my own concerns from last year at the start of the discussion, stating how ‘reading lots of ideas’ doesn’t always lead to us changing our practice.  In these cases, the extensive reading might not be seen as ‘genuine development’.

@Mr_N_Wood and Mark agreed that time is a barrier in bridging this gap between reading ideas and actual development, with Mark suggesting that reflection time is built into a school’s CPD provision and @DoctorPreece giving ideas of what this could look like (in the form of a coaching culture or reading groups).

Logistics was also seen as a potential barrier by @lcgeography, who has welcomed the growth in remote CPD, as it makes external opportunities more accessible (living and teaching in rural East Yorkshire, I can empathise with this).  Certainly, I’ve found that it’s been useful to access recorded sessions for my own CPD over the past few months (with @researchEdhome and @MyattandCo useful sources for this, alongside the database of online CPD collated by @TeacherDevTrust ’s @KLMorgan_2 - available at this link).  I’ve also found these resources very reasonable in terms of price (most are free); moreover, the quality is excellent- overcoming two additional barriers mentioned by @meredithfox22.

However, the vast amount of CPD available perhaps makes another barrier more problematic: where do we focus our efforts? @EnserMark pointed out that we often ‘don’t know what we don’t know’ and @m_chiles also suggested that knowing where to focus our CPD efforts is a barrier (with both suggesting the value of feedback in finding these out, through external expertise or in-school coaching processes).

Q2: Does remote learning support independent CPD?

@DanHudson84 responded to Q1 with the idea of using recorded online lessons as a self-evaluation tool to help us identify a focus for independent CPD, something that would not be as easy to do in ‘normal’ circumstances.

However, others argued that the current situation makes independent CPD more difficult, as there’s not as much time for this self-evaluation (with @EnserMark arguing that the current  remote learning training for staff is likely to be more ‘procedural’ than ‘developmental’).

@dnleslie also pointed out that we need to bear in mind that CPD after-school will be coming at the end of a long day (certainly more screen time will not be conducive to staff concentration at that point) and @greeborunner highlighted how collaboration over virtual platforms won’t be as ‘natural’, making this crucial element of successful CPD more challenging too.

From my perspective, I also think that whether or not teachers have the ‘head space’ to work on their independent CPD will depend on their personal circumstances.  A teacher who is simultaneously teaching full-time and managing the home learning of their own children might not have the same capacity to reflect on their practice as someone who does not have young children to support.  Leaders need to be mindful of this with any CPD being delivered at the moment (especially given that it can be trickier to support staff wellbeing when many of us are working from home).

Q3: Leading and supporting independent CPD

I thought that @lcgeography ’s point about independent CPD not needing to be done in isolation was important here, as he highlighted that it’s more about staff having ‘agency and choice’.  This chimed with my own experiences,  as my team have benefited more from sessions where they have structured reflection discussions on a chosen focus area than earlier sessions where I just collapsed an entire meeting as ‘independent CPD time’.

In my opinion, though, the best summary of what leaders can do to support independent CPD came from @greeborunner , as she stated that they need to ‘value it, invest in it, model it, recognise it and value it some more.’  @EnserMark followed that excellent advice up with the suggesting that the ‘value’ element is likely to be best supported by leaders having conversations about independent CPD with staff and ‘being human’.  In this sense, we can also get informal feedback on where staff’s interests lie which - in turn - will help us develop a more personalised CPD offer overall.

If you are interested in hosting an #EdCPDChat session, or have any ideas for topics, then please use the link on the @EdCPDChat pinned tweet to submit your ideas.