February 2012 Issue 143

Managing your school staff’s Continuing Professional Development

Exciting news about your subscription – see page 3

3 Important news about improvements to your subscription

4 Practical tips Training middle leaders to recruit successfully

6 Portfolio of professional development An audit tool to identify the most appropriate forms of CPD

9 Professional update Twitter: CPD for the 21st century

11 Viewpoints The end of the TDA

11 Viewpoints Collaboration is the way forward

12 Five ways to... Support mental health in schools

What can be done to strengthen ICT in schools?Specified minimum levels of CPD in computing are vital if the government’s plans to overhaul the ICT curriculum are to bear fruit, says the Royal Society. In the wake of January’s announcement from the DfE that the current ICT curriculum was to be scrapped and replaced with far more rigorous computing courses, an RS report notes that teaching in this area is dogged by a lack of specialist teachers and poor support for high-quality CPD.

Speaking at the BETT conference in London in January, Education Secretary Michael Gove announced plans to overhaul the current teaching of information technology. While promising to focus on training teachers, he insisted the government’s role should not be prescriptive, but would ‘encourage’ teachers to learn from each other, based on the teaching schools model of ‘sharing excellence’ to help all schools drive up standards.

He said: ‘High-performing academy chains will also play a huge role in spreading existing best practice and innovation between schools.’

Mr Gove remained sketchy on the detail of the government’s role and possible funding of the plans, saying: ‘Teaching schools across the country are already forming networks to help other schools develop and improve their use of technology. The Department for Education is going to provide dedicated funding to teaching schools to support this work.’

Too few specialistsIn its timely report, Shut Down or Restart? The Way Forward for Computing in UK Schools, the RS said too few teachers possessed the necessary specialist knowledge, with just 35% of ICT teachers being specialists, against, for example, 74% of maths, 76% of history, 80% of English, and 88% of biology teachers. It also said the lack of a clear divide between

ICT skills and computing science was a cause for concern.

A s w e l l a s r e c o m m e n d i n g t h e government set targets for numbers of computer science and information technology specialist teachers, with training bursaries to attract suitably qualified graduates, the RS said teachers’ skills should be developed with a specified minimum level of re levant CPD, particularly in computer science. It added the government ‘should seek support from business and industry to make that provision, and should ensure that the provision is well coordinated and deepens subject knowledge and subject-specific pedagogy’.

Significant factorProfessor Steve Furber, fellow of the Royal Society and chair of the report, said: ‘The most significant factor affecting how well young people learn is the teacher in their classroom. The majority of teachers are specialists, but ICT is an exception to the rule. Our study found some fantastic examples of teaching, but the fact remains that the majority of teachers are not specialists and we heard from young people that they often knew more than the teacher giving the lesson. Action is needed not only on the curriculum itself, but also to recruit and train many more inspiring teachers to reinvigorate pupils’ enthusiasm for computing.’

Noting that associated costs and ‘rarely cover’ policy were the main obstacles to teachers taking up CPD opportunities, the RS report said a national initiative to promote the importance of CPD for ICT/computing teachers would help develop a healthier culture towards professional development.

Shut Down or Restart? The Way Forward for Computing in UK Schools can be accessed via http://bit.ly/zIqWvN

A unique collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company and the University of Warwick has led to the creation of an online professional development programme for teachers of Shakespeare.

As well as a wide range of resources including films, podcasts and interviews with leading actors, directors and academics, Teaching Shakespeare offers two routes to gain an accredited qualification. A postgraduate course includes formal assessment and leads to a Postgraduate Award in the Teaching of Shakespeare. Teachers following the graduate-level programme can achieve an MA in the Advanced Teaching of Shakespeare.

Teachers can register for the awards from April and the first set of courses and resources will be available in October 2012.

For more details visit www.teachingshakespeare.ac.uk

Online resources for Shakespeare teachers

February 20122

NPQH: no longer mandatory but assessments will be more stringentThe mandatory status of the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) is to be dropped in a radical overhaul that will also allow private c o m p a n i e s , s c h o o l s , a c a d e m i e s , universities and charities to offer the qualification.

The current mandatory status of the NPQH is expected to be lifted in early 2012 to give schools in the maintained sector greater choice when they are recruiting heads. With the change in status also comes a tougher entry bar, more demanding content and a much sharper focus on the key skills required by heads to achieve higher standards for pupils – from the leadership of teaching and learning to the management of behaviour and teacher performance.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: ‘We deeply regret the move to make this qualification non-mandatory at a time when this country has never had such great need for highly trained school leaders. In this new context it is essential that this qualification continues to be coveted by appointment panels so that it

remains the qualification of choice and continues to be relevant for all school leaders in all types of schools.’

The new NPQH will have more stringent entry and final graduation assessments and, in a move away from the current personalised programme, trainees will s tudy three compulsory modules developed using Master’s-level criteria, plus two elective ones, drawn from a range designed to suit their development needs and career aspirations.

B e h a v i o u r w i l l b e g i v e n m o r e prominence across all the essential modules and there will be a stronger focus on performance management and how effective heads manage capability, sickness and disciplinary issues with hands-on experience in their own schools and through shadowing in placement schools.

Trainee heads will spend double the amount of time in another school on placements and at the end of the programme al l candidates wil l be interviewed by a panel including a serving head to determine whether they are ready for headship. Modules will be designed at

Master’s-level and participants will be able to use NPQH toward CATS points.

E x e c u t i v e h e a d t e a c h e r A n n e McCormick, of Queens Park Academy in Bedford, said: ‘The revised programme builds on the success of previous models, particularly the focus on an extended school placement. As the head of a placement school I know first hand how valuable this is to the aspirant head and, indeed, to the host school. It is real evidence of “leader to leader” support and development. At this time of significant change in the system the review of NPQH has been extremely timely and I am sure the profession will recognise it as a valuable and essential element of preparation for headship.’

Dr Peter Kent, headteacher of Lawrence Sherriff School in Rugby, said: ‘As well as developing skills in strategic thinking, the new NPQH also offers a practical grounding in the day-to-day skills needed by school leaders. In particular it focuses on how to set high expectations for others and on ways to respond if their performance is below acceptable standards.’

news

Nearly 700 teachers have won up to £3,500 from the national scholarship fund for teachers, set up by the government last year to help individuals develop their skills and deepen subject knowledge. Almost 2,000 teachers applied for the scheme, with 280 given scholarships in priority subjects and specialisms – English, maths and science – and 391 in specia l educational needs (SEN).

The value of each award var ies depending on the type of activity funded. Around £2 million has been allocated for 2011/12 and similar funding is expected in the future.

Successful applicants will undertake a wide variety of activities ranging from a Master’s in applied l inguist ics to attendance at a summer school. SEN activity includes Master’s of education (MEd) in autism, Master of arts (MA) in special and inclusive education, and a postgraduate diploma in specific learning difficulties.

The scholarships were awarded based on the following criteria:

ll priority subjects/specialism – to include English, maths, science and SEN

ll support from school – teachers had to demonstrate support from their school in terms of accessing resources and being able to carry out activities within and outside the school

ll level and type of scholarship activity – to allow teachers to pursue knowledge independently to Master’s level and beyond.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said: ‘Nothing is more important for raising standards in our schools than ensuring we have more great teachers. These scholarships, alongside our other reforms to improve teacher recruitment and training, will elevate the status of the teaching profession.’

The next round of applications for the scholarship funding is due to open in spring 2012. Further details can be found at www.tda.gov.uk/teacher/developing-career/national-scholarship-fund-for-teachers/results.aspx

From September, all newly qualified teachers in Wales will be able to follow a Master’s programme as part of their induction and early professional development.

Announcing the measure, Welsh education minister Leighton Andrews said teachers had to continue to deepen and broaden their skills and knowledge throughout their career, adding: ‘We need to embed a culture of lifelong learning, reflection and enquiry into the teaching profession.’

The three-year programme will eschew the traditional taught academic approach in favour of accreditation based on activities and action research.

Mr Andrews said: ‘The Master’s qualification is, in fact, less important than the Master’s-level experiences the teachers will undergo. These will include working as a part of a professional learning community, and coaching and mentoring from a dedicated Master’s tutor.’

Awards target skills and subject knowledge M-level programme for NQTs in Wales

3 February 2012

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February 20124

Recruitment training for middle leaders

Recruitment of good teachers is one of the key factors in a school’s success. Middle leaders have an important role to play in the selection process, and a senior leader who recruits a member of staff without involving the middle leader may soon live to regret it if the relationship between middle leader and the new colleague they have to line-manage doesn’t work. Recruitment, therefore, needs to be a collaborative process and a senior leader needs to rely on middle leaders to ascertain whether a candidate has good subject knowledge, can teach the subject well and will fit into the department.

Middle leaders are unlikely to have rece ived any formal t ra in ing on recruitment unless they receive such training in post or have shadowed a colleague previously and are therefore likely to be as nervous as some of the candidates when it comes to the formal interview.

RationaleThis training session should take 90 minutes. It is designed to be delivered to a group of middle leaders, probably mostly subject or department heads. The session may be equally relevant to pastoral middle leaders or less experienced senior leaders, and can be adapted for use with primary or secondary school colleagues. By the end of the training session middle leaders should feel confident about their role in the interview process; they should have a good idea of the kind of questions they would ask to elicit responses from candidates that will reveal their strengths and gaps in their knowledge or skills and they should understand how their role complements that of the senior colleague they might conduct the interview with.

Starter: reflecting on personal experienceAsk your middle leaders to think back to any interviews they attended as candidates. It doesn’t matter whether this is for their most recent role or for a main scale teacher post in previous years. In pairs or small groups get them to recall any questions they were asked and to discuss which they think were the best/worst/hardest/easiest/most probing/most inappropriate. This task is simply designed to get middle leaders to reflect on their personal

experience as candidates. By doing so they are putting themselves in a candidate’s shoes prior to understanding their role as interviewers. Share experiences as a group. There are likely to be some light-hearted anecdotes but try to tease out what middle leaders thought were the best questions and why.

IntroductionShare the objectives of the session with middle leaders. Use those in the rationale section above. Once you have done this, explain that the training session is split into three sections. The first is to reach a common unders tand ing o f wha t interviewing good practice is, including how to frame questions that probe a candidate’s full response; the second is how to judge the quality of responses and be able to compare a range of responses f rom candidates and, f inal ly , to understand the obligations and etiquette of a good interview.

DevelopmentTask 1: asking the right questionsThis is all about asking the right questions in the right way. Explain and share some standardised questions you may already have for a main scale teacher in any subject. See below for some examples. They should cover safer recruiting good practice as well as school-specific issues. 1. Tell us about yourself and why you find yourself here.2. After spending a day in the school why would you like to work here?3. Where do you feel is the place of eg, modern foreign languages in a primary school?4. One of the areas we are really seeking to develop is our mathematics provision, especially in Key Stage 2. How could you help with this?5. Where do you see yourself in five years?6. How do you feel you could add to the extra-curricular provision at the school?7. Is there anything you’d like to ask us?8. Do you feel the process has been fair?

Now ask middle leaders to work in pairs and ask each other some of the questions in turn. Ask them to consider how they got their partner to elaborate on short answers or develop good ideas. Discuss the language you could use to do this.

Use the next two paragraphs on PowerPoint slides as a mini plenary.

Slide 1: You may want to clarify unclear areas, probe any answers they may give during the interview or ask questions about any references you may have received. You could use questions beginning with:

ll What did you mean by…?ll Tell me more about…ll How did you…?

Slide 2: Ask the candidates for evidence/examples to back up any answers they give. Don’t take what they tell you at face value. For example, if candidates talk about their ability to be flexible and adaptable to situations or use their initiative, ask them to give an example of a time when they had to display these characteristics.

Now ask middle leaders to try the paired exercise again using a generic question such as: ‘What was it about this post that attracted you to apply?’ looking for ways to draw out deeper answers.

Slide 3 Next ask middle leaders to come up with four tips they would pass on to their colleagues on asking interview questions. You could share those below on another slide:

ll avoid asking closed questions to which the candidate can answer with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or another one word answer

ll ask open questions, such as those starting with ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’

ll avoid asking questions that give away the answer you are looking for (leading question), such as: ‘I’m sure you like all aspects of working with children, don’t you?’

ll ask one question at a time. Asking multiple questions will confuse the candidate.

Now ask middle leaders to work alone for a few minutes to record some subject-specific questions they would ask a candidate for a main scale job. Ask them to consider aspects of a role in their department that would be subject-specific – eg, health and safety procedures in D&T or science, or differentiation in a mixed-ability English class. Ask them to draw up

practicaltips

Josephine Smith outlines a session designed to develop middle leaders’ interviewing skills

5 February 2012

several questions bearing in mind the advice above.

Task 2: analysing answersThis task is about making sure candidates are treated equally and ensuring the middle leader can make a fair comparison between them. It is recommended that interviewers apply a scoring system, similar to the one probably used when shortlisting. Each interviewer can then complete a basic scoring sheet listing the criteria to be assessed and it becomes easier to give feedback to successful and unsuccessful candidates.

Ask middle leaders to design a five-star scoring system. What kind of answer would get 0, what would get 5? Ask them to work in cross-subject groups and come up with their scoring criteria.

Task 3: putting candidates at easeThis task discusses the demeanour you would encourage from a middle leader at interview. Explain that they’re not there to catch out, trick or eliminate candidates but to recruit for a reliable, inspirational colleague who will work with their line manager in the best interests of students. How can body language, tone of voice and general demeanour encourage rather than dissuade the best candidates?

Ask them to discuss what kind of line manager they would hope to meet as candidates. What traits would they deem to be professional and human?

ll Smartly but comfortably dressed?ll Warm and welcoming rather than

austere and testing? ll Knowledgeable rather than vague or

unsure?ll Well prepared rather than

disorganised?ll Friendly and inclusive rather than

distant and hierarchical?

PlenaryFinally, summarise your top tips for middle leaders in interviews. Ask your audience for suggestions and record them on a PowerPoint slide. You could include:

ll Prepare around five subject-specific questions in advance.

ll Frame the questions in an open way and consider how you might prompt a more detailed response.

ll Pick up on any subject-related issues raised by the candidate’s application letter.

ll Avoid leading questions or prompts.ll Make helpful notes that can provide

feedback for unsuccessful candidates.ll Make sure demeanour is welcoming

and professional.

practicaltips

Training session:Training middle leaders on conducting successful interviews

Length:90 minutes

Whole-school improvement:Effective use of pastoral time to promote independence and emotional wellbeing of pupils

Staff:Middle leaders

School improvement plan referenceEnjoy and Achieve: Raising standards of teaching and learning

Training objectivesTo ensure middle leaders can participate confidently in an interview

Training outcomes Staff will be able to:

ll Consider appropriate interview questions ll Analyse the answers from interview candidatesll Develop appropriate professional skills for interviewing

Resourcesll PowerPoint

ActivitiesStarter (15 minutes)Ask your middle leader to think of interviews they have attended (not necessarily teaching ones) and think of the more memorable questions they have been asked:

ll Hardest interview question?ll Easiest interview question?ll Most probing interview questions?ll The most inappropriate interview questions?

Ask them to share these with the group. Try to analyse what makes a good interview question

Introduction (5 minutes)Share the objectives of the training session with the staff:

ll consider appropriate interview questions ll analyse the answers from interview candidatesll develop appropriate professional interviewing skills.

DevelopmentTask 1: Creating effective questions (30 minutes)

ll Share the interview questions with staff.ll Ask them to practise asking the questions to each other, paying particular

attention to how they can get the interviewee to elaborate on short answers.ll Show the three-slide PowerPoint to the group.ll Ask them to think of four tips for interviewers.ll Staff create subject-specific answers for their subject or area.

Task 2: Analysing answers (20 minutes)ll Staff create a generic five-point scoring criteria for interview questions.ll Choose an interview question from earlier and suggest five answers, each fitting a

different criteria.

Task 3: Putting candidates at their ease (10 minutes)ll Staff consider what demeanour they would expect from a good interviewer.ll Consider what characteristics they could display to gain the best responses from

interview candidates.

Plenary (10 minutes)ll Summarise the key points from each of the three tasks and record them on the

PowerPoint. You may decide to focus on one of the tasks in particular.

What next?For more advice see The School Recruitment Handbook by Josephine Smith, published by Optimus http://bit.ly/wYSWn8

Josephine Smith is vice-principal at a Leicestershire 11-16 comprehensive school. She can be contacted at smithj22@longfield.leics.sch.uk

February 20126

An audit tool for identifying the most appropriate forms of CPD for staff

CPD takes various forms and professionals will have different views on it. For some, CPD should be concerned with developing the individual teacher. Others see the primary aim as improving the institution, or school, in terms of performance. Teaching is a profession, and CPD also helps raise the status and increase its profile in the eyes of the community. Government policies often require changes in professional behaviour and practice. The differing views may be based on professional position or on personal values and expectations.

This article outlines a simple audit activity that aims to profile the individual’s stance in relation to CPD. Outcomes can also be collated to give a more collective picture – for example, to gauge the views of an entire staff or management team. The audit tool can serve several functions, including:

ll assisting CPD leaders in the planning of a CPD curriculum offer

ll enabling staff to clarify their own aspirations for and expectation of CPD

ll providing a basis for CPD evaluation.

The audit tool is presented below, with instructions on how to complete it and score it. This, in turn, enables the presentation of outcomes in graphical form. Following the actual audit tool is a deeper explanation of the terminology and concepts alluded to. It is most effective to read this section after completing one’s own profile.

Instructionsll Rank the statements in each row of the

‘Views of CPD: An inventory’ table from 1 to 4. Give 4 marks to the one you most agree with, 3 to the second, 2 to the third and 1 to the one you least agree with.

ll Now complete the score sheet (ie write the score you gave for 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, etc).

ll Add up your scores in each column of the score sheet.

ll Now fill in the ‘CPD profile’. On the upper vertical axis mark your score for ‘Individual-led’, and below the horizontal axis mark your score for ‘System-led’.

Ascertaining teachers’ expectations before planning CPD helps to ensure positive outcomes. In this article Professor Kit Field presents an audit tool that can be used to identify staff’s individual and collective preferences

portfolioofprofessionaldevelopment

ll Mark on the horizontal axis (left) your score for ‘Professional-led’, and to the right your score for ‘Institution-led’.

ll Join the marks on the axes to form a kite shape. This represents your profile, which will be explained.

Score Sheet

Individual-led System-led Profession-led Institution-led

1 C D A B

2 A B C D

3 B C D A

4 D C B A

5 A B C D

6 A B C D

7 C D A B

8 B C A D

9 A B D D

Total

CPD Profile

Individual-led

36

30

24

18

12

9

36 30 24 18 12 6 6

6 6 12 18 24 30 36

12

18

24

30

36

System-led

Pro

fess

ion

-led

Institu

tion

-led

7 February 2012

portfolioofprofessionaldevelopment

xx

Views of CPD: an inventory

A B C D

1 CPD should consist of multi- agency provision, enabling teacher development within this broader context.

CPD should be a planned mix of formal and informal learning activities with time to reflect on the content and school development priorities.

CPD should encourage creative and reflective thinking skills to enable and inform innovation.

CPD should enable the linking of personal ambitions and policy-led priorities. Learning and development will occur through active engagement in implementation.

2 Successful CPD should lead to improved motivation, self-esteem and work interest.

The content of CPD should be related to national priorities, and national professional standards should be used to encourage participation in targeted CPD.

Collective planning, experimentation and evaluation through a team approach and inclusiveness are essential for successful CPD.

CPD should involve working together with workforce reform in mind for the purpose of school improvement.

3 In-house CPD must be designed to improve levels of measurable performance. It should be target-driven and designed often to address issues other than just pupil learning.

The use of research and analytical skills should be part of day-to-day work for teachers. CPD aims to provide the best learning opportunities and to enable personalisation of learning.

Data and evidence underpin management decisions and therefore CPD should help teachers consider pre-existing data sets (eg attainment).

Ownership of and commitment to evidence and data are means of empowering the profession. Research skills are seen to be integral to teaching, not separate from practice.

4 Outcomes are long-term, and evaluation should be staged, identifying positive indicators of success rather than final outcomes.

A future-oriented view of CPD means outcomes should add to a professional knowledge base which is transferable across institutions.

Outcomes relate closely to effectiveness and therefore teachers’ growing competence should be made evident though performativity measures.

CPD must lead to increased personal motivation, job satisfaction, changing expectations and aspirations.

5 Processes underpinning effective CPD must acknowledge and value personal experiences of teachers.

CPD processes are designed to assist in the implementation of new practices emanating from new policies.

CPD should be collaborative and non-hierarchical, a balance between retrospective reflection and future thinking to empower teachers.

Teachers should be both participants and providers of CPD.

6 Individuals need to have an external champion who sponsors and promotes the cause. Staff need open access to learning rather than direct delivery.

Accountability must be planned from the outset, providing clarity in terms of the targeted resources available.

Distributed leadership serves to empower and enhance learning. The engagement of external partners assures a degree of criticality but also of professional sharing.

Support for learning projects has to match institutional goals. Needs analysis and impact evaluation should help to shape learning opportunities in school.

7 CPD must be audited and related to resulting teacher activity. Participants should be required to demonstrate improvement as an outcome of CPD.

It is important to account for the way teams shape projects and how individuals’ roles within projects contribute to potential and capacity for change and improvement.

Auditing takes into account personal factors such as aspirations, self-perceptions, interests and personal biography in the context of performance and national standards.

The success of CPD is discernible through an examination of related performance outcomes. CPD must improve performance measured against national standards and descriptors.

8 Recognition and acknowledgement of the value of the impact and outcomes of CPD give teachers a sense of worth and respect.

The recognition of successful innovation through assisted dissemination and promotion is an external form of acknowledgement.

Teachers respect the content and outcomes of CPD when it is managed and supported through performance management.

Acknowledgement takes the form of acceptance of the development ideas emanating from groups of teachers working collaboratively.

9 The individual is the key stakeholder within CPD. The individual needs to recognise stages of development, and whether his or her values are consistent with those of the workplace.

CPD must be designed to assist teachers to deal with new policies and to prepare them to manage widespread educational reform.

CPD is a mixture of the personal, institutional and political. The profession itself mediates between these and provides the opportunity for innovation and creativity within policy frameworks.

CPD is centred around teachers’ own classrooms and schools. The alignment of teachers’ aims and the school priorities is effective targeting of resources. The use of in-house expertise to support teacher development is necessary.

DiscussionThe completed profile helps identify the respondent’s ‘default’ position with regard to CPD. For the teacher, it helps determine possible expectations. For the CPD leader and school leadership team, it helps identify the most appropriate forms of CPD for the staff.

Clearly, if there is a mismatch between leaders’ intentions and staff expectations, CPD outcomes are unlikely to be positive. Consequently, the audit can help CPD planners ascertain teachers’ expectations, collectively and individually. Using the audit in advance of planning CPD provision is therefore helpful. Research using this

tool has shown that key stakeholders share more in their views than they differ. However, it is essential to be explicit about purposes, and to engage with those who have extreme differences of viewpoints.

Below is a description of the four forms of CPD. Nobody would place themselves exclusively within one category to the

February 20128

portfolioofprofessionaldevelopment

exclusion of another. Indeed, the profile that emerges from the audit activity shows that graphically. Rather, it provides a basis for professional conversation. The four-dimensional model also assists in the analysis of various CPD activities and in the identification of the most appropriate forms of CPD for particular purposes.

The four forms of CPDCPD literature and research emphasise the range of CPD forms, and their relative importance and perceived effectiveness at various points in time. To categorise these into four extreme types and to recognise intermediate forms involves a collection of views on what constitutes CPD and a consideration of the extent to which each relates to others.

Individual-ledIndividual-led CPD involves a focus on intra-personal learning through high-level cognition-based courses. This reveals a focus on ‘thinking skills’ that must be converted into action and professional learning. Recognition of multiple applications across curriculum disciplines, but with an accent on the creative and artistic appeals to individual-led learning. The individual teacher has to master learning and then apply and evaluate to ascertain the impact and success of that learning.

Individual-led CPD often consists of self-study, the observation of fellow practitioners and the extension of existing experience and expertise. New knowledge emanating from the teacher ’s working contex t i s representative of this form of CPD.

Other key features relate to the belief that teachers develop as professionals in stages. Michael Huberman, in his book The Lives of Teachers, identifies five stages and recommends the deployment of particular activities appropriate to the individual teacher’s stage of development (launching one’s career, stabilising, facing new challenges, ‘plateauing’, final phase). Indeed, the stages are characterised by attitudes displayed at various career stages. These include ‘coping’, ‘consolidation’, ‘experimentation’, ‘evaluation’, ‘self-doubt’ and ‘disenchantment’. Taking these into account, individuals will learn from a range of activity types (role-play, problem-solving, debate and discussion, micro-teaching, observing others, being observed, buzz sessions and action learning for example). An individual-led approach to CPD involves acceptance of and an active provision of choices and options designed to address individual needs.

Individual-led CPD has to be negotiated.

It demands high levels of self-awareness, readily available resources and an ability to recognise and articulate personal needs and wants. It therefore depends on a system that is flexible and responsive to individual teachers’ needs, which can change throughout time.

System-led System-led CPD is usually centrally organised. The CPD offer may marry well with individuals’ ambition and aspiration, but not necessarily. What ‘individualises’ system-led CPD is the process of reflection afterwards. Digesting, absorbing and experimenting with what may be gleaned from direct training is facilitated by coaching and mentoring and task-based approaches. Reflection is clearly a major feature of individual-led CPD, yet an extension of system-led CPD. System-led CPD is usually designed and promoted from the centre as a means of assuring quality and effectiveness, in line with ex terna l l y imposed per formance indicators for the school as a whole.

System-led CPD is attractive to policy makers. The political force of government agencies, supported by an army of local

authority officers, in encouraging compliance to ideas and the embedding of new practices is measurable in terms of classroom impact. It is therefore also used to introduce authority-led innovations. System-led CPD is characterised by a predominance of training methods and little time to share and discuss.

Profession-ledProfession-led CPD is concerned with individuals using their learning to improve collective performance. Professional development is perceived, not as a series of events a teacher might be urged to attend, but as an integral part of being a teacher. Development is both an entitlement and an obligation. The stance is that teachers are concerned primarily with learning, so to neglect their own learning would be inconsistent and unprofessional. For some, CPD is a natural experience, whether

planned or incidental, intended to improve the quality of education. Profession-led CPD is a necessary part of being a teacher, and characterises teaching as a profession.

The profession extends beyond teachers and involves a range of agencies including local authorities, private providers, higher education institutions, the National College and, increasingly, inter-school activity. Profession-led CPD can bond and bind any competing interest of such bodies. A dogged persistence to improve learning for pupils is at the heart of all CPD offered by such groups. The essential component is the commonality of goals rather than the differences between forms of provision.

Institution-ledInsti tution-led CPD is essential ly concerned wi th loca l i sed schoo l improvement. Contemporary models of evaluation emphasise the impact of development in the classroom and its relationship with pupil learning outcomes. More and more CPD takes place in and between schools and is linked to school improvement plans.

It is the consideration of effective CPD and models of evaluation and impact that bring attention back to the school. Connections to the outside world are important and valued, yet without a close relationship with the school, CPD is not valued by those who lead and who are accountable. In this way, institution-led CPD is closely related to organisational culture. Not only does CPD reflect the culture of a school, but it also shapes the ethos and attitudes. Institution-led CPD relies on collaboration, teamwork and shar ing . I t mi t iga tes cul tures of individualism and balkanisation. On the negative side, such a focus can lead to an inward approach, mitigating against a culture of critical enquiry and reflection.

Engagement with and the involvement of external agencies in the context of school leadership teams planning for formal and informal development opportunities are designed to lead to school improvement in relation to performance indicators. Effective institution-led CPD demands developed leadership and management skills, focused on planning around school development priorities, building on existing good practice, linking to national standards and evaluating thoroughly with impact in mind.

Professor Kit Field is dean of the School of Education, University of Wolverhampton. Contact: C.Field2@wlv.ac.uk

Individual-led CPD has to be negotiated. It demands high levels of self-awareness, readily available resources and an ability to recognise and articulate personal needs and wants

9 February 2012

Twitter: CPD for the 21st-century

I recently asked 100 teacher tweeters why they used Twitter: the response was staggering. Most tweeps (please forgive the jargon) agree that Twitter provides the best professional development for the 21st century.

In the current climate of forced school budget cuts, gone are the CPD days spent in luxurious hotels that provide long lunches. Schools are instead turning to twilight training sessions using in-house expertise, with teachers sharing good practice and innovative ideas. There is much to commend this style of training: we are professional, reflective practitioners and should be encouraged to share our experiences. Younger teachers may pick up useful tips from more experienced staff, who, in turn, may discover exciting and inventive approaches to tired topics. This used to occur commonly in the staffroom, a traditional place for sharing, supporting and developing staff. However, teachers have less and less time to spend there, so shared learning must take place after school, and only occasionally.

Why then, in this digital age, when our pupils know more about technology than most of us could even dream about, are more teachers not turning to a wonderful resource at their fingertips?

Ideas and resourcesI am referring to the staffroom for the 21st century: Twitter. According to @rubiales: ‘Twitter means 24-hour, immediate, professional and emotional support, advice and resources. Great for inspiration and keeping up to date.’ In a world where communication is king and timing is everything, Twitter has been providing teachers with ideas and resources for nearly five years. I have been using it for the past two and haven’t looked back. Having cultivated a PLN (personal learning network), I look forward to the nightly support and musings of my peers. My teaching has gone from strength to strength, I feel more confident in my daily dealings with pupils and I have acquired a range of resources that enrich lessons and engage my pupils to the extent that all of my lessons are judged outstanding. What more can a teacher want?

Before I joined Twitter, I had never heard of resources such as Slideshare, VOKI, Dropbox or Glogster. Initially, I was

dubious – how would these tools help me to develop my teaching to enhance learning in my classroom? Like most things, new media takes time to learn. Most importantly, I was being exposed to a new range of tools I could test out at my leisure. There is no timeframe, no plenary at the end of the day, no expectation that I will produce a resource and embed it into the latest scheme of work. Better still, more proficient and experienced people tweet about ways they have used the tools successfully. I watched, I followed links, I played with the new ‘toys’ and tentatively tried them out with my more forgiving classes.

It’s not just about sharing the latest technological advancement, though, but seeing how other teachers tackle (the sometimes more tiresome) topics. For example, I have never liked teaching ‘personal description’ in French. One evening, this topic was mentioned on the

twitterstream and in the space of 10 minutes, there was a lengthy debate about how best to introduce and develop it. A wealth of resources and techniques were discussed by enthusiastic tweeters and I hastily noted down some of their ideas. Such was my dislike for the topic I hadn’t even considered these ideas, even though some were startlingly obvious and, better still, easy to put into practice. Ironically, I found myself waiting impatiently for the topic to come up in class.

Other teachers have had similar experiences. Paul Collins, a maths GTP teacher from Surrey, has been blogging about his training and using Twitter as useful evidence for his learning journal. Contributing to discussions on #mathchat has developed his thinking, which he has been able to document using the Twitter archive.

Career developmentResources are not the only nuggets of gold

to be found on Twitter. There is so much more . As par t o f my cont inuing development I look for opportunities to further my career. Twitter has pointed me to insightful blogs where bril l iant practitioners kindly share their expertise and wealth of experience. Finding Joe Dale’s Integrating ICT into the MFL Classroom blog was a turning point for me: not only was I added to the esteemed MFL Twitterati list, I discovered new acronyms and vocabulary such as TM and FM and ililc (for the uninitiated – TeachMeets, Flash Meeting and ICT Links into Languages Conference) an array of training opportunities for the proactive teacher that don’t cost the earth (or in some cases, are free). The realisation that I have useful experience and ideas to share encouraged me to branch out and develop my own brand of consultancy to local primary schools that are implementing the languages curriculum. As a result of this work, I was offered a post at an infant school – it’s now, possibly, my favourite day of the week. Diversifying has been the making of me, all thanks to Twitter.

The place to connectTwitter is quickly becoming the place for professionals to connect. I recently introduced a headteacher to Twitter. Having grasped the basics, he engaged quickly with other principals and advisers around the UK; as a result, he was able to develop a pioneering initiative for his school, confident that other leaders agreed with his ideas and saw their worth. Furthermore, he found a consultant who had comparable experience and was willing to support him with staff training – all in a matter of days. Some schools tweet about their successes: another means of acquiring information about initiatives that work or fail, and how to adapt them for your school.

In the same vein, Suzi Bewell, PGCE course leader at York University, has initiated her trainees to the joy of tweeting. Observing some professionals in the workplace, then connecting with a large group of them on Twitter has enabled them to consolidate and enhance their practice. The professional dialogue is for everyone: Twitter is inclusive.

Possibly one of the best advantages of

New resources, instant information and connection with colleagues are just some of the benefits Dawn L German has gained since she first signed up to Twitter

professionalupdate

My teaching has gone from strength to strength, I feel more confident in my daily dealings with pupils and I have acquired a range of resources

February 201210

professionalupdate

Twitter is the access it provides to thousands of teachers all over the world. As well as these educators pooling resources, you also have immediate online support. ‘You’re never by yourself with the MFL Twitterati’ (@valleseco). When you follow people on Twitter, you create a network of like-minded individuals who will offer you their resources, their ideas and yes, their advice. When you’re struggling with a particularly hard-to-reach Year 10 class, your Twitter PLN can come up with the most novel ways of engaging them. One tweeter might have happened across the latest website that will intrigue your class or another suggests a tool such as www.classdojo.com that may help keep the more ‘spicy’ members of your group in

check. Incredibly, there are teachers who will reach out to you, even though they have never met you, and will offer you emotional support. At times, teaching is the most draining of jobs and there is much comfort to be had knowing that a complete stranger might just have offered the spur you need for the following day.

Instant informationIf professional development for you is about keeping up-to-date with the latest initiatives in teaching, Twitter is ideal. With Twitter, you often find out about ideas before they hit the newsstands. Books take months to be published and changes in DFE policy may render some ideas irrelevant. Twitter is instant. You can

post a question in the morning and have a dozen responses by evening. Such is the range of educators on Twitter, from classroom teachers at the chalkface to subject leaders and headteachers, not forgetting educational consultants and trainers, that there will always be someone who can offer a valid answer to your question. If you don’t have the ‘right’ person in your network, there is a strong chance that someone in that PLN will. All it takes is a ‘retweet’.

Of course, if you are to make the most of Twitter, it is essential that you participate, not just ‘lurk’ (more jargon). Lurking is acceptable while you become accustomed to the workings of Twitter, but fail to add to the discussion and you risk being ignored (or, worse, unfollowed). In truth, adding to debates and discussion threads is sometimes more useful than resource-sharing. Throwing in your three-penny worth forces you to reflect on your practice: What has worked? What hasn’t? Why? You might, as I did recently, reply to a question thread (literally, a string of answers from various tweeters to the questioner) and remind yourself of a technique that you used successfully years ago but in all the furore of controlled assessments, active learning, assessment for learning et al had forgotten about.

In conclusion, Twitter is not just another social media to be sneered at and derided. The most proactive professionals have already discovered how networking with other teachers can boost their lesson planning by sharing authentic materials, alternative sources and teaching methods; headteachers share policy, practice and decision-making. Put plainly, it exposes the very best practices taking place in schools across the UK and, indeed the world. In the days of personalised learning, isn’t Twitter the ultimate in personalised CPD? You can control what you want to learn and when you want to learn it and choose how frequently you engage in the process.

As you might expect, there are other people using Twitter as well as teachers; you’ll find your favourite comedian, sports personality and even politician, thereby allowing you time to relax and catch up with what’s happening in the ‘other’ world, so come and join the digital staffroom conversation. It might just be the best decision you’ll ever make for your career.

Dawn L German (@germanprof) is an MFL teacher at John Hanson Community School and primary MFL consultant in Hampshire

Twitterverse: your five-minute quick-start guide

If you would like to dip into Twitter and see what all the fuss is about, here is a short glossary of terms to help you get started.

Direct message

A private message. You can only send a DM to someone who follows you.

FavouritingA means of organising topics or clips of particular interest to you as the twitterstream can pass quickly. You will then be able to revisit the tweet later.

Following

Create a group of people who share interests with you (eg: primary school teachers). You will be able to read tweets from people you follow in your twitterstream. The more people you follow the better, and the more interesting the stream will be.

Followers Most people will follow you too. This means they can read what you are tweeting and engage in conversation with you. The more you tweet, the more likely you will find followers.

Hashtageg: #mathchat #ukedchat, is a tool for organising ideas about one particular topic effectively. Use a hashtag in your tweet to associate it with an idea without having to explain the context.

Lists Some people have so many followers, they like to group them. (The MFL Twitterati is an example of a List. Lists are an excellent way of finding like-minded people to follow.)

Mentions

If people like your idea or want to probe a question further, they will mark @ and your twitter moniker in their tweet (eg @germanprof). This is an ideal way to have a conversation with a particular person or small group. Mentions are public.

PLNPersonal Learning Network: a group of people to follow and who follow you back. Having a wide PLN makes exchanges on Twitter more meaningful.

Profile page

When you join Twitter, write a biography (include your job title, and what you hope to find on Twitter as well as any personal information you are happy to share) as you are more likely to find followers if they know something about you. Add a photo or avatar (digital picture) if you wish.

Retweets

One of the best ways of disseminating ideas, pictures, clips etc. If you agree with the tweet and feel that your followers would benefit from the information, you can retweet it. NB: ideas have copyright. RT credits the original tweeter with the idea. More importantly, if you have a burning question and doubt that your PLN will be able to answer it, ask them to retweet it. There is a chance they will know someone with the answer.

SmartphonePossibly the best way to use Twitter. You can download the app for free then read the twitterstream at your leisure as well as send tweets. You don’t have to read tweets every day, but just dip in when you need to.

TweetdeckA useful app that manages Twitter and Facebook in one place, by organising them into columns. You can add lists as columns too, so it is also a great way to manage the flow of information.

For more ideas, Twitter has a basic guide and help section, but there are blogs and wikipages that will offer you excellent advice on using Twitter effectively, developing a PLN (group of people to follow) and ensuring you are getting the most out of the experience.

11 February 2012

The Training and Development Agency (TDA) has done some wonderful work. It must be commended for helping make postgraduate professional development (PPD) for schoolteachers probably the most impressive programme of its kind in the world. Paid for by funds transferred by universities, it and the previous programme enabled between 25,000 and 35,000 schoolteachers a year to undertake Master’s and doctoral-level work and create new professional knowledge. Collaboration was a strong feature of PPD. Schools, teachers, LAs, universities and a government agency worked together to advance the learning of young people.

Alas, no more. We knew Michael Gove was ending the programme and keeping the money, but he also intends to change the culture totally. Competition in education and so-called ‘open markets’ are back with a vengeance. A recent letter from the TDA to PPD providers tells us we

are moving to ‘a market-led system’. We can expect professional needs to be determined by what brings success in the marketplace and universities to compete rather than collaborate.

There will be more pressure to link CPD to performance. The companies intending to run schools will not be interested in critical reflection. To please shareholders, success must be narrowly defined and resources for CPD related to results that can be demonstrated quickly. Slow cooking will be out, with all CPD microwavable. Teachers unable to show continuous improvement will very soon reach their sell-by-date.

The school system is being destructured, not restructured. The power of democratically elected local authorities to ensure some equality has gone. More than ever we need collegiality and CPD devoted to fair treatment for all young people. Who would wish for a professional life seeking to privilege

some children at the expense of others? And who would wish their professional learning to be all about getting one more C grade than they did the previous year so they can keep their job?

There are signs of hope in teaching schools. And, having looked at hundreds of thousands of words written by teachers all over the country in schools and FE this year alone, I am impressed by their willingness to think beyond Ofsted frameworks and to challenge policy and theory. This should reassure leaders and managers of schools. Now that we know the worst, the future just might fall into the hands of professionals who can persuade the new owners of schools to believe in fairness and fulfilment. Do you fancy doing that?

This is my last column for CPD Update. I wish you all well. If you would like to stay in touch have a look at www.criticalprofessionallearning.co.uk

Cliff Jones' CPD commentary

A future worth capturing

Collaboration is the way forwardRecently, I was at a training school regional meeting – one of the last that will take place as training school status fades away. While I am relatively new to that group, there are some very established relationships – after all Windsor High School has been a training school since 2006, so we have had some many years to establish bonds. What I observe is a lot of professional integrity and pride in what the training schools have been able to achieve and a confidence that enables sharing without a fear of what the other schools might plunder.

Of course, training school status came with many key performance indicators and prescribed what needed to be done – in areas where the evidence shows it makes a difference, such as engagement with research, collaboration and sustained activity. Perhaps something about the structure and the equivalence helped people find a sense of shared endeavour.

Some of the schools in the room had met all the criteria and had become teaching schools. Their experience had been frenetic – no surprise that anyone at the front of the wave has to expect it to be a

little frothy and somewhat choppy. Evident was the sense of forging a new path with a new variety of structures, specialisms and new jobs such as managing SLEs and navigating growth in ITT. The benefit of sharing for these schools seemed to be at an emotional level – ‘oh thank goodness you thought that too – we thought it was just us’. Cathartic, I’m sure.

From the training schools that, for a variety of reasons, don’t meet the teaching schools criteria, there was a feeling of loss, fears that expertise may seep out of the system and that a foundation capable of being built upon might be washed away. Plus, I suspect that surfing along the front of the wave is much more fun than splashing behind in the swell.

So how do we keep paddling in the right direction ready to catch the next wave? The answer was ar t icula ted c lear ly – collaboration. You need to work with the movers and shakers where you are. We are, for example, working with two teaching schools, one a local, Sandwell primary, and the other an alliance of Birmingham schools. Both have a nice ‘fit’. For one we can

provide the leadership development offering it desires but doesn’t have time to grow and for the other there is enhanced capacity for ITT. But finding the ‘fit’ takes time.

I have recently been working with a group of local secondary schools, none of which is a teaching school, but all of which have teaching strengths they want to share. The LA is happy to act as a facilitator of this and together we are scoping a programme of learning walks. They look practical, have a coherent model and meet some local needs covering areas such as aspects of teaching and learning, pastoral systems and gifted and talented. We are developing them because provision in the area isn’t meeting our ideals and because we aren’t the sort of schools and people happy to float in the backwaters. So if we aren’t allowed on the wave we’ll create a swell of our own, something which probably can only be done in a group – paddling darn hard.

Alison Halford is training manager at Windsor High School, Dudley, West Midlands. Contact: ahalford@windsor.dudley.sch.uk

Alison Halford reflects on how to stay at the front of the wave in a changing schools environment

viewpoints

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Editor: Su Clark su.clark@optimus-education.com

CPD Update is published by Optimus Education, a division of Optimus Professional Publishing Ltd.

Registered office: 33-41 Dallington Street, London EC1V 0BB. Reg. no: 05791519. © 2012 Optimus Professional Publishing Limited ISSN 1759-9474

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the material contained in this newsletter is correct, the publishers cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies that may occur.

fivewaysto....

Five ways to… support mental health in schools

The good mental health of children and young people has always been a priority for schools, but perhaps now more than ever. T h e s t a t i s t i c s ( p r o v i d e d b y t h e YoungMinds charity) make challenging reading: nearly 80,000 children and young people suffer f rom severe depression; one in 12 deliberately self-harms; one in five shows signs of an eating disorder and two young people kill themselves every day.

It is clearly crucial for schools to devote professional learning to equipping staff with the skills they may need to support the mental and emotional health and wellbeing of young people.

Sound understandingRoger Catchpole i s t ra in ing and development manager at YoungMinds. He believes a sound understanding of children’s mental health can transform what happens in schools and remove key barriers to learning. He explains: ‘Most of the school mission statements I have read say something about helping children fulfil their potential – understanding mental health is central to that and so right at the core of what schools do. Much of the work to promote mental health is very practical – it’s about learnable, teachable skills and the capacity to reflect on what children’s behaviour is telling us about their emotional state. Emotions are infectious. Teaching distressed children makes for stressed out teachers. Attention to emotional wellbeing has benefits for everyone in the school community – pupils, parents and professionals.’

What you can doThese ideas will help to ensure that staff continue to develop their skills for support ing emotional heal th and wellbeing in their pupils:

ll Develop in-house expertise… Build on staff members’ natural interests. Establish what expertise already exists and

the desired direction of development staff have in connection with the mental health and wellbeing of the pupils they teach. What opportunities for CPD already exist that can be matched with the interests of staff? This is the most efficient place to start building skills in-house.

ll Go online… Make use of the excellent support and learning opportunities available online. The box above offers key suggestions. YoungMinds in Schools, in particular, is Department for Education-funded with the specific function of supporting school staff in developing expertise to work with children and young people with emotional health difficulties. Its online learning resources and training courses are focused on mental health and wellbeing in schools and the site is packed with accessible, practical, evidence-based strategies. This is free professional learning – take advantage!

ll Seek support from outside education… Organisations such as the School of Life (www.theschooloflife.com), Action for Happiness (www.actionforhappiness.org) and Life Squared (www.lifesquared.org.uk) offer extensive research, information and advice, much of which could be readily used in or adapted for schools. These organisations seek to improve wellbeing so staff will benefit. And if staff benefit, pupils will, too.

ll Get social… social networking sites such as Twitter offer rich advice, information

and development for teachers seeking to learn about supporting mental health in schools. Try following these accounts for starters: @YoungMindsUK; @YMSchools; @YMeditor; @TeacherSupport; @OptimusEd; @BPSOfficial; @rcpsych; @DCPinfo; @mencap_charity; @routledgemh; @TheNFER; @PsyPost; @RCPCHtweets; @BPSJournals; @BeatBullying; @stonewalluk; @bullyinguk; @CharitySANE; @childrensociety; and @CareUK_ED. This list is by no means extensive and an hour or so looking at who follows these accounts and who they follow will yield more leads.

ll Listen to pupil voice… All professional learning with the aim of supporting the mental health of children and young people should be anchored in their needs and the only way to determine these for certain is through communication. Professional learning around pupil voice will bolster skills in this area. School Councils UK (www.schoolcouncils.org; @schoolcouncils) and Pupil Voice and Participation England (www.pvpengland.org.uk) are good places to find ideas.

If you have a request or suggestion for a theme for a future edition of ‘Five ways to… ’ email me via eh@elizabetholmes.info or follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EA_Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes looks at ways to equip staff with the skills they need to support young people

Find out morell The YoungMinds website is packed with information for parents, carers and school

professionals, based on the premise that with good mental health children and young people do better in every way: www.youngminds.org.uk

ll YoungMinds in Schools is part of YoungMinds and aims to improve outcomes for children and young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. The website is geared specifically to teachers and parents: www.youngmindsinschools.org.uk

ll Me and My School: Findings from the National Evaluation of Targeted Mental Health in Schools 2008-2011 can be downloaded via: http://bit.ly/xeDfmD