CPD

Creating a shared culture of professional learning across a MAT

The Academies Transformation Trust has launched its own institute to drive a shared culture of professional development for almost 2,000 staff across 22 schools. Kathryn Morgan speaks with institute director Abby Bayford to find out how this works in practice

The Wheel of Teaching: How do you score?

The Wheel of Teaching sets out eight aspects of your teaching life that are crucial to your wellbeing and job satisfaction. Drawing on the advice in his new book Love Teaching Keep Teaching, Peter Radford explains

Getting your CPD to stick: From activities to programmes

One-off CPD activities – on their own – are not effective. What schools need are carefully designed CPD programmes. Creating these is a complex process. We need to consider time, resources and intended outcomes. Maria Cunningham advises

Back to School Guide: Teaching & Learning

In this 12-page guide, we consider what teaching and learning should look like in schools from this September when all pupils are due to return following the Covid-19 lockdown...

Building subject knowledge in primary schools

Developing the subject knowledge and sequencing skills of teachers is crucial, certainly in light of the revised national curriculum and change in focus of Ofsted inspection. Neil Almond explains the approaches being implemented across the Woodland Academy Trust

Staff wellbeing: Regard, dialogue and feedback

Personal and professional regard, dialogue and feedback – what approaches can help staff during the testing months that lie ahead? Mark Burns advises on how we can invest in personal and professional regard to support our teaching staff

Back to School Guide: Staff wellbeing and support

In this 12-page guide, we consider how lockdown has affected the wellbeing and mental health of school staff and offer practical advice and ideas for promoting wellbeing and supporting colleagues, both now and this autumn

Four coaching conversations for school leaders

Coaching can have a positive influence on staff wellbeing, morale and performance in schools. Denise Barrows outlines four particularly powerful coaching conversations that leaders can use to achieve this sort of transformative impact

Seven solutions to your teacher retention challenges

More than one in nine primary teachers are leaving the profession each year. Drawing on a range of research, Matt Bromley looks at seven key factors that schools should focus on if they want to boost retention rates

Ideas for teacher CPD during lockdown

One consequence of the Covid-19 closures for many teachers has been a reduction or at least a side-lining of their CPD. Fiona Aubrey-Smith urges schools and teachers not to neglect their CPD and instead to take their professional learning online...

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Cultivating the lead practitioner role

Headteacher and MAT CEO Stephen Dean created a maths improvement strategy as part of his CPD studies – an approach that created immediate, notable results. Yvonne Gandy learns more

CPD: Five things schools should…

Are you planning next year’s CPD programme for your schools? Maria Cunningham suggests five things the evidence says you should leave out

Ten ideas for using research in your school

How do we engage teachers with research? And how can we turn this engagement into impact? Alex Beauchamp offers 10 principles for developing research-informed professional learning

CPD: Books on the balcony...

School leaders can find inspiration and solutions if they build reading for professional development into their schedules, says Yvonne Gandy

Getting subject-specific CPD right

The role of subject-specific CPD and curriculum development in effective teaching is vital. Maria Cunningham looks at the research and some best practice approaches

Teaching climate change

EduCCate Global and a group of Teaching Schools in Derbyshire are supporting teachers to train in climate change education in order to equip children to handle an uncertain future on a warming planet. Headteacher Fiona Cowan explains more about the project and her school’s climate change curriculum

Observing vulnerable students during lessons

For teachers with challenging or vulnerable students in their lessons, observations can become all the more stressful. Daniel Sobel looks at how we must observe the pupils in question and not the teachers...

Supporting teacher practice and wellbeing

Drury Primary School in North Wales has developed a staff programme called the SWIG Club, which promotes wellbeing and encourages teachers to share good practice. Liz Jones explains

Case study: An effective plan for CPD

How does your school plan and implement effective professional development? Drawing on his work at Springfield Junior School, Daniel Jones shares the main principles and logistics behind their approaches to using CPD to develop and sustain high-quality teaching

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