CPD

Developing faster

Margaret Adams offers

some advice to those of you

who are keen to develop your skills quickly

W

Find a role model

Good role models are people whose performance you would like to emulate and whose style and approach you think you could usefully adopt. Think carefully about the tasks you would like to

do better before you begin to look for a role model. Do you want to manage your approach to assessment more effectively? Do you want to manage your planning or your marking more efficiently? Do you want to manage the behaviour of a particular year group better? Once you have made your decision, look for

someone in school who you think is more successful than you when working on the task you have chosen. Look for people who are a little bit more experienced than you, and who are clearly on top of their jobs. If you are an NQT, the best role models are likely to be

teachers with two or three years of experience. If you are a new head of department, seek out people who have been heads of departments themselves for a couple of years. In both cases, the people you have identified will

remember what being new in their roles is like. Thus, they will be in a position to give you insights into how you can develop in your new role faster. Talk to your chosen role model about the tasks you

think he or she does well. Ask questions about your role model’s approach. Ask permission to watch him or her at work. Then watch closely how your role model approaches

the task. Write down the individual components of the activity. Note the order in which the various aspects of the task are completed, how difficulties are dealt with, obstacles negotiated, and how success is achieved. For example, watch how the pastoral head you are

shadowing manages a team meeting and makes sure the agenda is adhered to. Note how the meeting is steered towards a conclusion and how the time available is managed effectively. After the meeting, discuss with your role model how the meeting was handled, and learn more about good ways in which to lead meetings. This sort of development has lots of advantages over

conventional training programmes. Here, you have the opportunity to watch someone whose working style you like. You also have the opportunity to ask questions of someone who you can see is effective in a role that you need to learn more about.

Find an expert

Finding an expert is not the same as finding a role model. An expert is someone who is not only on top of the job, but who excels at it. An expert may be recognised nationally or locally, and you may or may not have experts working in your school. If you decide to seek out an expert, note that experts

are in short supply. More people than you will be looking to him or her for guidance. Therefore remember that it is important to avoid

wasting an expert’s time. Before you approach an expert for help, do your homework. Learn about your expert’s work. What is your expert’s specialism? What books or articles has your expert written? Does your expert speak at conferences? Can you find the transcripts of the inputs?

SecEd • March 25 2010

Build up your expertise. Make the list of questions

you would like to ask, but only include those which are worthy of an expert’s time. Then, when you make contact, by email, by telephone, by letter or by whatever means you choose, you are more likely to find that your questions are welcomed. Gaining access to an expert is an excellent way to

develop your own expertise faster. Just make sure you approach experts in the right way and with the right types of queries. If you do, they are usually more than willing to help you.

Find it on the web

These days there is a lot of valuable information on the internet. There are complete learning programmes available online, some of them free, some not. If you want to learn about a subject there is a good chance you will be able to find lots about it on the web. You will not just find books and articles. You could

find videos to show you how to do a task, podcasts of interviews with experts and practitioners in your chosen field, checklists about how to complete activities, and forums where people who, like you, are learning about the subject, ask questions, and offer guidance and support to each other. Do not ignore this source of new learning, because it

is one of the most readily accessible ways of supporting your personal and professional development available to you today.

Conclusion

Add these approaches to your CPD and you will do more than bring variety to your development activities. Using more than one means of development really does mean you will learn faster. That, in turn, means less frustration and anxiety as you struggle with complex or new tasks. There is a bonus, too. You will probably find that

you are ready to attend the more advanced programme, rather than the beginner’s programme, when the leaflet for the course you were looking for at the beginning of your development journey finally turns up in the staffroom.

SecEd

• Margaret Adams is a former teacher and the author

of How To Take Charge Of Your Teaching Career

(Continuum International Publishing, 2008) andWork-

Life Balance: A Practical Guide for Teachers (David

Fulton Publishers, 2006).

HEN YOU think about your CPD do you automatically think about courses and conferences? Some teachers do,

but increasingly teachers complement their attendance

at external training events with quicker, easier, more convenient and more cost-effective ways of developing themselves. There are good reasons for this. Courses and conferences have their place in your

CPD, and attending a good course can be an excellent investment of your time and your school’s CPD budget. However, sometimes you cannot find courses covering the specific issues you want to learn more about. Sometimes you would need to wait a long time, or travel a long distance, to find exactly the right programme. Therefore, it is a good idea to consider alternatives to

external training programmes when you are keen to learn something new. Try adding the following approaches to development to your usual CPD choices.

Tips for interviews

Dot Struthers

shares five preparation strategies to

help with interviews

IN ANY interview, it is vital that you are able to talk about yourself at the drop of a hat in a clear and simple way. You need to be able to talk about who you are, what you are good at, and how your strengths relate to your career aspirations. The key to successful interviews is preparation.

Here are five areas which will build your confidence and reduce the stress involved in interviews.

Personal profile

You need to be able to describe to your interviewers who you are, what you have done or can do, and what your key strengths are in a precise statement that will take no longer than 30 seconds. An example: “I am a secondary school teacher

with over 10 years of experience working in two different schools in London. I have worked across two key stages bringing about significant change and improvement. I have a background in psychology and I specialise in creating positive environments for special needs children.”

Career overview

Concentrate on the significant parts of your career in the last 10 years, giving more time to your recent jobs.Make it interesting, with some key highlights, such as awards, special projects, setting up clubs, fundraising events etc. If you have not worked that long then include non-work activities to show your

potential, such as organising events at university or college, or perhaps sporting achievements.

Leaving/change story

If you are moving schools you need to be able to explain the circumstances in a positive way. Maybe it has given you the opportunity to learn something new or it might tie in with your personal circumstances. An example: “I decided to leave St James School in

2009 after three years which gave me the confidence I needed to work in larger school. It was perfect timing as my partner was looking for a change in their career, so we decided that a move would be positive for us both. I had a great time at St James and gained a lot of experience, which I still draw on today.”

Ideal job

You need to be clear about your motivation when applying for a specific role, or a specific school. What is it that is so important to you? What does this role, school or the location allow you to do?

Key strengths

There are four key skill areas that you can choose to highlight: • Your people skills – such as team-working, communication or leadership.

• Personal skills – such as initiative, commitment, and willingness to learn.

• General skills – such as IT literacy, analytical or financial business awareness.

• Specialist – such as maths, managing a key stage, SEN, or the arts.

And when you highlight these strengths, you

should also say how these skills are useful in the context of the job you are applying for. With a little preparation, interviews can be fun

and rewarding.

• To find more resources and to get a free monthly CPD newsletter, register at www.merechats.co.uk

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