View from the classroom
My view from the classroom How we created our professional learning community
Principal Donna Trusler describes how professional development was transformed at her school, The Manor Academy in Nottinghamshire.
L
ess than three years ago The Manor Academy was in a very different place.
We had been put in special measures by Ofsted and we knew we needed to change things radically and become an outstanding school. Our chief concern was to improve teaching and learning so that all pupils could achieve to the best of their abilities.
But to do this we needed to review everything that we were doing. Along with a brand new curriculum – we replaced faculties with four cross subject learning strands - and a full staff restructure we overhauled our CPD so that everyone could make a full contribution in our journey of improvement.
We realised that our old approach of delivering occasional staff training wouldn’t be up to this challenge. Random twilights addressing massive issues with sweeping statements would not work.
Instead CPD would be led by staff and become a non-negotiable part of the working week for everyone. Every Wednesday staff spend the first half of a two hour session in ‘teaching and learning communities’ and in the second half they work within their own learning strands. The teaching and learning groups are semi- autonomous and are made up of staff from across our learning strands. Led by an experienced teacher, they might include a learning strand leader and deputy, two classroom teachers, two support staff and an ‘exceptional practitioner’ – a teacher at the very top of their game. These people are often matched together because they have similar performance management objectives. For example, several might need support on improving their questioning skills in class, and the exceptional practitioner might have a particular skill in that area.
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www.education-today.co.uk
Donna Trusler is principal of The Manor Academy in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire.
Mixed groups make the sharing of knowledge from across the school easier. For example, a geography teacher might pick up a useful approach from a history teacher and she can take it back to her own classroom. In the past, this expertise might have been hidden away in faculties.
October 2014
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