BESA CORNER


BESA CORNE R


Thismonth, n our ongoing feature highl ghting thework of members of the UK education suppliers trad body BESA,we hear from Tanya Parker of Classroom Monitor; an d online training proviider T raingSchoolz .


This month, i in our ongoing feature highliighting the work ofmembers of the UK education suppliers’’ trade body BESA, we hear fromTanya Parker of ClassroomMonitor; and online training prov der TraingSchoolz.


Online training can overcome obstacles to staff


ff training


According to the recent ‘School Snapshot Survey’ report released by the DfE, “S the provi op


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“School leaders visision of Co


opportunities fo es for teach rshipip te


Continuing Profes ching staff


taff”.


Despite this claim, 91%of teachers surveyed for the report stated that there were still barriers to accessing effective CPD. 70%of teachers cited cost as the most common obstacle, while over half (51%) felt that insufficient time was a contributing factor.


Of course, CPD is just one part of the training story: there is also all the mandatory training, from induction and health & safety to GDPR and Prevent, which must also be kept up to date.


The cost of training doesn’t just begin and end with the course itself. The school also has to add the cost of supply cover if the training takes place during school hours. In addition, when trained staff leave a school, any knowledge learnt goes with them, leaving the school with the expense of paying to re-train another member of the team. Add to that the challenge of finding time in an already packed school timetabl e and the requirement to evidence statutory compliance and the training task can soon become inefficient and time-consuming.


So, could online training provide the most cost-effective and time- Yorkshire based ed-tech company, TrainingToolz believes so, and so TrainingSchoolz is a simple-to-use yet powerful platform developed


saving solution? do their customers. Their bespoke platform for schools,


specifically for the education sector. It has all the features schools need to create effective training courses, as well as policies and other information for sharing, along with the functionality to distribute, track and audit responses efficiently.


Kim Edwards, Senior Premises and Compliance Officer at Aspire Academies Trus t andWest Hertfordshire Teaching Sc hool Partnership, commented, “TrainingSchoolz makes training the school community easy to manage. Online dashboards allow me to see quickly the percentage of users who have completed the training”.


Darren Rose, a consultant and trainer working with schools and councils across the UK added “Safeguarding and e-safety are at the heart of schools’ compliance. I, too, for my small part, powerful platform to provide data protection training reporting for schools (SLT, staff & governors). I would strongly recommend it as a platform for other content creators as well as for schools to create their own content”.


and compliance use this very


The TrainingSchoolz platform allows schools to compile their own training and policy library easily, adding video, audio and downloadable documents to their courses. In addition,


TrainingSchoolz also provides a bank of ready-made policies and training courses. The assignments have been professionally written by experts in their field and are designed to save schools time and money over authoring their own training in common areas. Each assignment in this Training Library is fully editable, so schools can tailor it to their needs or use it as it comes.


For schools who would like to find out more about the platform, TrainingSchoolz offers a free sign up, where schools can create their own training courses or policies, or pick one from the fully ed itable library. And with the 10 training sessions included in the free package, schools can fully test out the system by inviting staff to complete an assignment and see the results.


ww www.TrainingSchoolz.com 14 www.education-today.co.uk.co.uk www


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to rioritisise


Fiveways to cut teacher


workload AND get better data Using online platforms to manage your


assessment data really can be more efficient than using paper or Excel. But only if your assessment policy itself is fit for purpose. Here, ClassroomMonitor’s Tanya Parker gives her top five tips for getting more from your assessment data, without asking for more work from your teachers.


• Cut your data collection


In its action plan on teacher workload, the DfE makes two key recommendations. First, decide what data will be useful and for what purpose. Then collect the minimum amount needed. If it doesn’t add any value to teaching or give you useful insight, then don’t collect it. Online platforms can further simplify data collection by giving your team a central place to enter their assessments. They also give your staff more flexibility as most online systems can be accessed from an y device at any time.


• Only keep the data that has an impact on education If you’re asking questions that are clear and easy to measure, then your data should give you straight answers. It should be easy to see pupil progress, compare cohorts and establish intervention groups. From there, you can plan the next steps in learning in a more targeted way. Online platforms can give you instant access to these key metrics, so you can always see the impact of your plans on pupil progress. You’ll soon see if they’re not working, and can adapt them as needed.


• Collect once, usemany times


Avoid the trap of collecting data just for the sake of it. Any practice taking place in school needs to have a definable and positive impact on the learners. The most useful data is that which can be used multiple times – for reporting and tracking as well as teaching and learning. Online platforms will do the hard work of collating your data so you can use and apply it many times, in many formats.


• Keep it simple fo


inspectors don’t expect to see any more data than you would lly use to support teaching within your school. And they want that information in the format you usually use to monitor pupil ss. You have the freedom to collect information that you need in the format that works for your teachers, SLT and governors. Here , online platforms can help by auto generating progress reports in your preferred format whenever you need them.


norma Ofsted


progre to see


• Get the timing right


The frequency of your data collection should depend on the nature of the data. ‘Little and often’ is best for formative assessment to enable a timely impact on learning. Summative assessment is done to compare against a standard, typically at the end of a unit or term. Either way, using an online system across a school makes it easier to manage inputs and keep to schedules when needed.


We know that teachers work hard and are always looking to be more efficient and effective. ClassroomMonitor has just launched the SIMPLE platform to cement that connection between meaningful assessments, improved learning outcomes and easing the burden on teachers. You can see the highlights of SIMPLE and how it’ll help your team in this quick video tour .


Contact us at info fo@classroommonitor.co.uk or 0330 0555 811 Marc h 2019 2019 for Ofsted


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