What makes great CPD for educators?
What makes great CPD for educators? Well it definitely helps if the INSET is delivered by someone with years’-worth of real teaching experience – someone who was rated as outstanding by Ofsted in every school that they worked in (back in those dark days when you got graded!) There’s nothing worse than being told how to teach by someone who hasn’t taught for the last 15 years or who left teaching because they secretly were never very good at it in the first place. In my opinion, if you’re going to train teachers how to teach a great lesson to students, you have to be able to deliver a great INSET course to teachers.
What else would you want for your colleagues on an INSET day?…
For me, the remaining key ingredients of worthwhile CPD come down to the following:
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- The training needs to, in the long-term, have a measurable impact on the learning, achievement and experience of the learners.
- The training needs to be exciting, thought-provoking and engaging.
- The training needs to avoid “Death-by-PowerPoint”, passive learning, and lecturing.
- The training needs to introduce fresh, innovative ideas that can help teachers to consider their practice in a whole new light.
- The training needs to be motivational, memorable and inspiring – especially at the beginning of a new term!
- The training needs to support the establishment in keeping up to speed with the latest standards, research and innovation in Education.
- The training needs to provide immediately-useable tools that do not require preparation or resource-making to implement!
- Finally, I’m often told by teachers that the real icing on the cake for a truly brilliant INSET is… well – real icing…on real cakes…
INSET for Primary, Secondary, FE, HE, Teachers, T.A.s and Leaders!
I’m always happy to tailor Teaching and Learning CPD to the needs of your organisation. Your establishment doesn’t get a “One Size Fits All” package PowerPoint – your colleagues receive a bespoke training event, built and delivered to meet the focuses of your most current Improvement Plan. I’ll be delighted to talk with you about the needs and interests of your staff and learners.
Below are some of the most popular CPD focuses at the moment. We can also blend a number of these concepts into a whole day event!