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Teachers, like their students, are always learning. But how can you use this to boost your professional development? Where might you find opportunities to develop leadership skills or take on more responsibility? And how do you get the support you need?
In our recent online Q&A, we brought together a panel of experts to share their advice. Here’s a roundup of the discussion.
Show that you want to grow
My first thought is to ensure that teachers develop themselves to be the best teachers they can be, acquiring skills, knowledge and experiences before they think about moving into management and leadership.
Rachel Lofthouse, professor of teacher education at the Carnegie School of Education, Leeds Beckett University
One of the critical attributes I look for is a willingness to learn and an interest in the school beyond your own job. Being able to take feedback well – not being defensive but equally not being too self-effacing – is really important. Demonstrate you want to learn and make sure your behaviour shows that too.
Liz Robinson, co-head of Surrey Square Primary School and chair of governors at the International Academy of Greenwich
If you have your eye on a specific role or job, research it, find out what the gaps are in your experience, then be proactive about filling them.
Naomi Ward, education consultant and coach and former teacher and middle leader at a south London school
Get experience outside the classroom
There are a number of benefits to taking on out-of-school roles, including the perspective they can give you on young people, communities and society. They also give you time to be yourself, rather than [just] a teacher, so you clear your head of some of the hassles of the job.
Rachel Lofthouse
It’s good to take on projects like organising a trip or running a club. It shows that you’re developing and demonstrates organisation and leadership skills. However, don’t be tempted to take on so much that you can’t comfortably keep on top of your other work. Extra-curricular involvement is important, but it’s wise to focus on the classroom in your first few years.
David Weston, founder and chief executive of the Teacher Development Trust and chair of the Department for Education’s Teacher Development Expert Group
Look for opportunities to develop and demonstrate your line management, leadership, budgeting and planning skills. Choose something that’s of value to the school, and obviously one that you’re passionate about. Great continuing professional development is a combination of theory and practice. This is where I think The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award can help teachers ... as they prove their management and leadership credentials.
Peter Singleton, director of the south-east region for
There needs to be time allocated for teachers to get clear on who they are, what they want from their careers and what they need to strategically engage in for their development. Coaching is central to this. Having time to think through what you need and reminding yourself of the expertise you already have is gold.
Learn from others
There is so much to be learned from watching how other people do things and reflecting on that – the good and the bad. Intentional observation, alongside some relevant reading, can be really powerful in leadership development.
Liz Robinson
Align yourself with effective leaders in your school, find out what they do and then create opportunities to work alongside them. Meet and talk about leadership with a leader. Ask if you could be involved with a small-scale leadership project, to gain some experience. Ask if a leader is willing to offer some advice/guidance on implementing a new idea that you are interested in.
Shaun Allison, author of Perfect Teacher-Led CPD, co-author of Making Every Lesson Count and deputy headteacher at Durrington High School
There needs to be time allocated for teachers to get clear on who they are, what they want from their careers and what they need to strategically engage in for their development. Coaching is central to this. Having time to think through what you need and reminding yourself of the expertise you already have is gold.
Naomi Ward
Find and create supportive networks
Many schools are organising regular weekly time, in-house, for teachers to meet, plan lessons, review previous lessons and look at student work together. Alongside this, teachers [can] go out to courses, bring expert consultants and experienced teachers in to work with them, and read books, blogs and research. There are some fantastic and inexpensive conferences run by teachers for teachers at weekends. Check out ResearchED, for example.
David Weston
Lots of people like TeachMeets, so why not do something similar in your school during inset time? It doesn’t need to take long but can provide some nice “sparks” for teachers to think about developing in their subject. This page explains how we do it at our school.