After coming across TDT in her first year as a Deputy Headteacher, Collette was empowered to make a positive impact at her school through her learnings on the CPD Leadership course.
Before the Course
Collette Wade had recently started her role as the deputy head of Thomas A’ Becket Infant School, a large, 6-form entry school in West Sussex. The school has continuously been seen as a good one. There was high retention among the 80+ members of staff and positive feedback from parents/carers about their child’s experience whilst at the school.
However, in her new role and having moved through the school from a newly qualified teacher to Senior Leadership, Collette was excited for the school to develop and improve, moving beyond good, towards excellence. It was determined that improving the provision for professional development amongst staff would be an effective way to do this.
She describes her first experience of TDT, attending a conference presentation by our founder, David Weston, on “Unleashing Great Teaching”.
“I literally sat there and had a light bulb moment of this is what I want to do, this is what our school needs and I’d love to lead in it. So that was the start of TDT’s inspiration.”
Collette returned from the conference full of ideas for making a difference at her school. Seeking support for the change she envisioned, she got in contact with TDT. From there, she signed up for an upcoming cohort of the Associate Qualification in CPD Leadership.
Starting the CPD Leadership Course
“I really enjoyed it. It was hard work as you are doing it alongside your role in school, so you must organise your time, but it was brilliant, motivating and so purposeful. Everything that you do for the course is beneficial in terms of your role in your setting.”
The course is created for anyone whose role includes leading, embedding and improving models of teaching and learning across a school. It starts with gaining a solid understanding of the research around CPD, why and when it’s effective, and how to build a school culture which supports it.
Learners are taught in online sessions with expert trainers, as well as through one-to-one coaching calls. They are additionally given resources and reading to discover outside of sessions and invited to observe practice at a nearby school if possible.
“I think I have amused my colleagues, in the nicest possible way, with the amount of reading and research articles that I have been sending via email or printing off for them! It’s been very thought provoking and has evoked, a huge amount of discussion and reflection for us as a school.… It really helps you to understand that CPD will improve teacher performance, as it impacts positively on your children.”
After this grounding in the research, participants are asked to examine and reflect on the current provision in their setting. This is because CPD can’t be a one-size-all approach, staff training, and development must be suited to the school culture, context, and the team who will be developing their skills.
Find our More about the CPD Leadership Programme
In Collette’s case, she started the course alongside her school signing up for our diagnostic review of their internal CPD, which helped her to capture a very clear idea of staff attitudes towards professional development as well as a picture of everything that was currently offered. This would form a starting point to Collette’s action plan for the future.
“The course leaders are incredibly knowledgeable and the sessions, they whizz by. There’s so much information that you leave the course just buzzing! I made some supportive connections with colleagues from other settings as well and we discussed things outside of the course days too relevant to our settings/roles.”
Developing as a Leader
“You learn a lot about yourself. I would definitely say, when I’m enthusiastic and passionate about something, I just want to get going with that and I realised that I needed to make sure that I involved people…collaborate, get their opinions. You need to be reflective and honest and help others to do that too. It requires a real shift and thinking and culture.”
Throughout the course, Collette learned about how to get her staff on board for improvement projects. This involved listening to input from others, clearly sharing the goals of any new changes, and giving evidence that they would be effective. She found the coaching calls and email support included in the CPDL particularly valuable for staying on track with this, reaching out whenever she needed to.
“You need to ensure that the staff know that you’re going to invest time and resources in order to achieve things, it’s not going to happen overnight. It takes time and as a leader that’s been the biggest learning process for me, to take time. It’s OK to say we’re not ready yet, but we will be ready then and then it will be even better. Also, just the clear message about the link between improving the children’s outcomes, especially the most disadvantaged pupils.”
Turning Evidence into Action
A large part of the CPDL course is where participants are coached through creating a bespoke CPD transformation plan for their school.
“It’s almost like your action plan, what you’re going to do going forward, it all makes sense. It’s very joined up thinking.”
This is where all the previous work comes together. Using the proven strategies and principles found in the research, learners work out how the CPD provision at their school will move from its current status to truly meeting the needs of all staff and improving outcomes for pupils.
“I have never used research so much in terms of informing decisions and providing the reasoning behind why we’re doing things. It’s been incredible this year to design a CPD programme where the research is the foundation to everything. Instantly, when you stand up and talk about that with staff during professional learning meetings, there’s a huge shift in everyone’s mindset about why we’re doing things”
The Ongoing Impact at School
“Would I recommend working with the TDT? Absolutely! … To be in the first few years of being a deputy head, to feel like I’ve had such an impact on my school and it’s really only the beginning stages for us, that’s been really inspiring and I’m very proud to have the Associate Qualification and I wear that logo very proudly on my e-mail signature! I would highly recommend.”
Thomas A’ Becket Infant School signed up for a 2 year impact package with TDT to support their continuing work on making Professional Development at their school better and better.
Collette and her colleagues continue to grow in their approach to developing their practise together. One of the most successful things she implemented as an organic impact of the course was a new staffing structure in which there were more opportunities for collaboration amongst subject teams and cross-phases.
They additionally rolled out a Coaching Programme both at Thomas A’ Becket and across the locality. This proved to be fundamental to the development of reflective practice and professional development.
“We had a very productive INSET day in the last academic year where we did that together. What did we want the children’s outcomes to look like in our school? That was a really positive experience.”
Collette cites the course as having a huge impact. It’s changed how she’s been able to shift perspectives on the impact of CPD within the school team, moving them into a more consistent, sustainable approach that’s backed by research.
“How we use research – that’s been huge. We’ve always been a school and staff where, you know, people will go on courses, and they’ll come back, and they’ll deliver staff training and we’re very enthusiastic. We’ll go with those and give it a try. But it’s that understanding that you need to use evidence-based research and then give time and structure to make sure that it’s implemented effectively. It is securing the understanding for people that the CPD provision’s sole main purpose is to improve our children’s outcomes.”
We thank Colette for agreeing to share her experience.
If you take a part in leading the CPD provision at your school, or aspire to do so, our CPD Leadership course could be for you.
Over 8 months, our experts give you the knowledge of what really works across different schools and studies, assist you in creating a bespoke approach, suited to your school, and give you the chance to network with others with the responsibility for school CPD.
