Introduction
Kate Atkins leads Professional Development Lead across fifteen schools at Synergy Multi-Academy Trust, all located in rural mid and north Norfolk
She has worked with TDT to network and learn from others in similar roles, as well as benefit from the advice of experts in CPD leadership.
What was the challenge?
Before joining the trust central team, Kate was a headteacher and spent significant time leading on professional development including facilitating and delivering CPD as well as working with ITT students and ECTs. As is the case for many CPD Leads, she hadn’t had an opportunity to engage in any professional development specifically around leading staff development.
When Kate started to work with us at TDT, she was still relatively new to the role, balancing it with other responsibilities, and considered herself a novice. She needed to transition from leading CPD in a single school to collaborating with multiple heads aligning diverse intentions.
Kate was looking to engage with TDT to equip her with an understanding of how to better gain buy-in from busy school leaders, who often act as gatekeepers to school-wide initiatives.
Furthermore, she wanted support in working collaboratively with these leaders to ensure professional development was relevant and contextualised, alongside the creation of effective central structures.
An additional complexity for Kate, one faced by many in similar roles, were the multiple challenges she was presented with simultaneously, all relating to the different ways of working across the trust. Overcoming these hurdles required sense-making and engaging in opportunities to see things from different perspectives, requiring her to gain expertise which would enhance her effectiveness in the role for both her own development and for the benefit of the schools she supported.
What did we do?
One of TDT’s Professional Learning Leads supported Kate to reflect on her current practice and develop potential solutions to the challenges she faced. Opportunities to reflect on solutions through a series of supported sessions enabled Kate to adapt her leadership approach to suit the needs of her trust.
In preparation for sessions, content was tailored to Kate’s needs, empowering her with greater agency and autonomy over her own professional development and enabling her to feel confident that she would be tackling issues that were relevant to her and her context, not one size fits all.
Throughout the programme, Kate was signposted to relevant supporting resources and research, saving her time on independent research. She found that being given quality time to discuss challenges without interruption allowed her to fully explore her own thinking before then benefitting from the insights of others.
‘The fact that I was getting expert input from people in real world settings with the headspace to think was really, really useful. I think because I was solving problems that I was working on day-to-day, it didn’t feel like additional work.’
What has been the outcome so far?
Working with TDT has enabled Kate to more carefully consider her approach to the trust CPD and she is now able to work with greater clarity. She has been actively trying to ring-fence time for reading and research – inspired by the programme.
Kate has integrated a tailored and evidence based CPD approach with confidence, including an improved evaluation system, enabling her to provide more robust data on impact.
This has also allowed her to shift towards tailoring CPD content in advance based on the needs identified by her colleagues across the schools. Kate now feels more equipped to make evidence-based recommendations to those at all levels across the trust moving her from novice to expert.
What’s working well?
TDT’s blended learning approach, combining expert research, peer learning, and dedicated reflection time has provided Kate with valuable insights and practical tools to enhance professional development across the trust.
Our contextualised approach was a significant strength for Kate. She has been able to gain immediate ‘wins’ by implementing tools and strategies like focused evaluation and needs-led CPD, whilst also further developing her strategic and evidence-based approach for the longer term based on the particular needs of her trust.
If you’re new to CPD Leadership, you might enjoy our Foundation in CPD Leadership Programme
