Good Practice Conference Completes Hat-Trick For Teacher Development

31 May 2008

The final three GTCW-funded shared practice conferences recently held concluded a series of ten extremely successful events, organised in collaboration with local authorities and other organisations such as Autism Cymru.

The first session kicked off in February with a leadership and management conference for Bridgend LEA, during which around 50 head-teachers and middle leaders from the county participated in leadership workshops on a variety of topics. One topic was the impact of effective school improvement and development planning on standards and was run by Sian Evans, head-teacher at Arch Deacon Lewis School Brackla. Sian presented the findings of a study of school planning across schools in a number of counties in South Wales and Mid-Glamorgan she had completed last year thanks to a GTCW sabbatical.

She commented; ‘My research findings were very well received by the workshop, which contained a large number of deputy head-teachers. I presented the results to the group in order to share practice in different schools as opposed to identifying a right or wrong way of doing things. It was clear that I had given the group food for thought and some useful information on different practices.”

Michelle Young from Plasnewydd Primary School led a workshop on leading and managing support staff effectively and commented; “I was approached by the LEA to provide a workshop for delegates, sharing good practice within the authority and also highlighting how GTCW funding has afforded me the opportunity to further my professional development. Our aim was to demonstrate how our personal development has made an impact on us, our pupils and our school. Following work with Autism Cymru I developed strategies and resources for support assistants, and then went on to work on professional development for support assistants within my school. During the workshop, ideas and strategies were shared for inducting new support staff, including equipping them with the tools required to help children in a variety of situations.”

Les Philips, school development officer at Bridgend LEA said; “The day was very successful and I am extremely pleased with the results and reactions from the leaders present. GTCW funding has enabled this event to take place and I took forward to work together again in the future for the benefit of teachers in the authority.”

Early in March a further event “Teachers Talking about Learning” was held in Cardiff where over 70 Cardiff classroom teachers spent the day sharing knowledge and best practice regarding learning techniques in colleague-led workshops.

Dawn Stevens and Caroline Neudegg of Trelai Primary School introduced a session on the best ways to teach sustainable development and global citizenship in the classroom. Dawn commented; “Caroline and I worked together with five separate schools and pulled together a programme of activities at Trelai over two weeks. We taught the children about challenging stereotypes as part of Global Citizenship Week, they took part in a range of activities and welcomed a Young Person’s Environment Trust officer to the school for a visit. Taking part in this LEA dissemination conference has proven very useful to both of us as we don’t always have the time to sit and listen to other teachers in the area to share experience and knowledge.”

The trio of dissemination events concluded with Rhondda Cynon Taff LEA and ‘Sharing Good Practice’ which included sessions on the new skills framework, budget planning, critical thinking and community focused schools. The delegates comprised of deputy head-teachers from across Wales who had spent the last year working in groups on shared areas of interest, many of them utilising GTCW funding to enable this to happen.

Kevin Stroud, deputy head-teacher at Hendre Primary School presented along with Imogen Baker of Blaengwawr Primary and Graham Phillips of Coed-pen-maen Primary their findings on community focused schools. Kevin commented; “Today was a great opportunity for us to share our work with other deputy heads. Using GTCW funding we have completed visits to community focused schools and built a picture of what this actually means, as well as providing some useful tools for schools who wish to get involved. Today was also useful for us as deputy heads as we were able to gain some insight and opinion from our counterparts within the LEA.”

Selwyn Jones of Rhondda Cynon Taff LEA, co-organised the event with GTCW and commented; “Feedback from all the delegates described the event as a full and informative day, and a number of the teachers expressed a desire to take part in similar networking activities in the new financial year. These activities also go part way towards fulfilment of the Welsh Assembly Government School effectiveness framework.”

Hayden Llewellyn, deputy chief executive of GTCW commented; “GTCW is extremely pleased to be able to work with local education authorities and other stakeholders in this way through collaborative events. Sharing practice is invaluable for improving standards and these events have provided an ideal opportunity for this to happen. I look forward to seeing more of these knowledge and practice sharing events in the future.”