Empowering New Staff
Training new staff to become effective teachers of their industry expertise
The Sheffield College
14-18 & 19+
Further Education & Higher Education
1,300 professional staff
13,700 students
Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK
SITUATION
Dual professionals
Further education colleges need teachers with recent experience in a variety of trades. But colleges don’t have the time or resources to offer a year-long initial training and induction programme. As an alternative, what’s needed is a way of giving these key professionals the skills to pass on their knowledge to students from the get-go — to fast-track them to the basics of effective teaching.
New staff starting throughout the year
Analysis of learning walks and staff surveys identified a significant number of newly qualified staff who had Having new staff joining colleges throughout the year makes the task still more complex and challenging. Such a New Staff Programme needs to take place throughout the year, repeated every term.
Access and practicality
Leaders had undertaken different pathways into their roles, with some having backgrounds in teaching and Above all, the danger is of subjecting new staff to a series of deadening lectures that don’t appear to offer them an obvious and direct route to being an effective teacher. New staff need to become informed and inspired.
THEORY
Aligning the content
In order to send messages that link together into an increasingly powerful thread, the content was aligned in the following menu:
Model of Learning | Willingham’s simple memory model to form a shared understanding of how learning happens in whatever context it happens
MARGE model | an overview of how to best prepare students’ hearts and minds ready for great learning
Model of Learning | a shared and easily understood model of how learning technically happens across all contexts
The College 6-Step Framework | A granular match up with the WalkThrus putting the above factors into practice.
The aim is that this mix of theory, models and practical strategies will appeal to the new staff, giving them the confidence that they are equipped to start their teaching careers positively. Evidence-informed CPD.
ACTION
12-week programme
This programme will run each term and can be seen as a stepping-stone to a PGCE commitment. It will be a taught programme, led by Steven and will have a graduation. Its content comprises:
Session 1 | Underpinning Principles of Learning
A model for learning
How memories are constructed
Why don’t students like school
Rosenshine’s principles of instruction
Session 2 | Behaviour & Relationships
Positive relationships
Establish your expectations
Getting lessons started
Ending lessons
Session 3 & 4 | Explaining & Modelling
Session 5 & 6 | Questioning & Feedback
Session 7 & 8 | Practice & Retrieval
Session 9 & 10 | Mode B Teaching
Session 11 | Curriculum Planning
Session 12 | Summary & Review
RESULTS
Quote number 1
The WalkThrus have been very helpful in coaching the GCSE maths staff. One main area was that of practice and retrieval - the cohort are, for the majority, re-sit learners. Following discussions, I have seen knowledge organisers used very effectively for the start of exam revision, weekly and monthly reviews implemented more intentionally and the ladder of difficulty to allow learners to start to make connections required for the problem solving questions. The WalkThrus resources made it so simple to embed evidence-based approaches, with staff being able to revisit the resources or add further strategies to their practice.
Quote number 2
Moving forward into peak revision time, we are starting to look at some live modelling using questions that are new to the teachers. An area that learners historically struggle with is knowing where to start — and this with metacognitive talk should prove useful.
TAKE-AWAYS
Accessibility
The key factor behind the success has been strong leadership: the SIO ensuring clarity and sustained focus The content has to be easy to find, easy to read and quick to yield results.
Pedagogical curiosity
Beyond the effectiveness of content, there is another facet that sustains professional development. Igniting a real sense of curiosity drives further learning and collaboration. Both of which are supported by the ease of accessibility of the material.
Coaching culture
The main vehicle for professional growth is a culture that has coaching at its core.
Coaches are vital
The prospect of future success coaching is dependent on the quality of the coaches
Evidence informed
And the totality of the above is built on the confidence gained from knowing the material is based on evidence.
Writen By
Steven Spence