This time of year provides an opportune moment to pause, reflect and look ahead for opportunities to encourage growth, renewal and progress within our teaching practice.
Whether it’s refining our strategies to support pupil wellbeing, evolving our curriculum to prepare students for a dynamic future or enhancing staff CPD through purposeful coaching and collaboration, this is an ideal opportunity to evaluate what’s thriving in our schools and explore areas that are primed for change.
Achieving and thriving (part one)
Amid new data last week from Teacher Tapp that shows three-quarters of teachers say their most recent lesson was interrupted by poor behaviour, it’s clear something in the relationship between students and schools isn’t right.
With behaviour as with mental health, I believe the key is a whole-school approach that weaves robust strategies into the day-to-day aspects of everyday school life. The end goal is to ensure that each child’s wellbeing is being nurtured just as intentionally as their academic development.
A new blog from the Department for Education echoes this with a whole-school approach to pupil premium, ensuring every penny is invested in ways that nurture each child’s potential as part of a culture of “achieving and thriving”, to quote education secretary Bridget Phillipson’s recent wording.
Written by Oakdene Primary Academy headteacher, Elizabeth Bramley, the blog sets out the school’s four-pronged approach. It’s short on detail, but it nevertheless shows the importance of ensuring strategy and implementation go hand in hand.
“Our pupils are active participants in the creation of a positive school culture,” says Bramley.
It’s almost as if creating an environment where pupils feel seen and heard can have a significant positive impact on their wellbeing and learning. Who knew?
Achieving and thriving (part two)
Of course, delivering all this depends on staff wellbeing and progress too. Fortuitously, the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust has also refreshed its senior mental health lead (SMHL) training programme this week.
The course, approved by the Department for Education (DfE), helps schools implement whole-school approaches to mental health that will leave its graduates equipped to support and empower young people and staff alike.
It’s certainly a well-timed intervention, and it confirms we’ve been going in the right direction. Our own tailored programmes have been running for years and consistently show how impactful SMHL roles can be in addressing both universal and specific mental health needs.
Given the consistent refrain across the sector about the poor quality of so much professional development (CPD), this course could represent a welcome change.
Coaching conversations (one and two)
But going back to our initial point about strategy and implementation, how can we than make sure such CPD delivers the whole-school impact it should?
In our school’s experience, coaching is one of the most powerful tools for making sure it does. I’ve been exploring resources this week, and I was struck by the practical advice offered in an old episode of The Staffroom podcast.
It’s an irreverent and often hilarious podcast, so it’s worth going back to for a good laugh from time to time. And as this episode shows, there’s plenty to learn even when we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
If we didn’t, we’d perhaps find it much easier to implement a genuine and effective coaching culture.
A much more recent podcast from Leading Learning features an interview with Danish learning and development expert Annasofie Wædeled-Møller. In it, she argues that we too often put the cart before the horse with regards to theory and practice.
Instead of going from the safety of theory to the perils of practice, she argues, we should create safe spaces for teachers to face low-stakes challenges, refine their craft and grow as professionals
Our own use of regular coaching check-ins for staff speak for themselves. Enhanced confidence, a stronger sense of purpose and a ripple effect of positivity is benefitting the whole school community.
The takeaway this week? Whether it’s mental health, attainment or staff development, schools thrive when they focus on growth and adaptability. A perfect message for this time of new beginnings and resolutions!
Your thoughts