Calder High School

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Download a copy of the CPD policy document by clicking on the picture.

Executive Summary

CPD is defined as anything we do, structured or not, which adds to professional knowledge, enhances professional skills and leads to an improvement in the quality of students’ learning and school experience.

All staff, whether teaching or non-teaching, must take responsibility for their own professional development and should strive to become reflective practitioners.

Much of our CPD activity should be based within school, closely integrated with the routine practices of classroom-based staff and should involve teachers and other classroom-based staff working together in small teams.

The school values and will support a broad range of development opportunities for all staff, beyond simply attending external events.

The identification of training needs is an ongoing two way process involving personal reflection and both performance management and line-management conversations with reference to the relevant TDA standards.

The school will hold a database of skills existent within the staff. This database, to which all staff have access, will provide information on what training staff have undertaken and their resultant areas of expertise. Training will be tracked/accessible by name, faculty, professional area of expertise, action points and cost. This will be the first port of call for any identified training need.

Attendance at external events will only be approved when the expertise is not held in house. All external training carries an obligation to train in turn within the school.

Structured in-service training for staff will be divided annually into: one day in September for the annual welcome, introductions, setting whole school priorities and administration/preparation; one full day in April for the moderation of coursework; one full day to address the year’s development priorities; one day disaggregated into 5 calendared one-hour faculty twilight training sessions to address teaching and learning priorities within the faculty; one day disaggregated into 5 calendared one-hour CPD training sessions to address personal CPD priorities identified in performance review.

Faculty Leaders will be accountable for the impact their faculty spend on CPD has on standards of achievement within the faculty. CPD impact and value for money will be analysed in the first FIM meeting of the year.

Financial resources will be allocated in such a way as to ensure that training meets identified priorities in the School Improvement Plan or the Faculty Improvement Plan.

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Coaching at Calder High School

Coaching is about unlocking potential in order to maximise performance – it is about bringing out the best in people. In order to achieve this within an environment in which there are also strong accountabilities, it is important that coaching is a voluntary process that builds upon people’s desires and aspirations. This does not mean that tough professional issues are avoided or the rigour of professional development compromised.

What are the benefits of coaching?

Coaching is:

personalised professional learning for staff within schools;
a process that promotes self-directed professional learning;
a learning-centred mode of professional dialogue;
a process that builds capacity for leadership;
a process that therefore leads to improvement within teams and the whole school.

Coaching can lead to an individual having enhanced self-confidence, willingness and capacity to learn and change, greater knowledge and understanding, a wider repertoire of teaching and learning strategies and increased confidence in the power of teaching to make a difference.

What does a coach do?

The GROW model outlines four basic components or stages in the coaching process that a coach needs to lead a coachee through:

G – GOALS What do you want?

R – REALITY What is happening now?

O – OPTIONS What could you do?

W – WAY FORWARD What will you do?

First and foremost, a coach will have the ability to form and sustain learning relationships. To achieve these, coaches need to:

establish high levels of trust;
be consistent over time;
offer genuine respect;
be honest, frank and open;
challenge without threat.

Coaching is not about:

making judgements;
offering counselling;
creating dependency;
imposing agendas or initiatives;
confirming long-held prejudices.

Although specialist coaches may offer guidance, it is important that teachers understand that they are responsible for directing their own teaching and learning, and that the role of the coach is to support their learning in a non-judgmental way.

It is also crucial that the member of staff being coached understands the nature of coaching interaction and there should be an expectation to be supported via skilful questioning, rather than being offered solutions to their problems.

A coach can offer ideas, suggestions and timely information when the coachee seeks this level of guidance. However, it is vital that coaches are aware that this can discourage self-direction and block sustainable learning.

In order to move through the GROW stages in the coaching process, the coach will probably do many of the following:

identify the likely number of coaching sessions required to help the coachee achieve his/her goals;
clarify the expectations of the coaching session;
help the coachee identify a focus or development goal;
identify the motivation for the goal;
encourage the coachee to take responsibility for development;
identify strengths of prior knowledge and skills;
help identify how strengths can help address the goal;
help identify alternative sources of knowledge;
support an enquiry process;
encourage experimentation and risk-taking;
break down the coachee’s goal into component parts;
help the coachee address each component part;
support the synthesis of components;
support the learner in raising their self-awareness;
bring attention to the cognitive processes involved;
bring attention to the feelings involved and support the management of those emotions;
direct the coachee to observe/talk to specialists who can model desired practice, or model them him/herself;
support the practice of new behaviour and emphasise that repetition consolidates new learning (practice makes perfect);
review the coaching session with the learner to reflect on the learning process;
celebrate successes with the learner.

During the process the coach should also be self-reflective and:

aware of the cognitive and learning processes being modelled;
reviewing their own understanding of the goal in focus;
reflecting on their own learning about the goal;
reflecting on the learning process and their role as coach;
recognising their own developing skills and knowledge.

A good coach should use the following:

Appropriate body language:

suitable posture;
sensitive eye contact;
reinforcing and affirming gestures;
open and positive, non-threatening, non-intimidating;
attentive body language to signal attention.

Questioning for understanding:

use of open questions – what, when, where, who?
ask probing questions – how much, how often, how many?
avoid closed and leading questions;
start broad – explore and be curious;
question to narrow focus;
use of questions to test, check and clarify.

Listening for meaning:

positive engagement;
be alert to what is important to the coachee;
tune in to what is not being said/ inconsistency;
regular summarising;
accommodate and value silence.

Giving feedback:

specific and focus on evidence;
show understanding;
checking feelings and emotions;
summarising.

Communication:

clear and concise use of language;
appropriate vocabulary;
confirming and clarifying.

Managing structured coaching sessions:

agreeing the agenda;
managing time;
reaching consensus;
maintaining the focus.

Personal qualities:

sense of humour;
empathy and rapport;
non-judgemental;
supportive and engaged;
honesty;
enthusiasm;
optimism.