Self-development

Self-development

using the 2014 Professional Standards

A guide for practitioners

Introduction

3

1 Self Assessment against the 2014

Professional Standards

4

2 Identifying Continuing Personal and Professional Development Needs 8

3 Planning CPD

12

Introduction

In May 2014, following a consultation with teachers and staff from across all areas of education and training, the Education and Training Foundation launched a new set of Professional Standards for the sector. The consultation spoke to staff in colleges, private training providers, adult and community learning providers, from different sizes of institution and to those who work closely with teaching staff both as leaders and more widely.

The key aspect of these standards, driven by the desires of our sector, was to make the new Professional Standards a set of aspirations, not a list of competencies. It was and is a different way to look at what skills and attributes a member of teaching staff may need, and how they may want to develop throughout their career. Whilst this is an empowering step, and one that gives a teacher control of their own professional destiny, it has also brought a clear challenge ? how should a teacher, trainer, assessor or other member of the learning profession understand these standards and interpret them for their own setting and their own career?

To help answer this question, the Foundation commissioned a range of education providers throughout 2014 ? 15 to create a set of `how to' guides for the standards. The full set of documents can be found on the Excellence Gateway .uk. As we looked through these guides, it became clear that the most powerful lessons in the work these providers had done would be best shared in one place, bringing simple but effective ways to engage and develop yourself through the professional standards into this one guidance document. Everything shared in this guidance has been tested in workplaces already, and shown to have a positive impact on those involved. We hope this will be your experience as you use them.

All of the resources in this document are simple to modify and personalise to your own setting. They are intended as guides, rather than a perfect solution for your own situation. They may be used individually, or as a suite of resources in a `workbook' for yourself or your staff. We do feel however that working through these in a contextualised way will benefit teachers who seek to develop, using the Professional Standards as a vehicle.

3

1 Self Assessment against the 2014 Professional Standards

What are they, and how can I use them?

To best understand what the Professional Standards are, and what they expect from you as an educational professional, two self assessment tools (one paper-based and one online) were developed by Easton & Otley College to provide a method for identifying the potential CPD needs of teaching staff based on their own confidence against the aspirational statements of the 2014 Professional Standards.

The tools are aimed at individual practitioners, QA managers and HR/Staff development managers in institutions and, in addition, at providers of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) for use with trainee teachers. They provide a simple, quick and effective way to understand how well you currently perform against the standards.

4

Self-development using the 2014 Professional Standards

How to use the tool: Self-assessment tool 1: A paper based self-assessment resource

The self-assessment tool lists the 20 Professional Standards. Each statement is scored 1 to 6. If you score yourself below 3 on any area it is a good indicator that some form of CPD might be helpful for you. Because you can see your scores across all areas, you will pick up rapidly on the parts of your teaching role that you self-assess to be the strongest and weakest.

The total score is added up and recorded (between 20 and 120) at A at the bottom of the form.

It is important to bear in mind this is a SELF assessment tool. You may feel as an individual that your skills require improvement in a way that your peers or management may disagree with. This kind of exploration of your current engagement with the Professional Standards is most effective if you are completely honest, even if that means accepting that there are some parts of your work where support or training might be a real priority. If this improves outcomes for yourself and your learners this is something that your employer should be supportive about.

If this tool is used as a developmental activity in teams or across entire organisations, central staff development work can be better planned to address what the staff as a group feel is a weakness (although here working online may be easier to collate).

Following any CPD activity it is straightforward to revisit your scores ? in the areas that were targeted and more widely. So, for both individuals and managers there is a quantitative measurement of the impact of the CPD activity on the individual (or on a department/ institution).

As a simple staff development tool, this can also work well in appraisal situations where you discuss with a peer or line manager how you feel you score against the standards. If used in this way, we would recommend it is allied with the work used in the later stages of this document or some other form of clear CPD plan.

An online version of the self assessment tool

A similar online version of the paper-based tool has been developed. It will be available on our website at etfoundation.co.uk/professionalstandards from late July 2015.

Stage 1 | Self Assessment against the 2014 Professional Standards

5

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download