1. Planning your CPD Session 1 of CPD programme for teaching vulnerable learners and those on community orders or probation 1

1. Planning your CPD

Session 1 of CPD programme for teaching vulnerable learners and those

on community orders or probation

1

Our programme enables and offers…

• Independent delivery of CPD sessions by those working within organisations

• Guidance and resources for collective CPD sessions in small or large groups

• Collective participation in and development of CPD• An accessible overview and a framework for CPD

rather than many detailed sessions

2Planning your CPD programme

Programme strengths

• Evidence-based • Gives space for reflection on your own knowledge of

good practice• Gives specific guidance for teachers of offender-

learners who are serving a sentence or are on probation

• Also relevant to the teaching other disadvantaged groups


CPD: A definition

‘It is the process by which, alone and with others, teachers review, renew and extend their commitment as change agents to the moral purposes of teaching; and by which they acquire and develop critically the knowledge, skills and emotional intelligence essential to good professional thinking, planning and practice.’

Day (2008) Continuing Professional Development (p4)


Who is the programme aimed at?

• The programme is designed for professionals who teach people serving a sentence or on probation

• It is also relevant for teachers or trainers of learners with a criminal record– 30 per cent of males over the age of 30 have a criminal

conviction

• There is also much which is relevant for teaching other disadvantaged learners– For example, exit strategies and working with employers.


Principles to follow in CPD

• Should have a coherent plan for at least the medium term

• Should be relevant to teachers in your organisation and context

• Should involve teachers in active, collective participation in CPD

• Should develop teachers’ knowledge of subject content, pedagogy and underlying principles

• Should offer continuing support for teachers to translate new ideas into practice


Structure of the CPD programme

• We have designed 9 sessions for which there are three types of materials– A set of slides/lecture notes which offer information– A task or tasks which involve participants in discussion,

trying out activities, etc.– A set of resources to support the session but also to support

practitioners in implementing ideas in the classroom and beyond


List of sessions


The evidence base

• Wherever possible the material in this CPD programme is based on national and international evidence relating to teaching and learning of people with criminal records, it also often draws on evidence from the teaching and learning of Adult Basic Skills

• The CPD programme draws on accounts of good practice from practitioners and learners

• The CPD programme recognises your own teaching experience as evidence and gives space for this


Evidence-based principles of the CPD

• Promote learner-focussed teaching that encourages autonomous learning– Learners need to know why they are doing something, their

motivation needs to be nurtured, they need to critically review their own work to make progress

• Support participatory teaching methods• Support sound subject knowledge among teachers• Support communities of practice


Why these principles matter (1)

• Teachers benefit from sound subject knowledge– Frequently not so much about the teacher being able to

perform a particular task (eg comprehend a passage, calculate area and perimeter)

– More importantly, the teacher benefits from having an explicit knowledge of the processes involved, so that they can explain them


Why these principles matter (2)

• It is helpful to understand the difficulties students experience with specific subject matter– An awareness of learners’ conceptions and misconceptions

is invaluable to the teacher, and comes from dialogue between teacher and student which can result from participatory methods


Communities of Practice (1)

• Communities of practice are ‘groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly’ (Wenger 2006)

• Both action and reflection are required, and both have individual and social dimensions



For example, if you were trying out different ways of motivating learners from session 5 you would need:

1. to see how they worked in practice

2. to reflect individually

3. to share and reflect with colleagues

4. to consider how to take on to the next stage



• The reflection should have a ‘critical edge’• Communities of Practice have a shared focus but

should have a creative, informal and enjoyable feel where everyone can speak

• As part of the CPD, group sessions should be scheduled where teachers, managers, learning support assistants can work on selected tasks, planning, reflecting, reviewing, and sharing resources


Over to you

• CPD – you know the score, in the end you have to do the work to develop your practice

• Here we try to provide you with some good ideas and to facilitate your work with others

• You need to make space to apply these ideas and to set up working groups with other professionals (even one other is better than going it alone)

Please turn to the Session 1 Activity to plan your CPD with others in your organisation


Materials in this CPD were devised by the following members of the Institute of Education: Brian Creese (numeracy), Jay Derrick (assessment and embedding), Jane Hurry (motivation and exit strategies), Maria Kambouri (ICT), Irene Schwab (literacy) and John Vorhaus (continuing professional development and learner contexts)

Helpful suggestions and comments were made by Joe Shamash and Olivia Varley-Winter at City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development.

If you would like to contact us please email Jane Hurry at [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

The CPD FrameworkAn outline of the sessions


Documents

1. Planning your CPD Session 1 of CPD programme for teaching vulnerable learners and those on community orders or probation 1