A new way forward for RE continuing professional development?

A couple of months ago I started a thread on the RE:ONLINE Café about what an outstanding RE Continuing Professional Development (CPD) session might look like. The question arose after reading a thought provoking article in the Times Education Supplement entitled ‘The seven deadly sins of teacher development’ (TES 21.6.13).

David Weston, Chief Executive of the  Teacher Development Trust  highlighted sins such as passivity: the depressingly long twilight session based on a Power Point, through to overconfidence of the ‘novelty factor’. He showed how superficiality had led to new educational theory being watered down, so that the research was not discussed or understood. In particular, he related this to professional development linked to assessment for learning. For Weston, the superficial nature of professional development has gone hand in hand with gluttony. He describes this as an overload of new initiatives and ideas, none of which are ever embedded or sustained. In his short article, Weston suggests that as teacher educators and advisers, we must focus on learning needs of young people so that professional development is about refining and evaluating practice.

With increasing pressure on school budgets for professional development, the case for ensuring it is effective could never be more crucial. If the increasing use of the RE:ONLINE Café and take up of places for the Culham St Gabriel’s leadership conference at the end of September is anything to go by, RE teachers are thirsty for learning.

In 2011, The Centre for Education Research and Policy brought together a number of independent studies and reviews from around the world and identified six features of effective CPD. They claimed that CPD needs to:

• Be based on identified learning needs of both pupils and teachers
• Be sustained, with long term aims
• Be subject specific
• Be based in the classroom and classroom practice
• Be collaborative, ensuring reflective practice
• Make use of external expertise

(Effective Continuing Professional Development for Teachers Report 2011 p.1)

The question of effective CPD is close to my heart. As an RE Adviser ( Diocese of Norwich) and since January as lead consultant for CPD for Culham St Gabriel’s ensuring that teacher development opportunities have an impact on learning is a high priority.  One of the main aspects of my Culham St Gabriel’s work is to lead the Subject Knowledge Enhancement Course programme. In the last few months we have been reviewing and revising the course to meet the changing needs of those entering the profession, but also an increasing number of trainees who are already teaching RE and want to develop their subject knowledge. So I have been exploring what teachers of RE want from a distance learning course, as well as having conversations with those involved in Initial Teacher Education- both primary and secondary. I have also been reflecting on how far the CPD I provide as an RE adviser fulfils the six criteria highlighted above.

Through my limited explorations, I have found that there is no doubt that teachers of RE (I include TAs, HLTAs and all colleagues working with schools) want to learn. There is also a huge variety of CPD on offer-From Teachmeets to Conferences, from Twitter chats to Facebook conversations, from Farmington Fellowships to MAs and PhDs, from local run courses to international events…. The world of RE CPD is rich and varied… but how much of this is really effective back in the classroom?

In the last year, there have been some significant developments in the world of RE CPD. In the south-west, St Luke’s College Foundation is supporting Learn/Teach/Lead RE, a programme designed to facilitate improvement and pedagogical understanding. The title of their conference this Autumn is ‘Sustained RE’ and the aims of the project resonate with the six features of effective CPD (see http://www.ltlre.org/) including building communities and engaging in research.

In the east, Keswick Hall Trust is supporting a CPD project that creates action research triads led by schools who have gained the RE Quality Mark. Again, the focus on collaboration and research are a key element of this project. Silver and gold levels require classroom-based research to be evident and the aim is for more schools to gain the RE Quality Mark as a result of the project and disseminate outcomes regionally.

The emergence of local, often grass roots CPD events generated by blogs and twitter, called Teachmeets, brings professional development closer to the needs of teachers and makes it much more affordable. These events are usually subject specific and classroom focused, and increasingly linked to research.

Culham St Gabriel’s have expanded their 3forRE scheme which provides funding towards a Master’s degree that is linked to RE. Increasingly, teaching is being seen as a Masters profession. At a Teacher Education Advancement Network (TEAN) Conference in June, Professor Linda La Velle, spoke of Masterliness in teaching. By this she meant a profession where reflective practice is embedded and where the teacher is researcher. Warwick University’s action research hub is a good example of this masterliness in practice and as part of the 3forRE Masters scheme it is hoped that Warwick will encourage other participating universities to think about local action research hubs.

So, in light of all this, what might effective RE CPD look like in the future?

I think it may build on the idea of Teachmeets and local NATRE groups, where teachers determine locally their learning needs with one another. I think that teachers will increasingly engage with action research, linking to universities who are undertaking RE related research and/or with wider educational issues which impact on RE. I think teachers are thirsty for learning, but learning that will impact on classroom practice.

I think that RE:ONLINE will support and perhaps generate new communities of practice. The increasing number of contributors to this website has allowed many to discuss and debate different issues and aspects of learning and teaching in RE.

I think the RE Quality Mark will provide ways for schools to collaborate- in preparing for, but also in furthering network opportunities after an award has been given. As the alumni grow, so good practice can be shared virtually and in local groups.

I think that courses and training provided by organisations will place more emphasis on long term sustainability and impact, and will place research at the heart of all professional learning.  I think advisers will focus more on challenge and pedagogy, rather than ‘quick fix’ solutions.

Finally, what does this mean for the subject knowledge enhancement course that I am leading on for Culham St Gabriel’s? It means that change is required to ensure that the course can be as effective as possible. In collaboration with a wonderful team of tutors, the course has been revised and updated to meet the needs of a changing and growing clientele. The course has refocused on teacher and pupil needs, and now provides better links with actual classroom practice. Yet it remains subject specific and places research at the centre of learning. The course, although distance learning, encourages collaboration through the RE:ONLINE café and through Facebook and Twitter. In light of this a new name for the course was required, and it is now called  ‘The Teach RE’ course.

I too, am on my own professional learning journey, and part of that journey is to discuss and collaborate with others on effective ways forward in relation to continuing professional learning ( I prefer this to ‘development’).  This ‘Think Piece’ is a starting point for me, and has allowed me to engage with a limited amount of research, as well as reflect on my own practice. Will you join me to collaborate and explore further our changing contexts to find an effective way forward?

References

Effective Continuing Professional Development for Teachers Report, 2011, AQA.

Kelly, G., 2013, Taking the devil out of development in Times Educational Supplement magazine 21.6.13.

Weston, D., 2013, Seven deadly sins of teacher development in The Times Educational Supplement Magazine  21.6.13.

Whitehouse, C., 2011 Effective Continuing Professional Development for Teachers. Centre for Education Research and Policy www.cerp.org.uk.

Teacher Education Advancement Network Conference held on 4^th June 2013 entitled: Masterliness in the Teaching Profession.