Professional Development

At The Pinnacle Learning Trust, we pride ourselves on the fantastic professional development offer available to all staff, and our role in supporting others beyond the Trust through our external CPD offer.

At a time when schools and colleges alike face fresh challenges and developments both locally and nationally and the landscape for teaching schools and alliances is evolving, our relationship with local providers continues to flourish. We work collaboratively across our partnerships, using evidence informed research to drive positive outcomes for pupils from all phases and stages of education.

We promote a trusting and respectful climate that allows for open discussions about problems, successful and less successful practices and the sharing of knowledge to develop a culture of self-improvement. We ensure that professional development effectively builds knowledge, motivates staff, develops teaching techniques and embeds practice in line with the recommendations in the EEF Effective Professional Development Guidance Report (2021).

We will ensure that the DfE Professional Development Standards (2016) are woven into the fabric of Trust PD.
1. Professional development should have a focus on improving and evaluating pupils outcomes.
2. Professional development should be underpinned by robust evidence and expertise.
3. Professional development should include collaboration and expert challenge.
4. Professional development should be sustained over time.
5. Professional development must be prioritised by school leadership.

CONTINUOUS LEARNING

A focus on sustained development to embed change.
Creating and supporting continuous learning opportunities for all staff.
Providing high quality induction, mentoring and coaching for new staff.
Establishing systems for long-term continual development to improve the quality of teaching and skills in other roles.
A clear focus on departmental and domain-specific CPD.

COLLABORATION AND TEAM LEARNING AMONG ALL STAFF

A focus on collaboration with colleagues and peer support.
Promoting team learning and joint practice development among staff (Fielding, 2005).
Encouraging colleagues to solve problems together & engage in mutual learning.
Embedding systems such as Communities of Practice (Wenger, 2015) for collecting and sharing knowledge and learning.

MODELLING AND GROWING LEADERSHIP

A focus on modelling leadership as a behaviour, inspiring staff to live the vision, mission and values of the Trust.
Identifying and developing talent and potential in others (Carter, 2017).
Providing formal and informal training to assist staff in developing leadership skills.
Developing internal leaders to support the quality of teaching and support retention and progression pathways for all staff.

EVIDENCE-INFORMED PRACTICE AND DECISION MAKING

A focus on ‘the integration of the best available evidence with professional expertise’ (Sharples, 2018).
Becoming a ‘research sensitive’ Trust.
Building and enhancing knowledge and thinking about teaching and learning.
Developing an authentic engagement with research evidence.

CULTURE OF ENQUIRY AND INNOVATION

A focus on a set of collective whole school priorities.
Establishing a culture of enquiry, exploration & innovation.
Encouraging staff to change and innovate their practice.
Programmes driven and delivered by expert teachers.
Teachers acting as reflective practitioners by reviewing, questioning and innovating.

LEARNING WITH AND FROM THE WIDER LEARNING SYSTEM

Seeking opportunities to learn with and from the external partners.
Ensuring access to external organisations.
Academy to academy collaboration.
Opportunity for capacity building: improved collective capacity through supporting other schools to become more reflective, outward-facing and forward-thinking. (Gu et al 2019)