EiT | Professional Learning at the John Wallis Academy
Our Vision and Mission
“We show love and compassion for others by truly helping them, and not merely talking about it.” 1 John 3:18
The pursuit of excellence in teaching lies at the heart of our Academy Vision. It is through excellent teaching that our pupils can develop the necessary knowledge and skills in order to have a real and genuine choice in life. In our commitment to excellence, Professional Learning at the John Wallis Academy is designed to support our teachers in building excellent habits by trying the right strategies and watching them work.
“Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.” - Dylan Wiliam
The Foundations of Professional Learning
Professional Learning at The John Wallis Academy must:
1. Be balanced and bespoke
Professional learning at the John Wallis Academy aims to strike the balance between building and maintaining whole-school alignment and developing excellent teachers through bespoke training.
This is achieved through our three levels of professional learning:
School
Team
Individual
2. Be rooted in robust educational evidence
Teacher time is precious. It is important that this time is not wasted pursuing educational fads. All professional learning at the John Wallis Academy must aim to improve learning for our pupils; it must therefore be rooted in well-evidenced educational theory and research
If a strategy or technique does not have strong supporting evidence, it will feature in our professional learning.
This is achieved through adhering to our Principles of Learning.
3. Support teachers in all areas of their practice
Effective teaching is more than just instruction. Whilst developing a teacher's didactics is important, didactics alone is not enough. Professional Learning at the John Wallis Academy aims to target all areas of a teachers practice, to be improve their leverage on pupil learning.
This is achieved through focusing on the three key types of teacher knowledge:
Knowledge of didactics
Knowledge of Pupils
Knowledge of Subject & Curriculum
4. Drive real development through practice
This is achieved through ensuring all teachers engage in deliberate practice in their instructional coaching sessions.
5. Facilitate collaboration within and between teams
This is achieved through our dedicated Team-Level Development Cycles.
6. Be planned with an awareness of workload
Professional learning has great potential; but it also comes with costs. We know that teachers engage in professional development activities whilst balancing multiple and, at times, competing commitments and time pressures. The need is clear, therefore, for professional learning to be well-designed, selected, and implemented so that the investment is justified.
This is achieved through providing all teachers with an additional 5 hours of self-led learning time per fortnight, and ensuring the Professional Learning calendar takes account of key commitments such as open and parents evenings.
The Mechanisms of Professional Learning
Mechanisms are the core building blocks of professional development. They are observable, can be replicated, and could not be removed without making professional learning less effective. Crucially, they are supported by evidence from research on human behaviour — they have been found, in contexts beyond teaching, to change practice.
The mechanisms that make up effective professional learning can be split into 4 groups, each of which fulfils a different role:
A. Build Knowledge
B. Motivate Staff
C. Develop Instructional Techniques
D. Embed Practice
From Effective Professional Development, EEF 2021
A. Build knowledge
Managing cognitive load
Revisiting prior learning
B. Motivate staff
Setting and agreeing on goals
Presenting information from a credible source
Providing affirmation and reinforcement after progress
C. Develop teaching techniques
Instruction
Social support
Modelling
Monitoring and feedback
Rehearsal
D. Embed practice
Providing prompts and cues
Prompting action planning
Encouraging monitoring
Prompting context specific repetition
The Three Levels of Professional Learning at The John Wallis Academy
Individual Level
The individual level is focused on ensuring teachers receive bespoke learning opportunities tailored to their level of expertise and their professional interests.
This is achieved through:
Instructional Coaching
10% Self-Learning Time
The Professional Learning Platform
Options Modules
Drop-ins
Team Level
The team level is focused on ensuring teachers have regular opportunities to come together to learn and develop their practice collaboratively aligned with team-set priorities and whole-school foci.
This is achieved through:
Team-Level Development Cycles
Dedicated Subject knowledge and Intellectual Preparation (SKIP) time
Team drop-ins
School Level
The whole-school level is focused on fostering and maintaining alignment with the academy vision, values and priorities.
This is achieved through:
Whole-School Professional Learning Sessions
Monday morning huddles
Statutory Training