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Planning your career progression

Where will you be in 2012?

By the time the Olympics come to the United Kingdom, you are all likely to be playing key roles in the education profession. Those roles may be:

• excellent teacher
• head of department
• special needs co-ordinator
• headteacher.

Then again, you could be working in a parallel profession such as educational psychology. Whatever your preference, there is a rich spread of opportunities, and you need to take responsibility for determining the route you follow. This means taking part in effective CPD activities and using them to guide your career.

So – what is effective CPD?

Research on the impact of collaborative CPD and its impact on teaching and learning identifies common features of successful CPD which are linked to positive benefits for teachers and learners. These features include:

• observation with professional dialogue including feedback
• the use of external expertise linked to school-based activity
• an emphasis on peer support rather than leadership by supervisors
• scope for teacher participants to identify their own CPD focus
• processes to encourage, extend, and structure professional dialogue
• processes for sustaining the CPD over time to enable teachers to embed the practices in their own classroom settings.

Read our Research of the Month summary: The impact of collaborative CPD.

 

What does this look like for you?

Schools are giving more opportunities to teachers to enrich their practice by working with and observing colleagues. The GTC Teachers’ Professional Learning Framework (TPLF) summarises the many possibilities available to your school. An increasing number of schools have CPD leaders and many local authorities (LAs) have CPD Opportunities Frameworks to support career development. What’s happening in your school?

 

Building a portfolio

You will now be developing your Career Entry and Development Profile (CEPD). Hopefully you will wish to develop your portfolio beyond your first year of teaching. The Teachernet online portfolio lets you record and reflect on your professional development. The site also offers ideas and case studies to stimulate your thinking about how your career might develop.

 

Why build a portfolio?

A thoughtful and considered portfolio will:

• provide a structure for reflecting on the progress you are making as a teacher
• celebrate your progress and successes
• reveal gaps in your experience, which you may wish to address by seeking new opportunities
• be a valuable support in your performance management reviews
• support you in any job applications
• provide powerful evidence that you have met Threshold Standards (and Chartered London Teacher Status Standards if you work in London).

Checklist

So, during your induction period try to:

• find out who your school CPD leader is
• find out if your school or LA has an Opportunities Framework
• use an Opportunities Framework to plan where you want to be in 2012 – or sooner – and how you will get there
• download the TPLF document (PDF)
• consider how the TLA can provide professional recognition for your work
• look at the online portfolio and decide how you use it
• talk to colleagues about their roles and how they achieved them
• read the Threshold Standards and discuss what you will need to do over the next five years to generate evidence that you have achieved these
• be proactive, be creative and embrace all the experiences open to you.

Good luck in your careers!