We were both buzzing after being at one of the best-thought-out CPD days we’ve ever been to on Monday (hats off to you, Archway Learning Trust in Nottinghamshire!).
It was an honour to be the Keynote speakers (and we also ran 6 workshops between us) and what struck us was the thought and care that had gone into the event. So this bulletin is to share some thoughts on running successful Oracy INSET, whether it’s within one school or as a larger event.
Sticky Questions and minibooks at the ready!
The occasion was a gathering of all staff from the seven primaries within the Archway Trust. Here are ten ingredients that Monday’s session really hit.
1. Focus
2. Focus even more
3. Join forces
4. Not another thing
5. Don’t overstuff the day…
6. …But do offer a good lunch!
7. Make sure there’s follow-up
8. Look after your speakers!
9. …so have the tech-team on hand
10. Connect with purpose
Let’s look at those in more detail.
1. Focus
INSET days in school often go from pedagogy to new policies to a reminder of how to use an epipen. Days at the start of the academic year in particular suffer from everyone’s head being in at least three places – getting back to work, classroom to organise, new curriculum to wrangle and now “another thing” you’re supposed to do. It’s easy in those circumstances for new ideas to end up in the INSET graveyard, half-remembered but never implemented. That’s why getting those other things done through regular staff meetings and then reserving one of your days, especially further on in the year, purely for a clearly defined purpose relating to an area such as oracy, helps everyone’s head stay in one game at a time – and therefore give it the time and energy it deserves.
2. Focus even more
Starting the day as a whole staff can set the agenda and create a common sense of purpose. But early years teachers or maths teachers in secondary will know too well the feeling of “this is all well and good in general, but what about us?”. Having a structure that allows sessions in the middle of the day to focus on application in stages or subjects, while sticking to the overall theme of the day makes the time more productive. It was such a delight to spend an hour exclusively with early years teachers, focusing on aspects of oracy practice for that phase that we usually have to rush through in a general INSET.
3. Join forces
Of course, splitting into phase or subject teams as a single school may not be practical – especially if you’re half-form entry! So, join forces with other schools in your MAT or local area. It makes the day more of an occasion so there’s a buzz, it allows you to share the cost of external speakers and gives you a bigger pool of internal expertise to draw on for workshop sessions, and means that you really can focus more because you have enough teachers in each niche to form a viable group for a session. There’s also the benefit that sharing an INSET day is a public declaration of intent – the neighbours will talk about you if you don’t follow through. We really saw this at another excellent event with the Jersey Oracy Network, which is fostering island-wide change in practice.
4. Not another thing!
It’s a rare teacher who feels, “Right, I’ve got everything under control and have some time on my hands and space in the timetable. What else could I do?” There is time pressure for both implementation and curriculum. So, make sure teachers feel this is a do-able, efficient and worthwhile approach to existing curriculum rather than another thing they must do. Provide easy wins and simple first steps that yield early results, make connections with great work that is already happening. Otherwise, if people feel overwhelmed, change doesn’t get started.
Tom talking through curriculum applications of the idea Jason had just presented
5. Don’t overstuff the day
It’s easy to try and fit too much in. Monday had an excellent balance – an introduction from the trust lead that emphasised this wasn’t going to be a one-off and began the moral case for the importance of the change; a very interactive one-hour keynote from us to establish some principles and demonstrate some key activities and stategies; two workshops, lunch, one workshop, and a final 20 minutes to inspire, wrap it up and think about next steps.
6. But do offer a good lunch!
Stretch the morning a little (this event ran from 9.00 to 12.50 with a 20 minute break), have 50 minutes or an hour for lunch, and keep the afternoon relatively short – a 1 hour workshop and the close. And serve good food! Nobody can do their best thinking in the afternoon fuelled entirely on beige. Of course budgets are tight, but by far the biggest expense on any INSET is the salaries of the participants for the day – with the 160 people in the keynote on Monday, salaries were in the order of £25,000. So pushing the boat out on food a little is a relatively inexpensive way to show those attending that they are valued.
7. Make sure there’s follow-up
The least productive sort of INSET is “one and done”. There are so many competing pressures on teachers’ attention that unless a subject is going to be revisited, it’s easy to let it slip. Instead, ensure there’s time on the day to think forward to implementation, and time scheduled later on in the term for teams to look back and reflect on how implementation is going.
8. Look after your speakers – and each other!
If you’ve ever done supply teaching, you’ll know that there’s a difference to what you can bring to that first class of the day if you’ve arrived at a welcoming school, been given good information, a cup of tea and directions to the loos – versus someone in a hurry passing you a sheet with your timetable and room numbers that mean nothing to you. We always do our best every time a school books us. But everyone can be an extra 10% themself when they are most relaxed, when all the tech is working smoothly and everything is well organised. The communications for this event were crystal clear, and right from the start we were made to feel a valued part of a team who were looking out for one another.
9. …so have the tech-team on hand
The role of tech is a bit like a referee in a football match: if it’s doing its job, you hardly notice it, but if it’s not working (or not there at all), it’s very noticeable indeed. An experienced speaker will know what they’re saying and doing, and this leaves tech as the only variable out of their control. As with this event, have the tech team/person close to hand for as long as they’re needed – they’re worth their weight in gold.
10. Connect with purpose
It’s easy to get lost in the technicalities of activities, planning and application in different subjects. Those are all important, but some time given to focus on the “why” of a change in teaching practice is really important. Don’t be reluctant to make an emotional connection with the importance of the of work. At another school recently, Jason was moved to hear someone talk about the tremendous progress a student had made in their time there – all the more as the boy in question was a relation. Teaching can be emotionally draining, so celebrating the significance of the work isn’t a mawkish indulgence, it’s essential.
What have we been up to?
Besides delivering the Keynote and afternoon workshops for the Archway Trust, we were both at the latest Weeekender Residential, run under Jason’s other enterprise www.educationwithout.org. Jason in co-charge of proceedings, and Tom running two sessions on paranormal debates and on dystopian films.
And we’ve had our usual mix of online student classes, online and in-person oracy training. The next fortnight sees us working with teachers in Lancashire, Essex, London, Middlesex, Oxford, Carlisle and Zurich, Oxford again and Romania! Do get in touch, wherever you are, if you’d like to talk about our Oracy CPD and workshops.