Recipients of Excellence in Professional Learning Award

Bracoden Primary School

Bracoden Primary School is a small, coastal school in the Northeast of Scotland. The whole school lives out its motto of ‘Strive, believe, achieve,’ in all that it does. This is supported by a strategic vision of professional learning whereby we ‘provide learning experiences for all our pupils, which allow them to recognise their individual potential and achieve their goals.’

At Bracoden we strive to be an excellent school. We set high standards which are non-negotiable, and this has embedded the learning culture for the school. The ethos of commitment and improvement is palpable in every learning context. We ‘develop self-evaluation to promote improvement for all through sharing expertise and good practice.’

The school values – Respect, Enthusiasm, Working together, Aspiration, Responsibility and Determined (REWARD) – are discussed and reinforced daily. They are celebrated every week in pupil-led assemblies. At Bracoden we, ‘promote an ethos which values and supports all individuals, celebrates success and develops respect for all.’ Alongside these, the Getting it Right for Every Child – wellbeing indicators (SHANARRI) – are woven into our school ethos which allows pupils to thrive.

Time to reflect on professional learning is allocated and prioritised each term with the most effective practice disseminated. Teachers are reflective practitioners which leads to profound learning. GIRFEC directs their self-evaluative questioning. Whole school targets drive the key areas for improvement forward and lead to an increase year on year on standards. The quality improvement calendar is set out to prioritise meetings focused on the impact of teaching and learning on all pupils across the school. The school uses Local Authority targets to set their own aspirational targets. We focus on percentages of pupils achieving above the expected levels. Tracking progress and attainment is regularly completed as a whole staff activity. From this, decisions can be made as to where any gaps are and how to close them further.

Pupils’ passions and interests are listened to in order to maximise the impact on learning – data is collated, and the strategic direction of improvement is made. Staff work very closely with the headteacher to shape the direction of school improvement plan. Views from pupils/parents and community members are then fed into this. The learners are central to all strategic decisions made within school. Reflecting on what made the most significant impact and why and how to emulate this across another curricular area e.g. Learning Ambassadors meet with the Head Teacher and discuss findings.

Staff interests and strengths are shared and utilised across the school. Everyone’s achievements are celebrated in school including three members of staff who have worked for Aberdeenshire council for 40 years and 25 years. Any courses/degrees taken amongst staff are shared with the children to show that learning is life-long. A quarter of Bracoden pupils have been involved in Children’s University Scotland where they had the opportunity to attend a graduation at Aberdeen University. Links with schools that are excelling in their practice have been made. Adapting exemplary practice from other countries and sharing it has developed pedagogy – e.g. portfolios from an outstanding primary school in England.

Community members, Parent Council and families play an active role at Bracoden, ‘involves parents and the community as active partners in the education of our pupils.’ A particularly successful example was during the Great War Centenary when a history booklet was researched and made about local veterans. Bracoden pupils worked alongside local community members and young adults from the Boyndie Trust. The proceeds made, bought a Tommy Statue for Gardenstown Village – proceeds to Help for Heroes. Meaningful links and purposeful learning make the bonds between the school and community stronger.

The staff collaborate and enjoy learning from each other. Team teaching/coaching enables teachers from differing age groups to plan/teach/assess and reflect over practice. This has been warmly received as a personal development tool and is having a positive impact on the teaching across the school. Digital professional learning has also been taken forward significantly during the pandemic through the upskilling of staff in the use of Glow and Google Classroom. We remain focused on Health and wellbeing with our well-established Forest School sessions – we won our Eco-flag and the gold Woodland trust award since the pandemic began.

As we continue journeying towards excellence, we look forward to all the learning opportunities we meet, whilst navigating our way.

“Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Braes High School

At the heart of our school vision and philosophy are two core beliefs; firstly, that our approach as educators should be shaped by the voices of learners, and secondly, that the single most important driver of a high quality pupil learning experience lies within teacher efficacy and a commitment to lifelong learning. We are firm believers in the capacity we hold within our learning community and the strength that lies within peer led CLPL.

What did we do?

Braes High School runs an extensive programme of in-house CLPL sessions. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic we moved our provision so that programmes were delivered online. Staff have led sessions virtually offering their expertise on a range of teaching strategies. Each programme we deliver includes between 5-10 sessions within a particular theme relevant to our ongoing improvement planning or as a result of our self-evaluation feedback. These sessions are recorded and uploaded to our whole staff Team page to reach a larger number of practitioners. This gives staff the flexibility to engage with the learning at their own pace. Furthermore, as part of our reflective practices, we have uploaded snippets of some sessions to our website with the aim of sharing good practice throughout our school community including partners, pupils and parents. (https://www.braeshigh.com/clpl—professional-development-at-braes-high).

Cluster CPEGs (Cluster Practitioner Enquiry Groups)

At Braes High School we have used Teacher Learning Communities as part of our ongoing improvement model for the past decade. The focus for these learning communities has shifted over the past few years to concentrate on individual Practitioner Enquiries the progress of which is shared with colleagues within Practitioner Enquiry Groups. These groups operate as critical learning communities where staff can share their progress with regards to their enquiry and where quality reflective conversations can take place. The natural progression for this enquiry approach was to share this with our primary cluster colleagues as a way to further develop the strong working links already in place. (In the preceding three sessions cluster colleagues had worked together as firstly Working Groups and then as Professional Reading Groups). Cluster Practitioner Enquiry Groups or C-PEGs were created under the broad Cluster Improvement Plan drivers.

As a cluster, we appreciate and understand the importance of career-long professional learning as a cornerstone of an improvement methodology which has a positive impact on pupils from both an achievement and attainment perspective. We have been immersed in methodologies which engage and motivate learners with a strong focus on what makes the difference in a classroom setting. In the secondary sector we have observed the impact this approach has had on our pupil achievement over a number of years. We have held a long-standing research approach which includes research from experts such as Dylan Wiliams and John Hattie which have helped to focus our approaches to improving learning and teaching methodologies. As a cluster, we have used this research alongside national policy including the NIF, HGIOS4 and the updated Professional Standards (2021) to highlight the importance of ongoing professional learning including the importance of professional reading which has helped to embed this approach as an ethos and culture across the cluster.

TLCs, PEGs and now C-PEGs have long been a standing focus in our school-based working time agreements.

Due to these strong working relationships, we believe the following has been achieved:

Staff are engaged in personally identified, self-motivated approaches to CLPL
Staff are given the opportunity to self-evaluate, share and critically converse around their practice and any methodologies they have tried within the classroom
Staff have built strong connections with cluster staff with the shared aim of improving outcomes for pupils within our shred community
Pupils are reaping the benefits of this professional development through the service they receive in the classroom

At Braes High School we will continue to strive to fulfil our vision philosophy and core beliefs to further improve the outcomes of all of our learners through critical self-evaluation measures, consideration and implementation of pupil voice findings and teacher efficacy through a rigorous approach to lifelong learning.

Broad General Education Team Stirling

Professional learning is a key focus of the Broad General Education team (BGE team) in Stirling Council, which has an ethos of trust, self-evaluation, self-reflection and mutual respect. We are committed to providing professional learning which empowers staff to lead learning individually, collegiately and through collaboration and enquiry ensuring positive outcomes for learners.

Since 2020 we have continued to provide high-quality professional learning. This has included a sustained focus on pedagogy, leadership and equity. Our offer has been developed through the use of digital technology. For example, we held regular online ‘drop-in’ sessions where headteachers set the agenda working in collaboration with colleagues and BGE team members. During the pandemic, there were increased opportunities for colleagues to be involved in online forums shaping learning relevant to their communities but also participating in activities across the authority ensuring a broadening of knowledge and connectivity. Our sustainable model is responsive to community needs in the ever-changing landscape of Scottish education.

We are committed to professional learning opportunities which are collaborative and promote critical enquiry. The BGE team create an empowered culture where school leaders ask critical questions of themselves throughout their leadership journey. This is evidenced by the high number of school leaders who undertake professional learning and reflect on the impact of professional enquiry at Professional Review and Development (PRD) and collaborative meetings. Lead On is a bespoke senior leadership programme devised by the BGE team empowering participants to commit to their own professional learning as drivers of change for improvement in their own schools. Aspiring Principal Teachers can participate in Lead Next (a bespoke middle leadership programme designed by the BGE team) where practitioners are key enactors of change in their own settings, developing their own practitioner enquiries and collaborating with fellow participants in a culture of trust.

Self-evaluation and ongoing reflection to identify next steps are embedded within our practice. The Professional Standards for teachers support ongoing rich, reflective dialogue leading to practitioner improvement. PRD in Stirling Council is embedded in self-evaluation, learning and reflection. Information on PRD Guidelines is shared and refreshed on the intranet and links to GTC Scotland materials ensure all staff have access to current documentation. Authority PRD Guidelines are detailed and clear, ensuring participants are aware of their entitlements, roles and responsibilities. A robust programme to mentor probationer teachers is founded on the Professional Standards.

PRD is established as a coaching and mentoring model to support ongoing discussion. Many establishments across the authority use the GTC Scotland self-evaluation wheel to support self-evaluation. School leaders learn coaching approaches as a result of professional learning sessions including an ‘Introduction to Leadership Coaching’ and ‘Columba 1400’. These have been delivered in partnership with other professional learning organisations. Coaching tools and techniques were created collaboratively with school practitioners as part of our approaches to professional learning for moderation. There is planned regular professional learning for supply teachers and within collaborative School Improvement Partnerships for headteachers.

Professional Learning is founded upon the best outcomes for learners. Our ‘Pupils Leading Learning Event’ for school leaders was planned, organised and led by children using ‘How Good is OUR School’. Enterprising Schools Scotland commended this as an example of excellent practice. The needs of learners are fundamental to professional learning opportunities e.g. Raising Attainment Champions’ Professional Enquiry commenced with a needs analysis of the learners in the practitioners’ settings informed by data. Professional learning opportunities such as Data Champions develop systemic perspectives and strategies with a focus on improving outcomes for children. Our local professional learning offer mirrors the national opportunities to provide rich professional learning in tandem which impacts directly on our children.

A sustainable system leadership approach is embedded within our team. School Leaders are empowered agents of change. Teachers informing change through Primary 1 Practitioner Enquiry Group; Curriculum Review Groups; Raising Attainment Strategic Leaders. We revise our professional learning to meet the needs of learners and their learning communities ensuring that our approaches are sustainable by encouraging system leadership e.g. next session our P1 Practitioner Enquiry Group will be led by teachers from this year’s cohort and our BGE offer will be amended to focus on creative pedagogy P1-P7.

Headteachers have a range of professional learning opportunities through system leadership. These include Regional Improvement Collaborative Literacy Lead; Headteacher Mentoring Programme; School Improvement Partnership Group. This is empowering, as they are collectively seen as life-long learners, setting positive examples for others. There is a strong, supportive culture where collective professionalism and collaboration pervade all that we do.

Drumchapel High School

Edenside Primary School

At Edenside Primary, we have three core values; learning, laughter and love. These are the three ‘ways of being’ that we believe are fundamental to enable us all, children and adults, to ‘be the best we can be’. Learning as a value does not just relate to children in the classroom or playroom, it applies to our staff and, as much as possible, our families too. Since the onset of COVID, we have had to adapt our approach to professional learning but we continue to enjoy a rich culture of learning and growing
together in a number of ways.

Teacher leadership model: One approach that we have been able to continue is our teacher leadership approach. This sees every teacher offered the opportunity to lead
on a whole-school project about which they have a personal interest or passion. Time
out of class is provided by the Head or Depute. Louise Cowan, our P3/4 teacher, has
this to say about impact of this approach on her own professional learning:

“Engaging in professional reading, working collaboratively andimplementing SEAL in our school has hugely impacted my professional learning. There has been such an increase in confidence in my subject knowledge and day-to-day teaching practice. Noticing a difference in our learner’s attitude and seeing the strong foundations of numeracy being built is so rewarding. Edenside loves maths!”

Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) ‘Critical Collaborative Professional Enquiry’ (CCPE): This current school year, our Depute, Karla Pearce, introduced a CCPE with our ELC team. The focus on documentation of child learning has had a marked impact on the practice of the team as evident from Amanda Fenney’s reflections:

In October 2021, our ELC team wanted to take a different approach to how we documented our children’s learning. We did this by developing a shared understanding of Pedagogical Documentation, a Reggio Emilia approach to documenting children’s learning. Our first task was to observe children through free play. To do this we worked with a different colleague each week to get the best results in our new approach. We would share our observations as a team each week, discussing our findings and potential lines of development to identify next steps for our learners and to inform our planning.

Using a more relaxed approach with our children finding out their interests rather than documenting learning that children may not be interested in, based on tracking sheets.

Using the questions ‘the why’ (why we doing this?); how (how do we do it?) and the what (what are we actually doing?) gave us a new vision for our pedagogy. To enrich children’s learning, we now create and share panels of fun learning experiences. What makes it all the more special is that the children can look at them and comment on what they were doing, adding their own voice, and seeing themselves as learners. With this new style of documentation it gives the parents an opportunity to see their children’s learning more visually and a lovely learning journey full of positive experiences from children’s time with us at nursery. The impact on my professional learning has been very beneficial.

It has also given our staff an opportunity to explore and deepen our understanding using this method of documentation. NQT support programme: We know a lot of schools support NQTs every year but we’re particularly pleased with the approach we’ve developed over the past year. With a clear programme of in-school learning, our three NQTs have felt supported and challenged, as Shauna McCombie, our P5/6 teacher, testifies:

“At Edenside I’ve been supported to develop my existing skills and knowledge of teaching, learning and assessment whilst also learning about the pedagogies, curriculum and approaches specific to our school. Through collaborative planning, professional dialogue, moderation activities and opportunities for peer observations, I feel supported and confident to follow and contribute to a shared approach for quality teaching and learning with my children.”

Cluster improvements: Edenside is part of the Kelso cluster and we enjoy a rich and
rewarding partnership with our local schools. Having developed our cluster-wide
Learning and Teaching Toolkit back in 2020, this past year we have focused on
teacher professional judgement with a particular focus on Comparative Judgement.
This is an assessment tool championed by Daisy Christodoulou and our early
engagement has been very promising, as noted by our P4/5 teacher, Peter Wood:

“The opportunity to engage in a large-scale comparative moderation enabled me to reflect on my students’ writing abilities and the direction of our teaching and learning on a larger scale. It generated useful discussion and debate about where our focuses should lie as a school and a cluster.

Using comparative analysis and statistics to establish a consistent qualitative judgement was fascinating and has the potential to revolutionise some of the ways that we adapt and evolve our approach.”

Weekly professional learning bulletin: Having invested in the Tom Sherrington and
Oliver Caviglioli WalkThru books and online resource, our new weekly professional learning bulletin is a simple but effective way to bring identified ‘WalkThrus’ to everyone’s collective attention. A simple mid-week email is sent to all teaching staff
(and cluster Heads) setting out the rational for a given pedagogical approach. The impact of the weekly bulletin was noted by John Wood, our P7 teacher:

“The professional learning bulletin is an informal way of supporting my teaching practice. The mere fact it exists and continues no matter what sends a clear, overarching message; that we should always look to improve our teaching and learning, and importantly, there is evidence and guidance on how to do this.

I gain much just from knowing I’m supported in a positive, professional
culture within which the bulletin is just a part. Additionally, in response to the
bulletin I enjoy the freedom to alter my practise, try out new approaches/
methodologies and evaluate their effectiveness. Being honest and realistic,
there are also times when I should have been teaching or providing learning
in a certain way- them am reminded of the underlying rationale and then
restart with renewed focus.

Less frequently, but no less importantly, I sometimes follow up with the
suggested ‘further reading’ and delve into an area/ subject further. This is also supported by a good range of relevant educational reading books within
the school, and available for all staff.”

Maths pedagogical development: Improving our teacher’s subject knowledge associated with number has been a focus over the past few years. Initially supported
with input from outside experts, our ongoing learning is now led in-house and centres
on key texts including ‘Developing Fractions Knowledge’ by Robert Wright et al. The
impact of the reading and collaborative learning is notable, as shown by our Principal
Teacher, Susie Bryce:

“When surveying our teachers, we found fractions to be the component of number that we were collectively least confident in teaching. To address this, staff worked in level teams to engage in a series of collaborative sessions based on a core text, Developing Fraction Knowledge by Wright, Norton & Hackenberg. Together we reflected on our reading and investigated the progression of understanding fractions, pedagogical approaches and assessments.

Having opportunities to analyse the text and talk about its theories’ implications on teaching and learning within my classroom brought far more benefits than if I had engaged in this professional reading independently.

The collaborative learning extended beyond our CAT sessions, with teachers discussing their fractions lessons, assessments & insights regularly. The core text gave us a shared understanding, approach and language to enable us to do this.”

Professional learning for our wider community continues to be a focus, as we look at
ways to engage our support staff and families. Learning is never ‘done’ but is an
ongoing, evolving journey, one which we enjoy every day!

Edinburgh Learns Teaching and Learning Team

The Edinburgh Learns Teaching and Learning Team was established in 2018. Our aims are to improve both the quality of learners’ experiences and the knowledge, skills and confidence of practitioners, leading to improved progress and achievement in learning for our children and young people. Our professional learning offer is clearly informed by the National Model of Professional Learning. We provide training which deepens knowledge and understanding of strategies to deliver high-quality learning and teaching, along with supporting establishments and educators to use enquiry to explore what works for their own learners.

Our focus is largely informed by our city’s Teaching and Learning framework which identifies 4 key areas – formative assessment, differentiation, skills and leadership of learning – to support high-quality learning, teaching and assessment. These 4 areas have been branded under our Teachers’ Charter which forms a core part of our authority and schools’ priorities.

Initially, we delivered professional learning face to face, but we have adapted this greatly since 2020. We now offer a hybrid model of live and self-led learning. Our live webinars, delivered online, allow staff to engage with interactive training without the need for travel. Our self-led training enables our professional learning offer to be differentiated for staff; they can move through learning as quickly/slowly as they would like, they can revisit learning over and over again and they can focus specifically on the parts they have identified they need to work on.

The impact of professional learning on learners’ progress and attainment is critical for us. We have a relentless focus throughout our professional learning on enquiry as a stance to challenge and inform practice. In addition, we have established lesson study as a tool for collaborative enquiry in a number of our schools and clusters. We offer support to establishments and educators on the use of data and self-evaluation which, along with our training and enquiry focus, help them plan and evaluate impactful improvement.

This session has seen the establishment of a new learning, teaching and assessment leads network across the city. These practitioners are keen to lead improvement in their local context in collaboration with the Teaching and Learning Team. A rich professional learning offer, along with regular network meetings, is helping develop their skills in leading impactful professional learning and in pedagogy. In the long term, it will be powerful to have professional learning co-delivered by these leads and the Teaching and Learning Team to give a perfect mix of research, practice and local context.

We have an ongoing, strong commitment to our own professional learning as a team. We engage regularly in professional reading and professional learning ourselves and often plan opportunities for professional dialogue around this. This helps ensure that our professional learning offer is up to date and well-informed.

Going forward, we are excited about the future and continuing collaboration with colleagues and establishments across Edinburgh. We will continue to adapt our offer to meet the needs of our educators and maximise our impact on learners. Covid forced us to change many of our practices and, coming out of the pandemic, we have an opportunity to move forward with a blend of best practice. An enduring online element within our offer will continue to give us the option to deliver shorter live sessions which would not have been worth travelling for, along with self-led training that staff can access where and when they want. We will re-introduce face to face work when possible for longer sessions to help build strong relationships and provide rich opportunities for dialogue and collaboration.

Fife Professional Learning Team

It is essential that as a team we address the learning needs of all education professionals and we ensure that our programmes and networks are informed by feedback from Professional Review and Development (PRD) reviews, engagements with Senior Leadership Team (SLT) members, School Improvement Plan priorities and Summary of Inspection Findings reports. All of these are taken into consideration when developing the Professional Learning and Leadership Framework. Within all professional learning programmes within the Professional Learning and Leadership Framework course evaluations and informal feedback from participants are gathered and used to inform the next steps in programme development.

All programmes within the Professional Learning and Leadership Framework are underpinned by the Professional Standards for teachers or relevant standards (e.g. SSSC or How We Work Matters (Fife)) and participants are expected to self-evaluate using the appropriate standard for their career stage. All programmes within the Professional Learning and Leadership Framework encourage, support and challenge individuals to work collaboratively with a focus being on learning with and from others. Participants are asked to reflect on their own practice and to use coaching approaches to support and challenge others. This ensures that our programme participants are engaging in reflective professional dialogue within a culture and climate of trust and openness.

Our Coaching Model has been adapted to take into account the needs of all across Fife schools and education establishments. We have developed the Coaching for Success programme to allow engagement with different groups of professionals including a specific programme for our school leaders. As part of our successful Headteacher Induction programme, there is an opportunity for all of those on this to engage in the Coaching for Success programme. Tutors from across Fife support the delivery of the programme to ensure sustainability and that the voice of the profession is leading in this area. Through the embedding of coaching approaches across our school communities, we have enabled others to challenge beliefs and assumptions and to deepen their knowledge and understanding of what it means to be an education professional in Fife and Scotland.

A coaching approach to PRD is encouraged and supported through PRD Reviewer training sessions and guidance support materials. Our PRD process is fully supported by self-evaluation against the Professional Standards and professional learning discussions are based on each professional’s evaluation against these. The discussion informs the next steps for professional learning identified. Our PRD/PU Policy (2021) supports self-evaluation and professional learning dialogue through an ongoing narrative with professionals across Fife as well as through an annual PRD meeting. All resources to support the PRD process are accessible to all professionals and in line with national guidance materials. Our Reviewer/Reviewee PRD/PU Guidance supports the PRD process and ensures that the National Model, MyPL Cycle and GTCS guidance underpin the process within schools and education establishments.

All programmes are underpinned by a programme of professional reading with many programmes having a core text associated with the programme. Participants are asked throughout to engage with intersessional reading and reflect on how this links to practice. Our Practitioner Enquiry, Teacher Leadership, Change Leadership and Middle Leadership programmes have a strong focus on individual and collaborative enquiry with a clear rationale for change. Participants are asked to continually reflect throughout on the impact on self, peers, and learners. All of these programmes have GTC Scotland Professional Recognition attached to them for all participants who successfully complete the programme.

We actively encourage those across our learning communities to share good practice with clusters, showcase events, local improvement forums, engagement day events, SEIC events and national events. All professional dialogue is shaped around the key features of the session or event being attended so as to give our educators the opportunity to focus on particular areas for development or to share key strengths. We frequently engage in self-evaluation for self-improvement dialogue through the use of HGIOS4/HGIOELC quality indicator challenge questions. Our Professional Learning Strategy is informed by the needs of the whole education community in Fife and takes into account both national and local policy.

Glasgow City Council Secondary Learning and Teaching Network

There were three awardees from Glasgow City Council. Watch this video for more on the work that went towards achieving the awards.

Following a review of Learning and Teaching in secondary Broad General Education (BGE) in Glasgow, it was clear that improvement and related investment in Learning and Teaching across the City was both essential and a priority. As the largest local authority, Glasgow has 30 mainstream secondary schools, all of which differ in terms of size, staffing and profile, and it was recognised at an early stage in this professional learning journey, that no single approach to improvement would be desirable or appropriate. Headteachers in Glasgow value the autonomy they have in making the best decisions and implementing the change that will have the greatest impact on their young people. To achieve this, it was acknowledged that a supportive framework which promotes collaboration and joint learning, as well as robust challenge, would help individual schools to realise lasting improvement, and so a learning network for Depute Head Teachers (DHT) who hold the remit for Learning and Teaching was established.

This group was led by two secondary Headteachers who, over a three-year period, planned a comprehensive programme of investment in their DHT colleagues designed to develop their thinking around best practice in learning and teaching approaches, whilst giving them a framework to take forward this work in their individual establishments. Regular meetings allowed the group to build relationships, form connections, promote professional reading and increase understanding of current educational research.

Through workshops, external wisdom sessions and reading, the Deputes group explored the work of a range of educational professionals to develop an understanding in systems leadership and collaborative professionalism. Developing an ego-free approach to collaboration was an important feature of this work; if we wanted to improve the experience and outcomes for Glasgow’s young people, it was important that the whole system had a genuine desire to improve, without fear of highlighting what was not working well.

Schools in Glasgow are familiar with working in different groupings to support improvement, usually on a geographical basis. The DHT group were placed in trios, but in this case, the rationale was to ensure the schools were from across different areas of the City and had a range of profiles. Validated Self-Evaluation (VSE) visits took place and so the inclusion of Coaching as a tool to support deeper reflection was an intrinsic aspect of the DHT network programme. The VSE visits involved staff at all levels from each establishment and so the reflection and rich discussion on learning and teaching, leading to evaluation was shared amongst headteachers and senior leaders, middle leaders and classroom practitioners. Increasingly, young people across the trio schools became part of this evaluative approach, using the How Good Is OUR School framework to explore improvement.

Staff in Glasgow are well-versed in using the Professional Standards for reflection and to identify professional learning targets. Our Professional Review process is approached from a coaching context and is designed to focus the attention of the reviewee on the strands of their current and aspirational standards.

Training in coaching has made a significant contribution to our success across the city. All learning and teaching Leads had Coaching training to support them in their role of having forward-thinking self-evaluation conversations with regard to learning and teaching. A number of schools across the city have continued with this training across their school in light of the impact it has had to improve the quality of conversation.

The impact of our professional learning regarding learning and teaching is felt directly in the classroom as teachers across the city further develop their pedagogy to ensure they are meeting the needs of Glasgow’s learners. Our young people are at the centre of our thinking and will continue to be involved in lesson observations and discussions, having already contributed to detailed discussions about their VSE observations. Their voice is central to our continued development, learning and improvement.

We are very keen to continue to build on the success of the Depute Head Teacher Learning and Teaching group – both specifically related to learning and teaching, but also across other areas of a Senior Leaders remit – e.g. curriculum development. Our focus moving forward is to build on the positives that have come from COVID – examples would include the increased confidence and skill of staff with regards to moderation work and to take learning and teaching forward with a focal point being on the effective use of digital technology within the classroom. We are also very mindful of ensuring we maintain our city focus on Nurture and the importance of supporting staff and young people as we work towards recovery. We have opened discussions to bring our Additional Support Needs colleagues on board with the planning and delivery of professional learning and to ensure we are meeting the needs of all establishments in our planning. We plan to continue to invest in collaborative working across schools to support professional learning and also looking to work with other authorities to undertake reciprocal visits. This will be further supported by the use of key speakers, when appropriate and further professional reading for critical discussions.

Gleniffer High School

Gleniffer High School is committed to providing a high-quality education in a caring and welcoming environment. It is our belief that the wellbeing of all young people promotes self-worth, confidence, and self-esteem, leading to high quality attainment and achievement.

In Gleniffer High, we will engage with all our stakeholders to promote wellbeing and ensure that our learners have the opportunity to thrive in a stable school environment which will support their progress and prepare them for life beyond school and make our community a great place to live.

Having highly skilled and motivated staff delivering high quality teaching and learning with a focus on family learning and wellbeing is key to achieving our vision. All the work we do is underpinned by our values of acceptance, ambition, nurture, respect, and trust.

We have a flexible approach to professional learning in our school, offering a broad range of opportunities for staff to ensure the needs of our learners are met. We deliver sessions from external providers, offer staff and pupil-led sessions, and signpost online learning opportunities linked to our self-evaluation and school improvement priorities. This approach empowers staff, building capacity in our team, and provides opportunities for pupils to lead learning.

Staff complete peer-partner learning visits twice per year; one within their own department and one out-with. Visits have an agreed focus linked to whole-school focus HGIOS4 Quality Indicators. This, in turn with the Qualify Improvement focused Career-Long Professional Learning (CLPL) programme ensures the process is tangible for staff, and that everyone is contributing to whole-school improvement in a focused way.

Our CLPL programme is reviewed annually in response to feedback and requests from staff, the identified needs of our pupils, and to ensure our professional learning programme aligns with our school improvement priorities. We critically evaluate our programme to ensure sessions allow staff to develop their practice in a way that has a direct impact on our pupils. Young people have the opportunity to take part in surveys, focus groups, and student councils where school strengths and development opportunities are identified. These are also used to inform our CLPL programme.

Staff have the opportunity to take part in case conferences for pupils with additional support needs where they can hear from pupil support staff, and staff from partner agencies, for example Educational Psychology, the hearing-impaired team, or the English as an Additional Language (EAL) team. This allows staff to share good practice that is positively impacting on our pupils across the school, and to further develop their knowledge by engaging with subject experts.

Collegiate working groups have had a real impact on the work of our school, with staff leading on a broad range of areas including Teaching and Learning, Positive Relationships, Family Learning, Raising Attainment, and Health and Wellbeing. This demonstrates the commitment of staff to take on leadership responsibility and to contribute to the professional learning of others.

Each year, or staff complete our Professional Review and Development (PRD) process where they reflect on the professional learning they have undertaken, the impact this has had on our pupils, and each piece professional learning is linked to the Professional Standards for teacher. This framework allows staff to ensure their professional learning is varied, covering a broad spread of the professional standards across a 5-year period as part of the Professional Update process. The standards are used to identify areas of development for staff as part of their self-evaluation, which in turn informs our CLPL offer for the following year.

Our extended leadership team lead coaching conversations with staff as part of our PRD process. Staff are involved in whole-school collegiate projects, and some volunteer for whole-school leadership opportunities. This involves taking on some aspects of a whole school remit with mentoring and coaching provided by an experienced member of staff.

Skilled and motivated staff who operate with autonomy and have ownership of their professional learning will deliver the best experiences for our pupils. Through feedback from pupil questionnaires and focus groups, peer observation feedback, and our formal Learner Experience Reviews, we see the quality and consistency of teaching and learning continue to improve, and our attainment data and leavers destinations show pupils benefit from the commitment of staff, to deliver experiences which positively impact on outcomes.

Our focus continues to be to support and improve the wellbeing of our school community, to improve attainment and achievement of all our learners and progress whole school accreditation, and to develop skills for learning, life and work to support positive and sustained destinations of all our learners. Our dedicated team of staff will continue with their commitment to professional learning, continually developing their skills to deliver the very best experiences for all our young people, and best meet the needs of our community.

Inverclyde Professional Learning Community

Professional learning is at the heart of all that we do in Inverclyde to secure the best possible outcomes for our children and young people. The success of this is down to our models and frameworks which are all evidence-based and continually reviewed to equip professionals with maximum learning opportunities. We pride ourselves that all programmes are underpinned by the Professional Standards for Teachers, Scottish Social Services Council standards and other relevant standards and are also based on the National Model of Professional Learning including learning by enquiring, learning as a collaborative and learning that deepens knowledge and understanding.

Our Leadership Pathways continue to evolve as we introduce more opportunities and programmes. These were initially developed across a 4 Pathway Framework for Primary and Secondary practitioners whereby teachers place themselves on the appropriate pathway, register their interest and participate in a variety of self-led opportunities and specific leadership sessions. These leadership sessions include: masters study; Education Scotland programmes; Improving Our Classrooms; Uplifting Leadership; Cross-authority Coaching for Success; Pathway Networks and training courses. Not only do the programmes develop leadership skills through their content, but they also open up leadership opportunities as we strongly believe in a self-sustaining model whereby our more experienced leaders play a major role in developing others. This year we have developed Leadership Pathways for Early Years and are in the process of rolling out a similar model to upskill our Early Years’ practitioners, supported by the SSSC standards.

To meet the demands of the rapidly changing world of education and to support succession planning, we are responsive to needs and plan accordingly. This year we recognised that there was the need to upskill our Primary DHTs in a number of key areas, therefore in partnership with Education Scotland we have delivered a new programme, ‘Building the Connections’. Such was the success of this that we then adapted it as necessary and delivered it to our Early Years’ Deputes. These programmes are based on the development of knowledge and skills, working collaboratively and re-engaging at a later date to share the progress and impact of learning. Our next step is the delivery of ‘Making the Connections’ for Early Years’ Seniors to close the knowledge gap in our Early Years management structure, taking a similar approach.

Inverclyde has continued to further develop the use of data to support professional dialogue regarding pupil progress. The evolution of the data dashboard has provided opportunities for all staff across all establishments in Inverclyde to engage in quality professional learning targeted at effective interrogation of the data to inform and improve the decision-making process, leading to improved outcomes for children and families. The link between quality career-long professional learning (CLPL) and embedding informed practice continues to be the focus of building sustainable models of improvement. To further support and challenge establishments, the role of the Recovery Associate was established to enhance the professional learning of Senior Managers. Peer support encourages participation and leads to robust professional dialogue in rigorous, evidence-informed self-evaluation of practice.

To further support practitioners, Coaching & Modelling Officers funded via the Attainment Challenge Scotland fund (CMOs) deliver quality evidence-based CLPL on interventions that we know work. The CMOs provide two streams of quality support and professional development for all staff. The primary aim of the CMO is to support and improve quality first teaching and learning through targeted coaching and modelling sessions with teaching staff. A specific area for development is identified either by the teachers as part of their PRD process or by the SMT as part of the school self-evaluation processes. The CMO would discuss the needs with individuals/groups/whole establishments and then begin the modelling sessions, supported by ongoing professional dialogue. The coaching sessions would then follow, supporting the teachers and or establishment to reflect critically on the observed practice. The CMO would return after three weeks to discuss progress and reflect if the practice was now embedded. The process contributes to a learning culture that supports and facilitates professional dialogue, and debate and encourages constructive feedback. The second approach focuses on ensuring the delivery of quality, sustainable CLPL to all staff across the Local Authority. All CLPL sessions focusing on evidence-based interventions have been recorded and stored allowing all staff access to continually review and reflect on their own practice. Recently, all Inverclyde staff updated their training records allowing the creation of a training Dashboard for every school. This ensures that training can be targeted and linked to school improvement priorities.

Kinross High School

Kinross High School is a proud learning community with a vision for Learning Together and Achieving Together. Young people and staff work together on a wide variety of activities to improve our learners’ experiences. We live by the values of being ambitious, compassionate, responsible and resilient. Overall, we want to improve our work through a focus on staff professional learning.

As a school, we have invested significant resources into professional learning. This includes external opportunities, online learning and our own internal professional learning opportunities. Professional learning is regularly reviewed to ensure that it meets the needs of the staff involved and to ensure that there is a positive impact on young people. Our highly successful annual Professional Learning Conference continues to deliver high quality, outward-looking professional learning opportunities. This has included local and national partners supporting our work.

All staff engage in an annual entitlement to Employee Review and Development using self-evaluation wheels provided by GTC Scotland to support engagement with the Professional Standards for teachers. Coaching conversations with line managers support staff to plan their own professional learning which links to a personal, faculty or whole school priority. The introduction of collaborative trios at middle leadership level has encouraged peer coaching opportunities for improvement through our work on self-evaluation for school improvement.

Senior leaders meet with middle leaders individually on a monthly basis for a remit meeting. Some middle leaders have replicated this with their own staff. This provides opportunities for professional dialogue and support through a coaching approach. Senior and middle leaders are trained in coaching techniques as part of the Collaborative Middle Leadership programme (Education Scotland PLL). Targets agreed always consider the impact on the young people as part of the learning and teaching process.

Furthermore, all teachers engage in a school improvement group that supports the leadership of change for an aspect linked to the school improvement plan. Staff can lead the group or an aspect of the group’s work. In addition, all middle leaders and senior leaders are linked to a school improvement priority as part of their whole school remit.

Coaching opportunities are provided as part of regular support for all group leaders, development post holders and middle leaders. Colleagues from across the learning community regularly share their own practice as part of in-service days and staff meetings.

Leadership development has played a key part of our school improvement plan over the past five years. This includes the development of an in-house programme for aspiring leaders. In addition, we were a pilot school for the Collaborative Middle Leadership programme which has supported the capacity building of our entire middle and senior leadership teams.

Digital professional learning has been taken forward significantly during the pandemic through the upskilling of staff in the use of glow, specifically Office 365 and Google Classroom. This was out of necessity that we led the change so quickly.

We have a culture where learning from our experience is encouraged. This includes a regular review of the feedback received from parents and other stakeholders to ensure we review our policies, procedures and practice. In addition, our staff look outwards at practice from other schools to support our knowledge and understanding of national, regional and local priorities.

As a school learning community, we continue to develop our practice and understanding. At the moment, our main focus is on recovery through re-engaging with high-quality learning.

Larkhall Academy

John Mullen is Senior Depute Headteacher at Larkhall Academy. Here he reflects on the development of their Professional LEarning Programme.

Eyebrows raised.

My exact reaction when in March 2018, my Headteacher, during our 1-1 session, said enthusiastically ‘Why don’t we create our own Professional Learning Programme?’ Pregnant pause…. ‘We could get Tony to launch it!’ Tony McDaid is the Executive Director of South Lanarkshire Council Education Resources).

Eyes slightly wider this time, mouth open.

And that was it. The beginning of our Professional Learning journey at Larkhall Academy. I remember leaving the meeting, my usual scepticism in place, thinking ‘How on earth are we going to pull this off for the beginning of the 2018-2019 session?’ Followed by my usual process of questioning, acceptance, engagement and excitement.

We got to work.

From the outset, we needed a reason for doing this. A clear rationale which would run like a thread through the whole programme, connecting all of our activity, session upon session. We settled on the theme of School Improvement. Everything in the programme had to have a positive impact, in terms of increasing the capacity and capability of staff to deliver improved outcomes for young people. Ultimately, we were looking to invest heavily in the development of our people, increasing their professional knowledge and skills, enhancing their confidence and sense of purpose. This in turn leading to enhanced levels of engagement in our young people, greater enjoyment of learning, improved relationships and ultimately better outcomes for our pupils.

It was clear from the outset that our colleagues were invested in this. A wide range of staff at every level committed their time and energy. Staff engaged in learning with enthusiasm and commitment with high quality professional interactions evident. The sessions employed coaching approaches to encourage colleagues to think deeply and reflect on their current practice and how we might do things differently. And Tony did come along to kick of the formal programme as well.

In total during that first year, we delivered a programme of 22 events, some scheduled during In-Service Days and focussed on clear and agreed Improvement Priorities with others taking place regularly after school. From the outset, we focussed on things that would make a real difference to young people in their day to day learning, such as taking account of pupil voice to affect positive change in the classroom, delivering highly effective feedback focussed on improvement, using Google Classroom to improve outcomes and sharing proven strategies to help raise attainment.

A large part of our programmes also focussed on developing leadership and improving the quality of our collaborative working. To this end, we invited prominent guest speakers to share their insights with our colleagues, including Sir John Jones and Sir Harry Burns. Programmes of development were introduced for those aspiring to middle leadership, either through Pupil Support or the curricular route. We also began working with colleagues in Education Scotland to develop our Collaborative Middle Leadership Programme. During the following session 2019-2020, we built on these themes and sharpened our focus around improvements in learning and teaching, in line with the key components of our learning and teaching framework. Our Education Scotland report arising from the March 2020 inspection commended our commitment to professional learning and growth. And then, the week after, the world changed. And through necessity, did our approach.

From a programme largely driven by school leaders, our professional learning during the pandemic and subsequent periods of lockdown was driven by our staff. Through the help of key colleagues across several Departments, we developed our online teaching skills at pace and always with the same goal in mind – achieving the best possible outcomes for the young people of our community and supporting them as effectively as we could. This ground level development in adversity could only have happened if the correct culture was in place. A culture where stakeholders are valued and supported to improve.

So what comes next for Larkhall Academy’s Professional Learning Programme? Well, in the current session, we have considered carefully the recommendations in our Inspection report and developed Teacher Learning Communities to facilitate specific improvements in the classroom. We have engaged with the new GTC Scotland Professional Standards at senior and middle leadership levels and commenced further work with our faculty colleagues. And we’ll look to evaluate fully the impact of our professional improvement activity on young people and how this affects their progress and development. We look forward as a staff to the session ahead, committed to this improvement journey.

Renfewshire Attainment Team

In Children’s Services, we have a relentless focus on improving outcomes for all children and young people while closing the poverty-related attainment gap. We are delivering this through high-quality professional learning and through our service vision:

“Working together to get it right for children, families and communities— protecting learning, achieving and nurturing”

For a number of years, we have developed and delivered professional learning in collaboration with a range of partners. However, we have steadily built internal capacity and expertise to be less reliant on external partners which underpins our sustainable approach to career-long PL.

In 2019, the local authority was inspected by Education Scotland and was the first authority recognised for making excellent progress towards improving learning, raising attainment and closing the poverty-related attainment gap. This success was underpinned “by a sector-leading approach to professional learning” (Education Scotland, 2019).

An extensive offer of online and face-to-face professional learning is available at all levels in order to develop a positive collaborative learning culture. For example, specialised training for classroom assistants in the Renfrewshire literacy and numeracy approach has improved their understanding, enhanced their roles and increased their job satisfaction. The approach has had a very positive effect on the ethos of schools and as a collective group of staff.

There is an expectation that professional learning extends beyond the acquisition of knowledge. Practitioners are supported in taking an enquiry stance and are encouraged to collaborate to develop a whole school approach ensuring sustainability.

Our professional learning offer is aligned with the Standard for Career-long Professional Learning framework recognising the importance of enhancing professionalism and career-long professional growth, self-evaluation and reflection.

There is an expectation in Renfrewshire that coaching and supervision are embedded in all professional learning. For example, Modelling and Coaching Officers develop the professional knowledge of class teachers directly in the class by modelling and coaching numeracy approaches. Literacy and Numeracy Champions are ambassadors for professional learning and guide colleagues in their practice, as evidenced in our Primary Literacy Coaching Programme.

For over five years, we have worked in partnership with Barnardos to implement Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS). Fundamental to this approach is coaching and modelling where PATHS coaches work alongside class teachers to promote positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in school. Schools are now in a position to deliver PATHS as a sustainable model.

This approach is mirrored by our primary Transition Teachers who team teach in secondary schools to ensure targeted children are supported through their curricular transition.

Transition teachers share pedagogy and a knowledge and understanding of children they have worked within primary.

Professional learning in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing has had a direct impact on children and young people. There has been an improving trend in relation to BGE and senior phase literacy and numeracy attainment. Pupil engagement surveys demonstrate increased engagement and enjoyment in literacy and numeracy and highlight the direct success of specific interventions. Prior to the pandemic, the attainment gap in Renfrewshire had reduced.

We are able to demonstrate improvements in social and emotional literacy and attendance. Referral data from our counselling service is woven into health and wellbeing PL and used to target training content ensuring it is responsive to the wellbeing needs of our children and young people.

The impact of our PL does not stop at children and young people. Through our leadership PL programme, we have “grown our own” promoted staff by providing appropriate training opportunities. Staff report enhanced self-evaluation and reflective skills and an understanding of distributed leadership.

The authority will continue to build on our sector-leading approaches recognising that recovery will be an important part of the professional learning journey. Through rigorous self-evaluation and improvement planning, our authority-wide offer will be responsive to local and national priorities but always focused on improving outcomes for all children and young people.

Roslin Primary School

St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School

As a school of faith and learning our mission is to do the best for our children, developing their God-given talents and helping them to reach their full potential.

Recognising that high-quality learning and teaching are fundamental to achieving this mission, we set out to ensure that the professional development needs of staff across the school were appropriately supported and enhanced, in a strategic, flexible and creative way. Establishing a voluntary programme of monthly, in-house, Planned Learning Activities (PLAs) and termly Professional Reading Group (PRG) meetings, has allowed us to explore, discuss and debate the latest educational enquiry, thinking and initiatives, helping to ensure that teacher practice is critically informed and up to date, and that our annual programme is both sustainable and responsive.

Remembering that we are a ‘learning school’, has been key to this process, focussing our attention on current issues that are not only relevant to the school but vital to the school’s development now and into the future. Utilising expertise within the school, as well as experts from across South Lanarkshire Council, the West Partnership (our Regional Improvement Collaborative) and beyond, we try to make sure that all training is based on the latest research, best practice and effective pedagogies, empowering and building the capacity and capabilities of our staff as we try to meet the learning needs of our pupils. While some of these topics come from the National Improvement Framework and the school’s improvement plan, many topics are proposed by the staff themselves. At Professional, Review and Development (PRD) meetings, the Professional Standards for Teachers are used to highlight examples of good practice and identify further areas for development, which in turn help inform the focus for some of the PLAs.

Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, this flexible and organic approach to our provision for professional learning has proven to be more crucial than ever. Recognising that the school community extends beyond the four walls of the building, the programme moved to an online format, becoming more reactive and adaptable to the changing needs of our educational provision and support for staff. For example, improving digital literacy had to become a priority; introducing and upskilling the remote learning practice of staff and helping to reassure and build confidence. This was also key to ensuring that staff did not feel isolated when having to work from home. Partnership working through professional conversations could continue.

Approaching professional learning in this way has allowed the school to develop a collaborative learning culture across the school. All colleagues, from experienced practitioners to newly qualified teachers (NQTs), support staff and student teachers, have open access to all learning activities. All PLAs and PRGs are supported by the St Andrew’s and St Bride’s Professional Reading Resource, accessible through GLOW, and is updated regularly.

To date, 96% of our teaching staff have volunteered their time after school, either in person or online, to engage in these meetings. Many attend multiple activities each session with Support Staff engaging in sessions they feel are appropriate to their roles. Specifically for student teachers and NQTs, we offer a weekly, in-house, programme of support and additional training that complements and enhances the Local Authority and University training provided.

Each of these learning opportunities is evaluated with all feedback shared, not only to ensure that they match professional learning requirements and expectations but also to inform classroom practice and have a positive impact on the quality of teaching and learning. Continued high levels of staff engagement have not only highlighted the commitment of staff and belief in continued professional learning but that the quality of the programme is an appropriate and effective use of their time.

The Professional Standards for teachers form a fundamental role within our Professional Learning Programme. They act as a focus for Professional, Review and Development meetings that all staff participate in, helping to ensure that a culture of high standards and expectations are maintained and developed. These Professional Standards are used in a variety of ways during these meetings to coach and support, commend and highlight examples of good practice and sometimes challenge staff on their professional development journey. Using the evidence that these meetings provide, development priorities are then identified and used to help inform the focus of the PLA programme for the coming year. Our teachers go on to use the Professional Standards throughout the year as they regularly record their own professional learning via the Professional Update process.

To ensure high-quality and supportive professional conversations take place, all Middle and Senior managers have been trained in coaching and mentoring techniques. We have set up a number of different ‘shadowing’ programmes for teachers aspiring to become middle leaders and middle leaders aspiring to senior posts. At the start of this journey, staff are supported using a ‘coaching wheel’ to identify their professional development needs. This coaching technique is also utilised during PRD meetings and Stewardship meetings to help develop the self-reflective and critical thinking skills of all staff.

From the word go we wanted our school to be described as a ‘learning school’, highlighting to pupils, staff and parents that we are all constantly learning and trying to enhance the skills we have. It is important that children see that we are not asking them to do what we are not willing to do ourselves.

In the past four years alone, 48% of staff across the school have succeeded in gaining enhanced accredited qualifications, such as: MSc in Leadership and Management; Into Headship; Towards Headship; Masters in Education; Post Graduate Middle Management; SCEL Teacher Leadership and Middle Management; Diploma and Certificate in Inclusion; Nurture Accreditation and Additional Teacher Qualifications in Religious Education, as well as GTC Scotland Professional Recognition for Supporting Teacher Learning and Reading for Pleasure Pedagogy.

A number of staff members act as Lead teachers across the Authority in subject areas such as Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Technology and Physical Education. Most recently, members of our staff were invited to lead South Lanarkshire’s and indeed Scotland’s first secondary OU/UKLA Teachers’ Reading Group, which provides free evidence-based CPD for teachers, support assistants, librarians, reading volunteers and others to enrich their understanding of children and young people’s reading for pleasure and how to support it. Our Local Authority’s wider primary and secondary Teachers’ Reading Group programme is a GTC Scotland accredited professional learning programme.

Through this learning culture, pupils see that teachers are committed to their own learning and willing to invest time and effort for the benefit of pupil learning within the classroom. We are a successful school in terms of academic attainment and wider achievement, which is a reflection of the high quality of learning and teaching that pupils experience.

At a strategic level, the introduction of our PLA and PRG programmes was seen as having an important role in stimulating, supporting and driving effective change across the school, giving an opportunity for more intimate, less formal professional conversations and debates that are relevant to the needs of the school as a whole. Evidence strongly suggests that this model works for our community, so we plan to continue on this journey, enhancing our provision as we go, anticipating and reacting to the needs of our community.

St Ninian’s High School

We are a community of faith and learning in St Ninian’s High School and Professional Learning is understood by our staff as a continuous cycle throughout their career and is wide-reaching. Our in-house Career-Long Professional Learning (CLPL) programme offers rich opportunities to build teacher capacity and share best practices and is promoted through a weekly newsletter.

Staff at every level are leading and delivering CLPL sessions, sharing their expertise in a collaborative, creative and strategic approach. Our Professional Learning Programme offers an extensive programme of in-house CLPL available for all staff to attend, thus promoting the leadership and empowerment of every member of staff. We aim to rebuild this programme as we emerge from the constraints of covid.

This comprehensive CLPL programme offered to all staff is based on requests generated through the PRD process and is published on a weekly basis in school and across our Cluster. Staff are signposted to Professional Reading on the latest Educational pedagogy and thinking through links in the Head Teacher bulletins as well as online external CLPL sessions. In addition, there are tailored CLPL sessions offered to NQTs and Student Teachers.

The CLPL programme is relevant and reactive to our school community. It includes high-quality professional learning opportunities linked to improving teaching and learning, support for learning, health and wellbeing, digital technologies, faith matters and sustainable development which, in turn, lead to high-quality learning experiences for our pupils.

Our digital evaluation is an essential tool to inform our review, planning and enhancement of the programme.

Professional Review and Development

We look to identify the professional learning needs of our teachers arising through the PRD process which then shape the CLPL programme. Teachers can identify areas of desired professional learning with a clear focus on excellent outcomes for our pupils.

During the formalised PRD process, staff are encouraged to identify, plan and reflect on their own professional learning needs to ensure that they continue to develop their professional practice. Coaching and quality conversations are encouraged and there is a clear focus on self-evaluation where staff are supported in a safe environment to have professional dialogue and challenging discussions. Guidelines presented to all staff ensure PRD meetings are valuable, supportive and meaningful for every member of staff.

The Professional Standards for Teachers are linked to staff areas of development and are used to self-evaluate staff knowledge, values, skills and practice and recorded on the CPD Manager platform.

Staff are encouraged and supported through Masters level learning, and some staff are accredited with GTC Scotland Professional Recognition.

Shadowing / Coaching Programme

Our shadowing programmes offer staff the opportunity to be supported in preparation for positions of responsibility.

E.g. Aspiring to middle leadership, Pastoral Shadowing, and Probationer Teacher/ Student Teacher CLPL are offered as a series of sessions where staff can share their experience and expertise.

A mentoring and professional learning programme for Pupil Support Assistants has included sessions on Together Better Readers and Supporting Mental and Emotional Well Being of Young People.

Cross-Sector CLPL

We have cultivated strong collaboration with our Primary colleagues and have built Cross-sector CLPL opportunities. There is highly effective primary-secondary STEM working – where staff visit our local Primaries delivering numeracy, science and computing lessons.

Curriculum Development

The needs of our learners are fundamental to and inform our Professional Learning Opportunities;

Our curriculum offer for our young people has evolved and diversified where we have harnessed the interests and agency of our teachers to offer more bespoke pathways and curricular options;

For example, we have introduced a Beekeeping course led by a Biology Teacher who through her own professional learning and enquiry now delivers this NPA course in a local outdoor setting to a diverse group of pupils, including some of our ASN pupils and S6 pupils thus enhancing their skill set.

In addition, the following courses will be delivered by our own staff through our existing curricular departments this coming session;

Construction, Baking & Barista skills, Health Service and Customer Service.

Our Support for Learning team has trained staff and introduced innovative initiatives to offer bespoke groups to support our children with Additional Support Needs e.g. Mindful Art, Communication Comics, Achieve Team, Dyslexia Strategies and Resilience.

Pupil Voice

Pupil voice is gathered through the HGIOURS framework. Our Development Team have ensured that our pupils are leaders of learning and are at the forefront of our most recent initiatives for example S3 DYW Ambassadors, Rights and Equalities Group, Rights Respecting School Group, Eco Group, S3 Climate Conference

Health and wellbeing focus

HWB/ Positive Mental Health has been identified as a whole school focus. Staff are leading numerous initiatives to promote the positive wellbeing of pupils. The extended Pastoral team includes a PT with a specific remit for Mental Health and Well Being, a member of staff trained in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy who offers 1 to 1 counselling as part of her timetable and staff who are trained in Mental Health First Aid, Assist suicide prevention and Mentors in Violence Prevention.

Protected Time on Inset Days for Professional Learning

Whole-school professional learning sessions on inset days where staff can opt-in to their chosen session selecting from Health and Well Being, Learning for Sustainability, Laudato Si, Rights Respecting School, Positive Mental Health, Learning and Teaching and Developing the Young Workforce.

Learning & Teaching

Our Focus on establishing a Learning Community to enhance the high-quality learning and teaching provision for every young person in our school is a key priority.

A whole school workshop took place to produce agreed models of an excellent lesson and statements of excellent practice using the Professional Standards for teachers.

Innovative timetabling and staffing allow for cooperative teaching which fosters sharing of good practice and collaborative professional learning.

Introduction of Participation and Engagement measures and Well Being tracking for all pupils based on the Leuven Scale. This pupil online survey is now a key tool to gather data, track pupil progress and identify where support is required following every reporting period.

Digital Professional Learning

Our Digital committee throughout the periods of lockdown ensured that staff were fully supported in their rapid skill acquisition to deliver a high-quality online learning offer for our learners. A measure of our staff’s commitment during a very challenging and unforeseen period was the resounding endeavour to acquire the necessary digital skills to support our pupils’ continued learning. We have embraced this digital era and continue to embed digital literacy into the curriculum.

Laudato Si and Learning for Sustainability

Laudato Si and Learning for Sustainability have been amplified to a whole staff level through staff drive and passion to highlight as whole school priorities. They have shared their research and insight through a variety of Professional Learning presentations and activities and challenged staff to make direct links to the learning and teaching in their classroom. Every classroom has a visual display of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Looking Outwards

Departments/Faculties’ involvement in Local Authority collaborative Improvement visits has allowed for areas of development to be identified and for existing practice to be challenged and shared as good practice across the authority.

Looking Forwards

We intend to shape and rebuild our Professional Learning offer towards a full and immersive programme that all staff can access and will meet the development needs of our dedicated staff. We wish to harness the new Professional Standards as a self-evaluation tool where staff regularly ask critical questions of themselves and use them effectively to inform their practice.

Our renewed focus on Learning and Teaching will be at the centre of our Professional Learning strategic planning as we look to offer the best we can for our pupils, supporting them as effectively as we can. We intend to introduce a series of Planned Learning sessions for our staff to support enquiry-based learning. We hope to invite visionary and inspirational speakers to support staff on this journey as leaders of change. We are eager to continue to learn, progress and reach the heights of further excellence in our professional learning.

STEM Glasgow

There were three awardees from Glasgow City Council. Watch this video for more on the work that went towards achieving the awards.

STEM Glasgow is part of Education Services at Glasgow City Council. They work in partnership with a number of organisations including Education Scotland, DYW Glasgow and Glasgow Science Centre. STEM Glasgow provides support for practitioners from across the city in raising awareness and attainment in STEM. Our vision is that our young people, practitioners and partners work collaboratively to support the development of STEM-based knowledge, skills and opportunities, increasing the skills for life, learning and work of our young people and supporting Glasgow’s economic development.

The 3 key priorities of STEM Glasgow’s strategy are; learner experience, staff development and partnerships. We aim to build confidence and understanding in STEM through high-quality career-long professional learning. This has taken the form of establishing a number of networks across the city and then providing bespoke professional learning to suit their needs. One of our programmes, the Primary STEM Leaders programme, consisted of a number of professional learning sessions spanning the school year. The commitment for this programme was required both from the school, in releasing staff, but also by the individual as this would form the focus of their professional record of development. The Primary STEM Leaders programme took place over 2 full days and 8 twilights, this allowed practitioners to meet up frequently with their colleagues to discuss and share learning. In 2020 professional learning sessions moved on to Microsoft Teams, allowing for the networks to be supported and sustained during the lockdown. Teams has continued to be used for a number of purposes including TeachMeets, curricular development and interactive professional learning.

The professional learning sessions delivered were developed based on a needs analysis from the Primary STEM Leaders. Each session was mapped against the Professional Standards for teachers and the standards featured throughout the programme. The Primary STEM Leaders also completed the STEM Self-Evaluation and Improvement Framework, which is aligned with HGIOS, and provided areas for development for both themselves and their establishments. Having a common vision of increasing confidence and awareness of STEM has allowed a positive learning culture to develop and has provided practitioners with an open environment in which they can work together and learn from each other.

All participants in the Primary STEM Leaders programme participated in a coaching session where they had the opportunity to try out different scenarios, this then allowed them to adopt this method back in their own establishment. This aided them in supporting their staff team in progressing along their STEM journey.

Each and every learner has an entitlement to high-quality STEM learning experiences throughout their education. By having a supportive network many of the practitioners gave ‘things a go’ that they would normally not have had the confidence to try. They also were upskilled in a number of areas and able to deliver exciting and challenging lessons that gave pupils opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills from across the curriculum. By developing these skills, which are set at the heart of the development of Scotland’s young workforce, it is hoped that children go on to select STEM subjects within secondary school and potentially go on to a STEM career.

A large number of the practitioners that participated in the Primary STEM Leaders programme are now leading their own professional learning programmes both in their own establishment, within their learning community and across the city. Professional learning will continue to be provided by a central team as well as using the wealth of resources that are the programme participants. This provides practitioners across the city with lots of opportunities to become involved in both attending and delivering professional learning. All whilst keeping the 3 key priorities of learner experience, staff development and partnerships at the heart of all activity. Therefore, ensuring high-quality learning experiences for our children and young people and excellent professional learning opportunities for all practitioners.

The Learning Hub North Lanarkshire Council

The aim of North Lanarkshire Council’s Learning Hub, which is part of our Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) programme is to raise attainment and close the poverty-related attainment gap for learners through research-based pedagogical approaches. Education Support Officers (ESOs) lead the literacy and numeracy curricular workstreams within the Learning Hub.

A coaching model was established to build staff capacity and empower staff through creating a professional learning community for literacy and numeracy. The model ensures that every Primary, Additional Support Needs and Secondary school has a ‘Literacy Coach’ and a ‘Numeracy Coach’ to support and grow professional knowledge and understanding from early through to the third level. Coaches have opportunities to engage in a variety of core professional learning, as well as research-based pedagogical approaches and interventions.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the coaches met every 4 to 6 weeks with ESOs. During the past two years, the coaches have continued to meet online, which has allowed the coaching model to be maintained and developed.

The ESO team continually self-evaluate the coaching model against the Professional Standards for teachers for CLPL alongside other core opportunities. This ensures that the Professional Standards underpin training delivered across NLC, including the coaching model, thereby facilitating opportunities for Literacy and Numeracy coaches to self-evaluate across the Professional Standards within their own establishments.

This model enables coaches to lead developments within their own schools and feedback to staff through collaborative meetings, present to staff and engage in professional dialogue. In addition to coaching and mentoring staff, the model supports coaches to further professional knowledge and understanding of literacy and numeracy pedagogical approaches to enhance learning, teaching and assessment within their establishments. Research undertaken shows that by using the coaching sessions to deepen knowledge and understanding, there has been an improvement in confidence in planning and teaching, and staff feel more informed regarding current guidelines and initiatives.

The culture of professional learning developed through the coaching model contributes to positive outcomes in attainment for children and young people. Through self-evaluation, Numeracy Coaches identified that learning and teaching practices within numeracy and maths lacked consistency. Therefore, the focus from the outset has been on sound pedagogical practices, the culture and mindset around maths and increasing pupil engagement. Literacy Coaches, while satisfied with the core Active Literacy approach, were concerned about those learners not experiencing success through the core programme. This led to a focus on assessment and identification of literacy difficulties, as well as what appropriate adjustments, supports or interventions to use in response to findings.

The Learning Hub team analyse a variety of data that has been gathered at national and local levels alongside coaches to identify professional learning to support the closing of any gaps that have been identified. Feedback from coaches has shown that the impact on learners has led to:

increased consistency in the teaching across individual establishments.
improved pupil confidence.
pupils benefit from more targeted programmes of work as learning is more appropriate and targeted appropriately.
improved attainment as a result of implementing improved pedagogical approaches.

Focusing on this coaching model and improving pedagogical approaches based on developmental progress has made a significant difference to the knowledge and understanding of our coaches and to the pupils and staff that they lead and work with on a daily basis. The Learning Hub will continue to build on the coaching model as part of our Scottish Attainment Challenge programme and continue to raise attainment and close the poverty-related gap.

Alloa Academy

Angus Virtual School

Bankton Primary School

Capshard Primary School and Torbain Primary School

Earlston High School

Eyemouth High School

Hillhead High School

Kirkintilloch Learning Community

North Berwick High School

Smithycroft Secondary School

St Ninians Primary School

Strathclyde University PGDE Team

Dunbar Primary School, East Lothian

Leaders of Learning, Glasgow City Council

Kelso High School, Scottish Borders Council

Leadership Learning Community (Family Groups), North Lanarkshire Council

St Andrew’s Secondary School, Glasgow City Council

Nurturing North Ayrshire Team, North Ayrshire Council

Riverside Primary School, Stirling Council

St Mungo’s Academy, Glasgow City Council

Fife Pedagogy Team, Fife Council

North Ayrshire Professional Learning Academy, North Ayrshire Council

St Ninan’s High School, East Dunbartonshire

Windygoul Primary School, East Lothian

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2020