A Reflection of Teaching and Learning Practices at SJIIM, written by Catherine Ellis (Assistant Principal: Teaching & Learning)
As a teacher of English, I do love a good metaphor, and there are so many that capture the essence of good teaching and learning.
Whether it’s thinking of good teaching as a great recipe…
…or a great teacher as a compass…
…or students as a wonderful symphony (a metaphor brought to life in the 1995 Oscar nominated movie, Mr Holland’s Opus).
Whatever metaphor speaks to you, one thing is clear: teaching and learning is a fundamental and life-defining aspect of all of our lives, be it as a student or as a teacher. I feel very privileged to have found this profession, and to be able not only to impact the learning of the students in my own classroom but also work collaboratively in my role with the extremely talented and experienced teachers we have at SJIIM.
This year, the SLT team has worked hard to overhaul our professional development programme to create a bespoke, innovative and autonomous approach to staff training. Stemming from the vision of the School Development Plan, teachers have been given the opportunity to choose their training pathway from a ‘menu’ of opportunities. Choices range from a mentoring approach in our ‘Early Careers Framework’ programme for our newly qualified teachers, to a challenging ‘How to be an Amazing Middle Leader’ programme of workshops for our Heads of Department and Heads of Year. There is also a range of optional teaching & learning focus group sessions entitled: ‘A Teaching & Learning conversation about…’. Responding to staff and school needs, those conversations have so far focused on the use of AI, supporting our EAL students, stretching and challenging the most able and adapting pedagogy to suit class size. There are also a number of sessions focusing on the pastoral needs of the students as they arise, as well as how we actively use academic and pastoral data to drive support and progress.
Alongside the delivered aspect of this professional development is the recognition that we already have a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise within our walls. As such, we are keen to share and celebrate that, and we do so in a number of ways. Our termly TeachMeets are an informal but organised opportunity for staff to share and gather new ideas, practical innovations and personal insights into teaching & learning. This has proven to be very well-received by staff, as their peers have shared insightful ideas about experiential learning, approaches to assessment, using AI inside and outside the classroom, inquiry based learning, to name just a few.
Our ‘menu’ of development opportunities feed into a responsive appraisal process that encourages our teachers to choose an ‘appetiser’, ‘soup’, ‘main course’, ‘dessert’ and ‘cheese’ course throughout the year that focus them on certain aspects of their own development (I warned you that I loved a good metaphor!)
The ‘appetiser’: this encourages every member of staff to choose an area of educational research that interests them and summarise three articles, podcasts or videos, later presenting them to their department.
The ‘soup’: this requires teachers to practise an area of their own classroom pedagogy and present it to the rest of the school during a TeachMeet throughout the year.
The ‘main course’: this might be something a little more time consuming and ‘meaty’, perhaps a longer term internal or external course such as the NPQSL or our Early Careers Framework.
The ‘dessert’: this directs teachers to engage with one of our online TES Develop courses of their choice and/or a FOBISIA workshop or webinar.
The ‘cheese’: this is a reflective practice, ensuring teachers pause to reflect on their own teaching & learning feedback throughout the year and consider their strengths and areas for development.
This balanced diet of theoretical and practical researched-based approaches to best practice, alongside high-quality internal and external training opportunities, ensure our teaching staff stay current and reflective about their own pedagogy.
Being part of the FOBISIA network ensures that we not only have access to a wealth of knowledge and professional development opportunities, but we can also demonstrate our own strengths in the community as well. In May, we will be hosting our first whole-school FOBISIA event on ‘Developing Character and Wellbeing in Students’, providing other schools in the network with an insight into our supportive and holistic approach to educating young people.
We have a rigorous and highly competitive recruitment process, ensuring that we attract and recruit the very best applicants from all over the world. Recognising, celebrating and sharing our teachers’ expertise regularly is important to our ethos and culture. As such, we have a ‘Teaching & Learning Snapshots’ padlet which is added to constantly over the year, accessible to all staff, and regularly highlighted in staff briefings. This offers an opportunity for SLT or Heads of Department to instantly share something exciting, innovative or effective that they have seen in lesson drop ins with the rest of our teaching community.
Here are just a few of our recent and noteworthy ‘snapshots’:
As a way to help our new EAL students integrate within the school and introduce themselves to their peers, they produced short videos about themselves (in English), which were accessible via these QR codes in our EAL hub. Other students could then watch them and leave welcoming and positive messages for students on this interactive ‘Welcome Wall’.
Our Year 12 A Level Psychology students were engrossed in learning about ‘research methods’ through the interactive activity involving randomly selecting candies and drawing conclusions about sampling bias.
This Year 13 English lesson was entirely focused on a deep dive into peer assessment, using these structured proformas to help guide the students through every step, including their own reflections afterwards. This is an example of metacognition at its best, and will no doubt make experts of these students ahead of their Paper 1 exam.
Our Science department is renowned for their practical approach to teaching and learning, creating a hive of curiosity and love of learning in our students. This particular lesson utilised not only experiential learning approaches, but showcased expert teacher modelling and excellent questioning techniques using lolly sticks to ensure all students were always on their ‘A game’.
Lesson drop ins are scheduled every term through department drop in weeks and SLT ‘Open Door weeks’. This is part of the school’s quality assurance programme, but they are also a chance to recognise and share good practice. Following Term 1’s lesson drop ins, and identifying the different areas of strength within our teaching community, the next step this year is to facilitate peer drop ins. Teachers can learn so much from one another, so in Terms 2 and 3 they will have the chance to identify and develop areas of their own pedagogy by visiting one another’s lessons, both within the department across the wider school community.
So, whether we think of ourselves as conducting a symphony, navigating an important journey or mixing up just the right combination of knowledge, curiosity and motivation, one thing is for sure, being a teacher is perhaps the most important job there is. If done right, teachers provide our children with aspirations, inspiration and a thirst for lifelong learning. At SJIIM, I am proud to say that our teachers are indeed expert conductors, innovative navigators and master bakers, and our approach to individualised professional development facilitates and fosters the amazing teachers that they are!