Do you remember who you were when you started teaching? Do you remember the why behind your university teaching application? What did you want to achieve in your career?

Before the politics, changing government policies, and the working time agreements, what made you want to shape the lives of young people? Why did you choose teaching as a profession? All immensely personal questions to which only you know the honest answer.

I will always remember being asked, during my first tutorial at Roehampton University, (where I completed my PGCE in 2004) ‘How will you know if you are an outstanding teacher?’. At the time (when impressing my tutor and passing my Crit were clearly my main priorities) I gave a well-structured answer, clearly outlining the key aspects of the Ofsted defined ‘outstanding lesson’ or most recent DfE ‘White Paper’ initiatives that any observer would see embedded in my lessons. At the time I felt satisfied with my response and was always encouraged when the appropriate ‘boxes’ were ticked on the lesson observation form.

As a young, enthusiastic teacher I was willing to try anything to get my bottom set S4 Biologists to develop a passion for my subject. From life size food webs, home-made shoebox biomes and jelly baby DNA strands, I constantly reflected on my lesson plans, reflected on the success of activities and researched different pedagogies which would help me achieve better outcomes for young people.

At some point during my journey up the leadership ladder, my perspective around my classroom teaching changed. In England, where I worked for 14 years, almost all middle and senior leaders have a heavy teaching commitment (normally at least 50%) in addition to their management responsibilities and strategic remits. When promoted to Head of Science and the Assistant headteacher my classroom teaching became the part of my job that was ‘safe’. The reflective, self-critical classroom teacher I had been was replaced by the ambitious leader/manager that needed to be observed delivering outstanding lessons, primarily to maintain my ‘status' and of course achieve good enough results at GCSE to meet the performance related pay criteria. My mis-placed need for validation and reputation led to my lessons being less about what my pupils needed from me, as the facilitator of their learning, and much more about me showing what I could do when I needed to.

Fast forward 13 years and a move back to Scotland. Unable to secure a leadership post I had no choice but to join the supply list. Back into the classroom full time I went. At the time this was heart-breaking, all my experience and skills, my progression to senior leadership; unrecognised. However, I had to swallow my pride to pay the bills and, on reflection, my return to the classroom gave me a unique perspective of the Scottish curriculum, varying LA policies in different schools and the daily challenges teachers in Scotland faced. Being back in the staff room hearing teacher’s honest reflections on their day was enlightening. Living the implementation of new policies and procedures, rather than leading on them, was re-invigorating and thankfully my superb new colleagues kindly gave me endless time, advice and support my ‘reintegration’ into Scottish education. One brave headteacher even saw my potential and re-opened my path to senior leadership. To them I will be eternally grateful.

When my strategic remit changed (post-covid) to leading LTA and professional development in my school, I really wanted to support colleagues to make a difference to pupil outcomes through their daily classroom practice. This coincided with my undertaking of the Into Headship programme at Strathclyde University. As I ‘PESTLED’ and ‘SWOTTED’ my school, developed my knowledge of the current policy landscape, and read about current and historical approaches to improving learning and teaching I identified the need to upskill our teachers and provide more effective professional learning (PL) opportunities as a key priority. Many teachers felt a lack of ownership of their PL journey. The value teachers apportioned to training and development was greater when they felt empowered and involved in deciding which PL activities they undertook. A move away from ‘whole school’ training to a more personalised and effective plan was needed.

As professionals I firmly believe that teachers should lead their own professional learning journey but, in our job, time is always the barrier to self-reflection. There is always a task that seems more urgent. Therefore, I wanted to make self-reflection easier, quicker, and more importantly, useful for my colleagues. I gathered staff feedback, consulted with focus groups, and thereafter created our school professional review and development (PRD) documentation, using key GTCS and Education Scotland resources, to encourage and promote engagement with their easy-to-use self-evaluation activities.

All teaching staff were provided with their own copy of the professional standards and were asked to reflect on these during their PRD preparation time. In advance of their annual PRD meeting, staff completed a personal reflection against each standard using a short summary table and decided if they felt their practice in each area was emerging, developing, or embedded. Consultation around the professional update (PU) process had also told me that many staff felt overwhelmed when trying to collate evidence. Therefore, I added a column to the summary table for staff to note the evidence they had available for each standard in that year and encouraged them to upload this to MyPL to reduce workload later in the session and when their PU is due.

Based on their self-reflection staff set PRD targets for the following year specifically addressing areas of practice they felt they were not yet embedded. To gain a whole school picture of where staff needed more support and training, I collated the data and then used the information to plan our in-house CLPL programme where staff, who had reflected and recognised their areas of strength, now deliver training sessions on these for their colleagues. A clear and detailed programme allows colleagues who need support developing and embedding practice in each area to attend the sessions they feel are most relevant to them.

I am delighted to say attendance at each fortnightly CLPL session continues to remain high and, as we plan next years supports, I have requested staff complete a voluntary mid-year review and survey to measure the progress we have made as a school towards the areas for development identified during the PRD process. This is designed to be a fully supportive process where staff can ask for direction where needed, and to remind them of the progress they have made against their PRD targets.

Working in a culture, where teachers are actively researching and implementing new approaches to address the changing challenges and increasing demands being seen across classrooms in Scotland, will create more positive and successful learning environments. Our profession is one which needs everyone to be open to regular and honest self- reflection - in an environment without criticism, judgement, or pressure. The world changes constantly, young people change constantly and so we need to develop new skills and new approaches to keep up. If we can, then we will continue to improve outcomes for all our young people.

Leigh Cole
Depute Headteacher
Johnstone High School