“This is my favourite. No, this one is. There’s too many!”

When the snow started falling in February, my toddler was a little overwhelmed with choosing her favourite snowflake. We all know that every snowflake is unique in its symmetry, and I’m sure we’ve all seen just how stunning they can be under a microscope. And perhaps for that reason, choosing a favourite snowflake in a blizzard is not a challenge we are likely to take on, but toddler’s are nothing if not ambitious.

At the end of last session, I witnessed a similar urge to choose from a myriad options. Discussing PRDs with my team, I was overwhelmed by the volume of interests. For some, it felt scatter-gun. Most notably, it was with less confident members of staff who were eager to prove their worth. No leader wants to crush ambition or enthusiasm, so coaching colleagues to think strategically about their Professional Learning is without a doubt key to helping them develop longevity in the profession. David Cameron often uses the analogy of spinning plates to represent educational priorities. His insightful conclusion, “If everything is a priority, then nothing is”.

We have all been guilty of it, I’m sure. Jumping on courses and diving into professional reading on a topic which sparks our interest. Sometimes, the motivation is less about us and more about what we perceive as valuable in climbing the promotion ladder. It seems important at the time, but then once we pause for thought at the end of the session, the reality bite. Try as we might to articulate how all that effort has impacted on our learners or led to improvements within our establishment, we just can’t make the two ends meet. Learning for learning’s sake is wonderful, but when we are working in a blizzard – as it has felt over these last couple of years - perhaps we need help to target specific snowflakes.

How are you helping your colleagues avoid snow-blindness?