In September 2021, my colleague Jo Fletcher-Saxon wrote a piece about the evolution of teacher CPD at Ashton Sixth Form College and the launch (and pandemic-necessitated relaunch) of our Be Curious programme. This has been our drive to put staff at the centre of their professional development. As we approach our fifth Be Curious session of the academic year, we have some things to celebrate, some things to reflect on and some things to aspire towards, which I hope other colleges will find useful in shaping their own CPD programmes.
As a Teaching and Learning Mentor for Research, my role within the programme focuses on the delivery of the Enquiry strand, which is our research pathway. Currently, we have 15 members of staff (from early career teachers to senior leaders) undertaking small-scale research projects. The findings from these projects will be disseminated to wider staff in our end of year Festival. This year we have an energised group who are dedicating their CPD hours to innovating, problem solving, reflecting and building on their practice.
