All in all, the Professional Learning Programme is hopefully one aligned
to teacher needs and interests and helping to ensure that we remain
lifelong learners to the benefit of ourselves and our students.
—— Siobhain Allum
Primary Principal and Head of Wuding Campus
Professional learning is woven into the fabric of Pao School’s mission of continual development. As such, it is specifically scheduled into the working week and boosted by special events through the year such as the Global Education Forum. For teachers and school staff, the professional learning options at the school are an important aspect of school life and, for Pao School students, an important part of receiving an education that is delivered using innovative and cutting-edge pedagogical methodologies.
Over the last three and a half years, the Primary School's Professional Learning programme has focused on a few key strands to help ensure that the school delivers high-quality teaching and learning across all year groups and subjects to a consistently high standard. In order to achieve this, staff at the Primary School have dedicated professional learning time every Wednesday.
Teachers taking part in Pao School's annual Global Education Forum
As the Professional Learning progamme has matured and more personalised options have been offered, the teachers have begun to be able to create an individualised route for their development. This is an important progression in the training offerings, as it gives teachers more autonomy, diversity of choice, room for specialism and access to more advanced training options. s a consequence of this change, more staff are now pursuing Masters and further professional qualifications like middle management and leadership qualifications. In addition, staff are able to spend time on language studies, cultural skills like calligraphy, and under a varied and interesting range of teaching courses.
Bringing transformation in teaching
Teachers taking part in Pao School's annual Global Education Forum
In October 2021, teachers at the Primary School began a type of innovative Professional Learning programme called Teacher Labs. These sessions provide an opportunity for teachers to collaborate and give feedback to one another, with one teacher acting as a “host” for the Lab and others participating in an observation of the class.
The Teacher Labs take part across three stages:
1. Pre-meeting:
The participating teachers meet with one another to identify the topic of the activity. Rather than giving feedback to the host teacher as a whole, the group focuses on one particular aspect of their teaching, such as student engagement.
2. Class Observation:
The teachers attend a class led by the host teacher. Importantly, for all Teacher Labs the observation is not of the host teacher, but rather how the students respond to the activities and teaching methods. This provides a more open and comfortable environment for teachers, as they do not feel as though they are being judged as professionals.
3. Feedback Meeting:
The teachers reconvene for a follow-up discussion with the host teacher to provide constructive feedback (always starting with positive feedback), their reflections on the class, and possible future improvements. In the meantime, the teachers also consider what they have learned from the experience and identify methods they would like to try in the future.
PD Facilitator Diana Zuo with students
Diana Zuo, Primary Professional Development Facilitator and teacher, organises the Teacher Labs alongside other PD Facilitators Rona Rong, William Henry and Lily Jin. She explains that she when she raised the idea with school leadership she was given a lot of encouragement for the project. At first the Teacher Labs were opt-in but are so successful they are now on their third cycle with the scope to grow in the future.
The activity is useful for teachers for a number of reasons, with one of the core aspects being the opportunity for cross-disciplinary collaboration with fellow teachers. Although teachers regularly receive feedback from school leadership, they seldom get a chance to receive honest peer-to-peer feedback that revolves around new methodologies or reas that teachers have self-identified for improvement.
Rona Rong (first from left) attending a workshop at Pao School’s Global Education Forum with her colleagues
The benefits of Teacher Labs extend beyond the participants in the programme, as teachers can feed back what they have learned with colleagues in their department – sharing the methods and strategies that they have learned that can be applied elsewhere. Through these collaborative efforts, teachers are able to deepen their relationships and strengthen the faculty as a whole.
Teachers taking part in Pao School's annual Global Education Forum
James Hassett, Primary Head of English and host of one of the first Teacher Labs, decided to focus on student engagement. He therefore asked the other teachers how students reacted to the teaching activities in the observation, saying, “The feedback that I received from the other teachers helped me understand which students are reluctant to talk and who I really need to try and work with to improve their confidence.”
At times it can be challenging to try something new, but Teacher Labs provides a structured platform for teachers to test out new ideas with the assurance they have support from colleagues. As Teacher Labs in built into the teaching schedule, it means that teachers have the time to prioritise putting methods into practice they have read about or have learned about in workshops (such as from the school’s Global Education Forum) but may not previously have had time for.
Lily Jin (second from left) and William Henry (first from right) taking part in a Teacher Lab discussion
Teachers taking part in a discussion for Teacher Lab
As James was particularly interested in methods he could use to increase student engagement in small groups, this was the focus of his discussion in the activity pre-meeting with his colleagues. For example, one of the teachers suggested that he give his students a sheet for each work group with a few questions. Each child had a different colour pen and during set times they were encouraged to write their thoughts after speaking to their group. As the comments was anonymous, the students felt more confident with taking risks without being judged. Now, as James found the method to be very effective, he regularly uses it in his teaching.
James’ class was also an opportunity to showcase for other teachers how the English Department is encouraging students to use exploratory talk. This topic is particularly interesting as the department is implementing a new speaking and listening programme that helps pupils develop the higher-order skills needed for success in English, such as inference, deduction and analysis. In addition, the method seeks to develop students' confidence and resilience when responding to unfamiliar texts.
Teachers taking part in Pao School's annual Global Education Forum
Serena Shi, Head of Year 3 and Primary Teacher, who held the second session, took what she saw in the first session with James and incorporated it into her own host class, saying “In the teacher lab, I could experience the teaching style and class culture of different teachers. In addition, I was able to learn new teaching strategies to use, such as using different gestures to represent understanding, different grouping methods, question walls, etc.”
She was particularly impressed with how, in James’ English class, he used different methods for improving “listening, speaking and thinking” skills. For example, Serena enjoyed the method of students speaking in a certain order in response to a video, wherein students also needed to respond to other’s views. She feels that she can use the same principles in the process of teaching her Chinese class.
Teachers taking part in Pao School's annual Global Education Forum
Serena says that, among the many Professional Learning options at Pao School,
the Teacher Labs have been what she has learned the most from. This is as the Labs
focus on in-classroom problems, and through walking into one another’s class
teachers can discuss topics such as pedagogy, formative assessment and
classroom management. It also inspires teachers to reflect on and constantly adjust
their teaching, so that students can enjoy the best learning experience possible.
In addition, Serena says, the Teacher Lab also gives teachers the opportunity to enter
the classrooms of different subjects, thus gaining a foundational understanding of
the methodology behind teaching different areas and allowing teachers to reflect
on their own subject from an interdisciplinary perspective.
