Planning CPD for the next academic year? Here’s what we’ve got on…

Are you tasked with planning CPD for 2018-19? Scratching your head, unsure how to pick through the thousands of offerings available? We’re sure you’re not alone. How do you know what will represent great value for money, in both the short and – crucially – the long term?

While we’re certain that there is plenty of good stuff out there, there’s also a lot of very slick marketing pitches for ultimately flimsy products. Picking the wheat from the chaff can be incredibly difficult!

Here at Evidence Based Education, we’re working hard to challenge the way CPD is done and decisions are taken in education. We’re responsible about the work we do, and we do our utmost to ensure that you receive incredible value, for your teachers and pupils alike. Whatever the exact nature of the training and support, when you work with us, you are guaranteed of three things:

• We create sustained, sustainable and manageable programmes of support.

One-day training sessions can form part of a more holistic CPD plan, but in isolation, they are proven to be ineffective in changing practice.

• We don’t make any claims which aren’t defensible.

We were asked recently if one of our programmes would have a positive impact on student outcomes. Our answer? “We’ve no idea… yet.” But we are seeking to find out, and we’re putting everything in place for the gold standard of an independent evaluation. In the meantime, we’re happy to discuss the logic models behind what we’re doing, and to put you in touch with people who have done them before you, so you can find out for yourself.

• Our programmes offer unrivalled long-term value for money.

We want to make sure they are accessible to as many as possible, while retaining integrity in their content and structure. We’re leading the way in creating top-quality professional development, which minimises time out of school, reduces the need for travel and cover costs where possible, and helps your team to implement change, for good.

 

So, here are the different ways you can get involved and join our CPD revolution in 2018-19:

• Assessment training and support
• Research-informed school improvement
• Supporting improved use of CEM assessment data
• Evaluations
• Packages of services
• Bespoke consultancy

 

Assessment training and support

First and foremost, we will very soon be launching Cohort 4 of our acclaimed Assessment Lead Programme, which will begin in September 2018. The programme is sustained over a year, has no cover or travel costs attached, is collaborative and supported by our expert team, and it guides your Assessment Leads to create whole-school change.

You can read more about it here, as well as checking out our case studies, before registering your interest to receive notification when it opens for booking.

Secondly, we also run four-day residential and in-person programmes. We are coming to Geneva in October 2018, and are close to announcing a London version in summer 2019. Again, sign up to our mailing list here to be the first to hear dates, locations and further details!

Finally, on the assessment side of things, we also engage in assessment consultancy, to help create effective, evidence-based school assessment systems. Read this case study with the team at Falinge Park High School to see how it works in practice, and get in touch if this is of interest to you.

 

Research-informed school improvement

There are few people in the world with as much expertise in providing sustained programmes of training and support to improve decision-making on a school (or group) level. Our Director of Education, Stuart Kime, was closely involved with the EEF-funded RISE Project, is now an EEF Research Schools Developer, and has since delivered our Research Support Partnership programme to County Councils, Teaching School Alliances, individual schools, and groups/trusts.

If you’re interested in how you can improve decision-making in an evidence-based manner, read this case study, and check here for more details of our RSP programme.

 

Supporting improved use of CEM assessment data

As CEM’s approved training provider, we have advised thousands of teachers and school leaders on best-practice use of the feedback from the assessments. We do this in a number of ways, so depending on which is right for you, join us, and ensure you are getting great value for money from CEM’s world-class assessments.

• Regional workshops: We run regional workshops, covering CEM’s most widely-used assessments. We will be in the south-west of England, in Bath, next week, for which you can book tickets here, and we are close to finalising our schedule for 2018-19. Sign up to our mailing list to receive updates when we have them.
• High-quality training packages: As part of our commitment to accessible, responsible, high-impact CPD, we have created a number of training packages on CEM assessment data. These enable you to save £1,000s on travel and cover costs, upskill your staff, and get the training you need when you need it. We’ve revamped the packages for 2018-19, so to take advantage of this and find out more, visit this page.
• In-house training: While we believe in sustained, just-in-time training to help upskill staff at the key points of need, we do conduct in-house or webinar training sessions, bespoke to your needs and for any number of staff. Fill this form to request an in-house session.

 

Evaluations

Our expertise lies not only in training you to conduct small-scale, DIY evaluations, but also in conducting them ourselves. Professor Rob Coe, of our Advisory Board, and Dr Stuart Kime co-wrote the EEF’s DIY Evaluation Guide, and more recently still, we developed an Evaluation Toolkit for the national College of Policing. We were also involved in the DfE’s Workload Challenge project with Cheshire Vale Teaching School Alliance, where we evaluated the impact of teachers stopping written marking.

You can read more about that here, and for enquiries relating to independent evaluations, please contact us.

 

Packages of training and support

The above aspects are very much parts of a bigger, more holistic school improvement picture. In the last few months, we have been approached by a number of schools and groups about provision of an all-encompassing training and support package, sustained over a year or two and covering all of our various areas of expertise.

If you’d like to continue your school improvement journey with EBE, please do get in touch. We’ll be more than happy to discuss how we can help.

 

Bespoke consultancy

Last but not least, if the work above is of interest to you, but perhaps not the form of its delivery, we’d be happy to discuss how we can develop something more bespoke for you. We have worked with schools, providing a number of days’ professional challenge over a year; we’ve worked with organisations such as the EEF, the Chartered College of Teaching and Ofsted within the education sphere; and, further afield, we’re helping the College of Policing improve evidence-based practice in the police force. We have expertise in a wide range of contexts, but at its heart is always the improvement of chances for learners. If we can help practitioners and policy-makers make better-informed decisions about education, we increase the chances of those learners achieving positive outcomes. Their futures are at stake, so contact us to see how we can help.