CPD


	MFL & INCLUSION

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT


	Linking Communities		Learning and teaching
			Learning and teaching

Although I no longer provide CPD in person, elements of the projects and courses I provided have informed almost all of the contents of this site. More specifically:

Good ideas arising from the Working Together for Inclusion and Improving Collaborative Practice workshops and in-school projects can be found below and here and on the lucky dip page.
Teaching: Good practice observed and developed ovr the years has found its way onto the Learning and Teaching pages.
Workshops based on ideas and procedures which were found to work can be found again in the Workshops on this site.
Learning and Teaching Scotland commisioned an online version of the whole in-school programme for their Modern Languages Learing Environment. The online programme is known as Maximising Potential: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/maximisingpotential/ Information about the development of the programme can be found below and here. Supplementary pages supporting the LTS programme are also on this site and can be accessed through the Maximising Potential website.
All the notes and planning sheets developed for Access ML seminars can be found on the Qualifications page.



	MAXIMISING POTENTIAL Maximising Potential is a programme of professional and curriculum development based on experiences in schools over the last ten years or more that have shown that all children can benefit from language learning, but that not all actually do so. That leaves us with the question of why some of them are not learning. Why is it that - despite the best efforts and dedication of their teachers - some of them still aren't reaching their potential?
	Part of the answer seems to be that teachers need to know more about what helps children to learn and, perhaps more importantly in the early stages, what hinders them. The Maximising Potential programme doesn't suggest any tailor-made solutions - every class is different; every pupil is different; what works for some doesn't work for others, etc. So it's flexible: modern language departments, with support of Senior Management, identify their own priorities and design their own programme. What modern language teachers have been saying for some years now is that they know that something has to change, but they don't quite know what. And they don't want to risk making changes that might make things worse. What they want more than anything is some advice about how to go about making changes that will work for them, for their pupils, and don't require fancy resources that they don't have. Maximising Potential provides a programme which aims to help modern language teachers and support staff to work together with a specific class, to identify small changes that will make a big difference to relationships, morale and learning in the shortest possible time. This is a starter pack, with intensive SfL support in the early stages: (1) to kick-start a problem-solving approach to managing learning, and (2) to get the pupils back on board. Once those aims have been achieved class teacher and pupils can move ahead on their own, with occasional help and consultancy from learning support staff - as usual. Key features of the programme: Professional collaboration between Modern Languages and Support for Learning, and with the assistance of School Managers. Practical tasks that focus immediately on groups of learners whose attainment and/or motivation are giving cause for concern. Aligned to current national initiatives that target inclusion and attainment The more this programme has been used with schools, the more clearly it appears that the foreign language itself is not the problem. What prevents children from learning as well as we would like them to is more generic; the issues that modern language teachers are likely to identify in the course of the project might apply to any subject. The principles which hold good in a modern language class can apply in any subject.


	CPD LINKS
	Scottish CILT Outreach events: http://www.scilt.stir.ac.uk/Conferences/ForthcomingOutreach/Index.htm CPD Scotland: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/cpdscotland/index.asp Children in Scotland training and events: http://www.childreninscotland.org.uk/html/tra_list.php Inclusive Education Conferences and events in Scotland: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/inclusiveeducation/aboutinclusiveeducation/researchandreports/conferencesandevents/index.asp National Qualifications Details of conferences, seminars and in-service training opportunities in Scotland: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/nq/professionaldevelopment.asp Teacher Support Scotland: http://www.teachersupport.info/scotland


	Page last updated: 14.8.08
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