EDUCATION: WESTLAKE BOYS
Professional development thriving in the Centre for Excellence The Westlake Boys Centre for Excellence is a dedicated space that provides our staff and students with evidencebased programmes and opportunities for excellence and equity in boys’ education. Led by a team of three, the Centre for Excellence provides professional development programmes, mentoring opportunities, leadership and support for provisionally certified teachers. This year the Centre for Excellence has introduced a Professional Development for Prefects programme. Casey De Wit says, “We were conscious that we put a lot of time and resources into professional development for our staff, but we also want to develop our students further.” The programme includes regular sessions on what being a leader means, developing their leadership skills, and working with them on their goals as prefects. One of the development opportunities coming up for the prefects includes meeting with four Board of Trustees members to hear about what leadership looks like outside of a school context, and how they can apply some of the same principles in their role. Casey says, “We would like to help ensure they can leave Westlake at the end of the year with a sense of honour and pride in how they carried out their roles as prefects.” ‘Bite Size PD’ comprises 30–60-minute professional development sessions for staff, that sits alongside the comprehensive programme already offered for staff on Thursday mornings. Jude Arbuthnot says “Bite-Size PD is a chance for staff to present to their colleagues areas they are skilled at, giving participants practical strategies to walk away with and implement in their teaching practice straight away”.
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Issue 131 - June 2022 www.channelmag.co.nz
Centre for Excellence staff Casey de Wit, Jude Arbuthnot and Kelly Easton.
We were conscious that we put a lot of time and resources into professional development for our staff, but we also want to develop our students further. Another successful programme running out of the Centre for Excellence is the ‘Great Teacher Toolkit’ – a professional development programme that starts with teachers gathering evidence on their teaching practice from students, and then using this information as a reflective tool to inform professional dialogue around where improvements in practice can be made. Kelly Easton notes that “a variety of areas can be focused-on, including lesson content, feedback, classroom management and relationships”. “Because the programme is student informed, it highlights areas of strength for teachers, so they know what to continue doing, and analyses areas that may need more development so they can use the Great Teacher Toolkit to strengthen those areas. The professional development circle is completed by gathering information from students again at the end of the programme, to measure improvements made.
