university.nae.school
I have had the immense privilege this month of visiting several of our schools as they are preparing for the year ahead. It is always a strange feeling to be in schools when the students aren’t there, but it also gives us a chance to see the passion and commitment of our colleagues to be the best they can be, to continually develop and to gain the most that they can from the opportunities available to them in NAE and, more specifically, through NAU.
At one school, I joined the staff there in watching Andrew Fitzmaurice’s welcome back video and I could see how much it meant, especially to teachers new to NAE, to hear our CEO re-emphasise how professional learning is at the heart of all we do, and to reiterate our absolute commitment to supporting you on that journey.
Of course, professional development is a two-way process and we are reminded that it is both a right and a responsibility; it takes commitment to wanting to develop professionally, and a humble recognition of areas where this development is most needed. As we move into the second year of our Quality Assurance Framework, it is very heartening to see and hear of the number of our schools that are really beginning to embed the trinity of QA, school improvement planning and professional development as a virtuous circle of improvement. And this is definitely something we want to encourage as we support each and every colleague – too often in schools we have not seen that causal link between QA and performance management, and the provision of truly worthwhile professional development activity. I hope this debate will continue across our family in the coming year.
Connect-ed has always been, for me personally and I know for many colleagues, an excellent way to promote rich conversation around professional development. Our team remain committed to ensuring our monthly magazine is always relevant and practical; we don’t just want interesting articles (although they are) but ones which resonate across the family of schools. Your feedback is always valuable, and your articles even more so.
I wish you a very enjoyable and fruitful year ahead, and above all one during which you feel you are gaining richness in your professional learning and development, as through this we will see ourselves becoming ever more a true learning organisation.
In summary: Better teachers do make use of NAU!
Andy Puttock
Education Director
Education Team
Looking to submit an article to Connect-ed? Contact [email protected] and let us know what you are wanting to write about!
Welcome to the September 2018 edition of Connect-ed