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Ashcroft Technology Academy

Ashcroft Technology Academy

Professional Learning and Development at ATA

Providing high quality and highly effective Professional Development for our teaching staff is a vital aspect of the Academy’s ethos. It is one of the reasons the Academy was judged to be outstanding in its recent OfSTED inspection (September 2021) and one of the reasons why new entrants to the profession apply to the Academy each year. 

High quality instruction is known to have the greatest impact on student outcomes and this is why the Academy invests so much in its Professional Development programme for staff.

All teachers follow a research-informed and rigorously planned Professional Learning curriculum which focuses on the way in which students learn and the way in which to best to create an effective classroom. Professional Development activities take place weekly, a little and often approach allows staff to continually review and refine their practice. All teachers share the mindset that they have the capacity to improve, not because they are not good enough but because we can always be better.

To support this belief, all teachers undertake bi-weekly deliberate practice on a specific area of pedagogy that is linked to the weekly learning sessions. This deliberate practice is captured by filming a short section of a lesson and shared with a coaching partner. This enables staff to regularly reflect on aspects of their practice and to make changes so that the Professional Learning features in each classroom. This collegiate approach towards teacher improvement has built a community body of engaged and very high-performing teachers.