Lets collaborate earlier...

People say, timing is everything, but when it comes to delivering news and learning, I agree, timing IS everything.

When was the last time you left a meeting buzzing with ideas? For some, this feeling rarely happens. Nowadays team spaces are filled with ‘meetings’ discussing data, messages and long to-do lists. Each teacher entering the meeting with a different agenda, some listening fully, some marking in the background and some just waiting for the clock to strike 5pm so they can leave for the working day.

Why do we wait all day to collaborate or for team time? Well, this is a similar case for CPD, but why do we do this? It’s the most suitable time where all the team are not teaching, it just fits better but, teachers spend all day meeting learners needs, adapting resources and being flexible, shouldn’t we be doing the same for teachers?

As we’ve embarked into 2021 and into another lockdown, communication has never been more important. We are now encouraging note only less meetings but also less emails putting stress onto colleagues. The time is now to start rethinking meetings and team spaces; not just whether meetings need to happen and questioning if they could just be an email but also the true purpose/ focus of them and when they happen. In education, our work is never ending, it doesn’t matter how many lessons you plan or how much of your marking pile you get through, there is always a new challenge to embark on - teachers time is precious.

Lockdown 1 and 2 (as Education didn’t lock down before) we began to see more online and freer CPD for teachers throughout the day. What if more CPD sessions were available at 8am/9am for 30 mins to provide energising spaces for teachers. They left that meeting feeling inspired to try something new or even that they felt they had been listened to. Going back to flexibility, some of our colleagues are early risers. Let’s also not forget some staff could be free at 9am which could be the most ideal time to swoop in and support. What if those delivering training sessions also left feeling more positive, like they had inspired staff earlier in the day?

We should be reaching out to colleagues to collaborate earlier. Providing collaborative spaces or training spaces earlier in the day doesn’t have to just mean 9am, what about 11am or 1pm. Let’s stop waiting to collaborate. Lets encourage learning throughout the day rather than it being a chore at the end of the day. 

We are reshaping so much in education for our learners, isn’t it about time we reshaped teachers’ opportunities and spaces?