Learning Conversations

I was at the Norfolk e-safety & e-learning conference yesterday, expounding the benefits of getting teachers involved in the range of CPD networks that are out there.

What we didn't go into was the implications for those teachers and their schools...

Based on my own experience, this is what is likely to happen:

• The teacher will develop many connections with people outside of their school - including across the world;
• The teacher will end up having more in-depth conversations about their professional practice;
• These conversations are far more likely to take place with people outside of their school than inside;
• The teacher will begin to understand that face-to-face events and meetings can be so much more effective if the people involved are part of an existing community of practice (CoP);
• The teacher will gradually give up on "traditional" conferences and training events, knowing that they can get better professional development via their CoPs;
• The teacher will encourage their students/pupils to go on similar learning journeys and build their own Communities of Practice;
• The teacher will begin to realise that the existing school structures (curriculum, assessment, timetable, buildings etc) do not fit self-directed learners and will start to look at alternative models.

So what does a school do with that teacher?