Our commitment to professional development
We believe that investing in our staff is essential for us to achieve the best outcomes for our pupils, keep our staff motivated and excited about their work and ensure that our practice remains cutting edge.
We offer all staff a variety of professional development pathways and opportunities; all members of Eko are encouraged to develop their expertise and are provided with high quality professional development for their specific roles. All staff attend the Trust’s development days; previous inspirational speakers have included Michael Rosen, who continues to work with Eko.
Staff who wish to progress are able to choose from the range of Teaching School, Trust and national programmes that we offer. Clear pathways exist to enable support staff to train to teach within the Trust. The Trust benefits from having an integrated Teaching School.
Valuing staff
We value all members of staff, and every employee of the trust benefits from regular, supportive meetings with their line manager. The Trust provides access to high quality medical and wellbeing support for all employees. A few examples of the professional development available to our support staff are:
- Specialist training for working with SEND pupils
- Apprenticeships to become qualified Teaching Assistants
- The opportunity to ‘train to teach’
- A wide range of programmes focused on the early years, in line with our playful learning principles
How we develop leaders
Eko Trust understands the importance of leadership and the massive impact it has on outcomes for pupils. Leadership development ensures talent is grown, staff are nourished and developed and that we have a clear plan of succession and retention.
Great leadership ensures that:
- Outcomes for children and young people are high and maintained or rising at a rapid rate
- Children and young people benefit from a highly motivated, aspirational and energetic staff team
- Parents choose Eko schools for their children because of the high quality staff that work for the Trust
- Teachers and support staff make active choices to join our Trust as a result of the excellent leadership development available
- Talented leaders and teachers are identified and developed for leadership opportunities within schools and across the Trust, in line with the needs of the school and learners
- Leaders at all levels can work on Trust initiatives and be involved in the growth of Eko
We have a core offer within our schools of coaching (external and internal),one-to-ones for all, supervision for key staff (DSLs) and we work in partnership with the teaching school to access leadership development programmes, as well as having Eko specific ones.
Opportunities for teachers
All Eko teachers have the opportunities detailed below:
- Access to leadership programmes at all levels, from early leadership to headship and beyond
- Cross trust professional development days focusing on teaching and learning, wellbeing and leadership
- The opportunity to join cross trust teams to develop practice and expertise
- Coaching and mentoring
- The opportunity to gain Specialist Leaders of Education designation
- To be deployed in a school improvement capacity outside the Trust
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