Professional development

Big Wide Talk theatres of learning always give rise to vivid evidence of children's creativity and learning. One element of our method requires that parents and practitioners explore the children's (and their own) experience of the theatre of learning together. Professional development accrues from this reflective practice and parental engagement. It is a forum for shared deliberative dialogue, bringing in expertise from many different aspects of children's services, thereby creating a much richer profile of individual children's development, as well as that of whole communities. This is powerful evidence to support discussions about the services they need.

The Tiverton Talks theatre of learning in 2008 generated film footage and stories about children cutting and juicing fruit and vegetables in the kitchen. This evidence provoked intense discussion in all of the schools.

Big Wide Talk ran two days of professional development for practitioners who had taken part, based around footage of the children. In pairs and as a group they discussed what they saw, what they remembered, and what they had noticed in school and in other settings since the theatre of learning.

Continuing professional development (CPD) is delivered through local authorities and private companies and the focus is often on the dissemination of information about new legislation or initiatives rather than on allowing practitioners to reflect on their practice and the specific challenges they face on a daily basis. Big Wide Talk professional development sessions deliver flexibly to all of the above priorities through enabling schools to build in time for reflection with colleague and with parents.

The main problems schools experience with professional development are impact evaluation (particularly in gauging the impact on practice and pupils’ learning) and dissemination. Many schools are moving towards evaluating CDP not merely immediately afterwards, but again after six months, to see how lasting an effect it has had on practice and whether there is a demonstrable impact in pupils’ learning. Big Wide Talk theatres of learning address these issues, providing practitioners with an extended period in which to use the Big Wide Talk method of reflection and action (including face-to-face discussion and online access to their film footage, stories and photographs through the private section of the website). There are also opportunities to revisit findings and re-evaluate next steps when the resulting archive of documentation is published at the end of the project (often several months later). The dissemination of ideas and findings becomes enlivening both for colleagues, children and parents as it has its starting point in children’s creativity.

Schools can use professional development budgets towards a theatre of learning package and cover many of the school’s CPD priorities through the reflective sessions that the theatre of learning delivers.

The Training and Development Agency for Schools identifies the national priorities for teachers continuing professional development for 2007-2010 as: