I am firmly of the belief that an ed tech leader is only as good as the team they're leading, and that good in-service training plays a large part in improving teachers' skills, knowledge and understanding.

Key point: Not all INSET has to involve PowerPoint.

The meaning of “good”

I think in-service training is good if it enables the teacher to do something s/he couldn't do before, or to be able to do it better. I'm using the word 'do' in a very broad sense. It could be that, having attended a course, you have a greater understanding of a particular issue than you did before, without necessarily having to actually do anything with your new-found knowledge.

I also believe very strongly that there needs to be time and space set aside for teachers to explore issues as an intellectual endeavour, and not merely so that some pre-defined 'output' measure can be improved.

Ideally, in-service training should be useful for the individual teacher, the Computing or ICT team and the school as a whole.

Teachers should have a huge say into what training they will experience. I've seen instances of where teachers are sent on courses they don't want to attend, and denied permission to go on courses they do. That's a ridiculous way of trying to get the best out of your staff. Admittedly, there may be some things which everyone has to attend, such as information about a new curriculum, but there has to be give and take.

As far as what is good for the Computing team is concerned, that should be discussed by the Computing team. If you’re the team leader you will need to take some decisions, but they need to take into account your colleagues' concerns and ideas too.

Types of in-service training for ed tech specialists

But what is in-service training? Traditionally, it's a course. However, it could take a number of forms, such as:

• Attending a course.

• Running a training session.

• Attending a conference.

• Trying out something different.

• Writing a unit of work.

• Scrutinising students' work (not your own students, someone else's).

• Spending time reading.

• Spending time in discussion forums, Twitter and so on.

• Attending training sessions in bite-sized chunks, such as after school, and highly focused, eg Advanced Photoshop or Using Assessment for Learning techniques in ICT.

• Attending great team meetings.

Types of in-service training for non-specialists

Bear in mind that one of your jobs might be to organise training for non-specialist staff. Ideas that come to mind include:

• As you don't know what colleagues know or don't know, I'd suggest conducting a survey to find out what sort of things they would like training on.

• Running a regular ICT surgery.

• Running specific training for teaching assistants who help out in lessons. I've always thought it best for all concerned for them to have at least a basic level of competence in using technology.

• Encouraging colleagues from other subjects to invite you to their team meetings to help them discover how technology could be used in their lessons.

• Making a video of the ICT going on around the school, and showing it at a staff meeting. (Students can take this on as a project.)

Further reading

You may also find the following articles useful:

5 Minute Tip: Keeping a Professional Development Record.

Web 2.0 For Rookies: Proving Professional Development.

Tomorrow: How should ed tech training be done?

On the subject of training, I’ve just completed a series of articles on my best IT training days, and have almost completed a series about my worst ones. I’ll be collating those articles for subscribers to my newsletter, Digital Education.

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