We are undertaking a research project entitled ‘Using insight from teachers’ stories of Professional Update to enhance policy and practice’, funded by the SCEL Legacy Fund and overseen by GTCS. We’ve undertaken interviews with both reviewees and reviewers to hear about their experiences and have drawn out key themes from these. The next part of the project is to share key findings with headteachers and to engage with them in focus group discussion exploring what these findings might mean for policy and practice now and in the future. For the purposes of our research we’re looking for 6 local authorities in which to conduct focus groups, but on conclusion of the project as a whole, the findings will be shared with everyone. Ideally, we’d love to come and speak with your headteachers in-person, but if that’s not possible, we could arrange to do this online.

 

We’re seeking your assistance in arranging this in and would very much appreciate if you could contact Professor Aileen Kennedy (aileen.kennedy@glasgow.ac.uk), Principal Investigator for the project, to discuss how we might best do this in your local context. We’d be delighted to share the emerging findings presentation with all your HTs before moving to work with two small focus groups (with 6-8 headteachers in each) but can arrange the session in a way that will work for you. We anticipate that colleagues will find the findings both interesting and useful to them in undertaking PRD and Professional Update in their own establishments, and hope that they will welcome this opportunity to shape the future of Professional Update policy. Below we’ve included some information from the Participant Information Sheet to clarify what we’re asking for, but full information will be given and explicit consent gained from each participant before we proceed to any data collection.

 

We hope you’ll be able to support us in gathering vital headteacher perspectives on this important piece of research that will inform future Professional Update policy. Please do get in touch to discuss how we might work together on this in your local authority.

 

Information from Participant Information Sheet:

• The purpose of this research is to gather teachers’ stories of Professional Update (PU). Insights gathered will inform policy and practice at local authority and national levels.
• You are being invited to participate in the second phase of the research project which uses focus groups to gather views from Headteachers on the data gathered during phase 1. Phase 1 involved individual interviews with teachers who have undertaken PU and as reviewees and those who have acted as PU reviewers.
• Headteachers will be invited to join a small focus group led by the project Co-Investigator and the Research Assistant.
• These will take place during local authority-organised Head Teacher meetings and will last around 60 minutes.
• 12 focus groups will take place across 6 local authority headteacher meetings.
• Through participation in the research, headteachers will be encouraged to reflect on their past, present and future experiences with PRD and PU processes.
• Participation in this research will not in any way impact negatively on participants engagement or outcome with PRD and PU.
• Participants can withdraw from the project at any time up until the focus group recording begins without prejudice. After that, it will be impossible to disentangle individual contributions.