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Dixons Academies Trust

One of our school and college trust leaders has contributed to a newly published book

Posted 3rd October 2024

One of our outstanding School and Trust College Leaders, Jenny Thompson, has contributed a chapter to a newly published book, The researchED Guide to Professional Development: An evidence-informed guide for teachers.

Jenny has collaborated with other key figures in education, including Tom Bennett OBE and Jo Facer, to write a chapter in the latest ResearchED guide to professional development. In her chapter 'Why does choaching serve our most vulnerable?', Jenny explores the transformative power of coaching for professional growth and the approaches we use to help all of our teachers to improve.

The book is a ResearchED guide to professional development and Jenny deep dives into the benefits of coaching for professional growth. ResearchED is an educator-led organisation with the goal of bridging the gap between research and practice. This accessible and punchy series, overseen by founder Tom Bennett, tackles the most important topics in education, with a range of experienced contributors exploring the latest evidence and research and how it can apply in a variety of classroom settings.

In this book, Jo Facer brings together contributions from several expert writers including one of our School and College Trust Leaders, Jenny Thompson, to consider what we might learn from cutting-edge research, and how we might apply this to the messy, on-the-ground reality of schools today.

While there are many routes to growing great schools, investing in the quality of the teachers is one of the best bets to improve both pupils' educational outcomes and their experience of school. And, crucially, teacher quality is not fixed - all teachers can always improve. Professional development is not solely about the teaching techniques we use in the classroom, but encompasses the way we learn to think about the curriculum, how we manage behaviour, and even how we behave as leaders.

As Jenny shares, "At Dixons, what do we do? Every colleague has professional growth coaching at least, in the early stages, once a month. This time is sacrosanct and it is timetabled. It is a real commitment."

You can get your copy of the book here.