Staff training that is really meaningful and has high impact can be difficult to achieve

The sorts of issues that keep coming up in schools such as behaviour management, inclusion, differentiation and so on are issues that have been around forever ... but often under different labels. Nevertheless, it remains as important as ever to get fresh ideas and new ways of tackling old problems.

The big education shows

There are many different ways in which schools can manage their staff training days. Some take advantage of the large exhibition/conference type events like the Education Show or Special Needs London where they can attend the exhibition for free and then pay for the seminars they wish to attend. This is very cost-effective, but there is the difficulty (and added expense) of taking staff out of school and paying for cover.

Small, one-day, topic-focused events

Organisations such as Afasic, the National Autistic Society, NASEN, NDNA put on half and one-day events dealing with specific topics such as speech and language difficulties, Asperger's syndrome, inclusion, making 'Birth to three matters' work for you, education in the early years and so on. These are usually held in hotels or teachers' centres, are quite intensive and can be good value for money. Some also have follow-up sessions (often twilight) that teachers find very useful.

Cluster groups

Not so long ago, training in cluster groups became popular in some areas. This involves a cluster of schools in an area getting together and organising a training event for all staff in three or four schools. Costs and organisation are shared and where they do follow this practice, it seems to work very well. Which makes it very surprising that it's not followed more widely. In a slightly different format it is very popular in other organisations such as childminders where they get together in regions to have meetings, share experiences etc.

Running your own training day at school

For many schools this is still very common. A department, or the SENCO, is given the job of organising a training day on a particular topic. Sometimes staff with expertise do the training themselves. More often, though, a specialist is sought. Most subject specialists in secondary school belong to a subject association like the Maths Association or the Geography Association, for example, and it's not particularly difficult to find specialists in these areas. The difficulty arises when it becomes necessary to find speakers to talk to staff about issues that most teachers find particularly challenging - such as motivating difficult children, dealing with children with ADHD and attention difficulties, managing behaviour, managing autistic children in a mainstream setting, speech and language difficulties, specific learning difficulties, SEN and the Code of Practice in the early years etc ... etc ...

Getting speakers

Given the responsibility of finding speakers and organising the day can be a bit daunting, especially as it is so often given to the newly qualified teacher to organise! Well, help is at hand. Very good speakers dealing with the issues outlined above are available ... and quite easy to get details about. The topics are listed in the Speakers' Corner section of the QEd website http://www.qed.uk.com

Speakers' Details

The speakers have provided contact details, the topics they cover, length of sessions available and, most importantly, how much they charge.

Author details

Colin Gallow is a publisher, and owner of QEd Publications. QEd publishes early years resources, practical books for teachers, structured activities for children, support for special educational needs, and helpful guides for parents. For more information visit http://www.qed.uk.com