After becoming an SSAT Lead Practitioner last year, Christina Codling, Lead Practitioner – Area Leader MFL, Bristnall Hall Academy, sits with Senior Relationship Manager, Ejike Agubor to discuss how the accreditation enabled her and colleagues to see professional development in a new way.
Explaining how she found out about the SSAT Lead Practitioner Accreditation programme, Christina begins, highlighting how the process and accreditation itself, enabled her to enhance her professional practice and become a reflective practitioner, whilst having an impact outside of her classroom.
To ensure the impact of her action-research was felt school-wide, Christina decided to focus her project on leading action-research within Bristnall Hall Academy itself. With her role as Facilitator, Christina had participants from across the Academy from different departments – teaching staff, support staff – who wanted to carry out their own action-research projects. In helping to facilitate collaboration across departments, Christina goes on to mention how that formed strong relationships across school staff and meant there was a chance that the action-research undertaken would have a long-lasting impact on teaching and learning school-wide.
But the impact, went further
Yes, the action-research itself had an impact, but the personal impact felt by Christina and her colleagues, made for a new way of thinking. The SSAT Lead Practitioner Accreditation allowed the Academy to see professional development in a new way; giving everyone the opportunity to pick something to drive their own professional development – something they were passionate about and interested in – rather than old school, whole-school professional development that educators were once formally subjected to.
As the interview progresses, Christina speaks about her expectations of the programme and although consulting colleagues who are fellow Lead Practitioners prior to becoming accredited, she explains her surprise at how ‘free’ she was able to plan and execute what she had selected for her action-research project.
Reflecting on the skills she has been armed with since undertaking the SSAT Lead Practitioner Accreditation, Christina explains how ‘powerful’ and ‘helpful’ the coaching sessions were in understanding the different ways to spread influence and maintain the impact beyond her classroom.
Find out more: SSAT Lead Practitioner Accreditation
