Learning Without Limits
Cheshire Academies Trust and Cheshire Leadership and Teaching Alliance provides a sustained and carefully designed professional development programme underpinned by some of the best international ideas, research and evidence from around the world. This includes from Cambridge University, Learning without Limits research team, Harvard University with Expeditionary Learning, and the research of Todd Rose, and Standford University with ideas and evidence from Professor Carol Dweck, Professor Jo Boaler and the Visible Teaching research by Professor John Hattie.
This learning network brings curriculum leaders together, with a collegiate desire to explore what might be possible when a whole school staff, acting together, commits themselves to creating an environment free from limiting beliefs about children - and themselves as expert teachers and educators.
The sessions are called ‘close to practice’ units as all research based ideas can be applied to real classrooms with real teachers/educators.
The vision of the Learning without Limits programme is that we can:
Develop expert teaching with energy focussed on planning high quality learning based on what great teachers do, including child engaged assessment model, deeper instruction and curriculum design.
Focus on classroom culture that offers challenge within lessons so that children develop the dispositions to work at the very limit of their current understanding;
Introduce a suite of Protocols, rituals and checks for understanding that elevates all teaching and supports them as dynamic assessors;
Provide feedback about learning that is kind, specific and helpful that builds motivation to approach new learning in a very powerful way;
Harnesses the ‘peer effect’ so that an ethic of everybody together is established and embedded;
Introduces an expanded notion of achievement that includes, mastery of knowledge and skills, producing high quality work, as well as character;
Understand the psychology of change so that school leaders encourage the growth of inventiveness and openness to new ideas;
Look beyond the limits of our own localities to incorporate current international research into pedagogy;
Engage with others’ in a collaborative project to explore and develop a deeper understanding of what human educability means – and improve schools.
Close to Practice units
The learning network community will meet for six sessions per year with Head teachers and ‘curriculum leads’. The sessions will offer ‘close to practice’ sessions which enables the Head teacher and school designer to spend time together in the context of CPD and collaborating with others’. All resources to enable network participants to share the sessions in their own school will be provided – this enables school leaders to share the sessions at a time and sequence to suit own schools’ needs.
Facilitator: Andrea Curran, Professional Development Director, Cheshire Academies Trust
Andrea has extensive experience in education, teaching in three schools in social priority areas, supporting teachers in two LAs as an Advisory Teacher, leading strategically as Head of Early Years, Statutory Assessment to KS1, Curriculum & Research, Assistant Director, as well as supporting LAs regionally as a National Strategies Regional Director.
Andrea has also travelled internationally to explore world renowned practice in the Early Years and has worked as an advisor for the UAE government, Education Ministry for Northern Ireland, Morroco, and baselined schools in Malaysia. Andrea was also involved in working to establish the largest Trailblazer SureStart and is passionate about the impact education has as a tool to transform children’s lives.
Andrea also co-facilitates the NPQSL Programme on behalf of the Cheshire Teaching School Hub and Best Practice.
