What’s wrong with INSET/professional development days?

Sarah Creegan

Don’t you just love an INSET day? No, we hear you cry! I’d rather get my room finalised or sort resources for those first few lessons, thank you very much. Not sit in the hall listening to something that’s, at best, not relevant or, worse, boring as hell. But let us change your minds with our only chance to talk about training days before September rocks up and we all have the ‘pleasure’.

What’s wrong with INSET/professional development days?

As we get nearer to the new academic year, social media will be full of people telling us why they don’t enjoy being stuck in a hall (the temperature of which you can never pre-empt) with their colleagues, listening to members of the SLT introducing their bit of the School Improvement Plan. Guess what? Most of the audience doesn’t give a flying one!

The days of dreaming about cocktails on the beach are over; now, people just want to get into their classrooms, whack some backing paper up and get their heads in the right place to welcome the kids in a couple of days’ time.

Instead, they’re sat there thinking one or more of the following:

Please, God, don’t make us do an icebreaker, and as for a teambuilding exercise …
As an experienced teacher, why am I listening to this old drivel again?
As a new teacher, why are people sharing all this information? It’s overwhelming and doesn’t mean much at the moment
Why do the leadership team think it’s a good idea to tell us how badly we did last year and how we have to get better this year?
Why did I go with a thin summer dress when a hat, scarf and gloves would have been better?

INSET days are what you make them

There will be people who have already got their INSET ritual down to a fine art:

Sit with your best mates, who also think the day is going to be shite
Cross your arms and put on your best slapped-bum face
Refuse to discuss whatever topic you’ve been given; talk about your holiday instead
Absolutely refuse to share any pearls of wisdom with the wider school team
Jump up at the end declaring how glad you are the day is over

How draining – for you and others. And, let’s face it, if your pupils did that to you, it would make your working week miserable.

I’m not saying that you have to slap on a smile, but there are things that you could do differently so that the day isn’t a complete waste of time and you’re in a better mood when you get home.

Here are just a few:

Keep an open mind and take a notepad in. Even if the content is stuff you think you already know and do, other thoughts and ideas will pop into your head. For example, however often I sit through safeguarding training, I always think about different children and situations and take away pages of notes.
Push yourself out of your comfort zone and use the opportunity to sit with folks that you don’t know as well. Find out what happens in other year groups, key stages or departments and nick the best bits.
Get to know the newbies and help them to better understand what’s being said. Think about their first impression of you, and don’t be the person who tries to burst their bubble with a comment like, “Don’t smile until Christmas.”
Give great feedforward to the person who planned the training. Instead of saying what could have been better (the unchangeable past), let them know what would help in the future, e.g.

Time to read through some of the information beforehand - especially if you’re a ‘blue thinker’
A room with better acoustics
Opportunity to move a bit more
Information about any guest speakers

How can you plan a great INSET day?

Laughology is an interesting name for a company; if people don’t know what to expect, we can get a range of reactions when we rock up to deliver sessions. Recently I’ve had one person say they were going to hate the session because they thought it would be full of:

“Jazz hands, fake fun and balloon animals.”

Someone else said that they were going to,

“Sit at the back. I could do with a 3-hour kip.”

As Laughologists, we’re trained to read a room and warm it up. We also have complete confidence in our delivery methods – explaining the neuroscience, psychology and research behind topics in an easy-to-understand way. All underpinned by fun activities, laughter and humour, which help people to remember.

We do use slides, but they have very few words and images that draw people in. We also have prizes – even people with slapped-bum faces love a squidgy person. And the teaching assistant who was going to sit at the back ended up at the front, clutching her curly wurly and loving the session.

As a senior leader, what can you do differently to ensure that people look forward to the first day of term and leave feeling inspired? Think about:

Your delivery style - this is your chance to show your teaching badges. Nobody enjoys chalk and talk, but any activities also need careful planning to be meaningful and fun. If you’ve been out of the classroom for a while, our presentation skills or creative facilitation skills training might be helpful.
Content - If it’s statutory, such as safeguarding, could some of the experienced people do it online? If it’s sharing targets or data, is this the right time and in the right way? Would it be better in key stages or departments? Yes, it helps if everyone has a whole school overview but think of what you would and wouldn’t want in their position.
Groupings - if you want experienced teachers to be in the safeguarding session to support people new to the profession with their examples, then make this explicit.
Timings - heads usually plan INSET days for the start or end of terms. Particularly at the end, people are tired or already on their hols.
Comfort - they’ve had six weeks when they could go to the loo and eat when they wanted. A cold hall, tiny chairs, and 10 minutes for the world and his wife to have a wee or a poo is not enough.

And, of course, you knew it was coming. If you want the best INSET day get in touch with lovely Doug - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.