The recently launched ‘Guide to Organizing a Professional Development Day’ covers four components.

  • Possible professional development day themes.
  • Guiding principles.
  • Getting started!
  • How do we move forward?

Based on what is happening at your school, you first determine which themes and central questions are relevant to you. The guide provides tips for choosing a specific theme and examples of possible themes. These examples range from developing a shared vision of wellbeing and learning to increasing pupil participation. The guide also presents principles on which to base the organization of the professional development day. For example, it is important to consider whether you are paying sufficient attention to equal opportunities for good wellbeing for all pupils. The guide also offers advice on how best to get started, as well as practical tips on what to do after the professional development day in ‘What happens next?’.

Examples of themes include:

  • Developing a shared vision of wellbeing and learning.
  • Strengthening the wellbeing of the school team.
  • Professional development for the school team (for example, group dynamics, classroom management, trauma-sensitive practice, identifying concerns and referring pupils on).
  • Strengthening partnerships between parents/carers and the school.
  • Increasing pupil participation.
  • Gaining knowledge about social-emotional development.
  • Paying attention to pupils growing up in adverse circumstances.

The guide identifies four guiding principles:

  • Work across the whole school, together with partners.
  • Know what is happening at your school.
  • Practice what you preach.
  • Work towards equal opportunities for good wellbeing for all pupils.

Part of a whole-school approach

Research shows that working on wellbeing is most effective when it is part of a whole-school, structural approach, such as the Healthy School approach. A professional development day can contribute to putting wellbeing on the agenda, providing inspiration or deepening knowledge around the topic. Would you like to learn more about how to address wellbeing across the whole school? Then take a look at the step-by-step plan ‘Working on wellbeing’. This step-by-step plan follows the steps of the Healthy School approach, specifically for the topic of wellbeing.