Opportunities Doncaster has launched a new digital continuing professional development (CPD) platform for teachers aimed at helping schools to improve student performance. The platform addresses the crucial problems schools face when it comes to staff training: shrinking budgets and a lack of time to plan, deliver and facilitate a high-quality programme of support. Moreover, with recent school closures due to Coronavirus, many CPD efforts have been put on hold indefinitely. To deliver this service, Opportunities Doncaster is partnering with Guide Education, leveraging the company’s extensive experience in the education sector to offer an in depth series of expert best practice and CPD videos, including university-accredited qualifications.
Andy Hibbitt, COO at Doncaster Chamber, one of the co-founding organisations of Opportunities Doncaster, said:
“We are delighted to announce the launch of our new teacher development platform. We know that one of the major factors that impacts the quality of children’s learning in schools is the quality of teaching, and the greatest influence on the quality of teaching is the quality of teacher learning.”
“As we face uncertain times in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has never been a more important time for educators to model resilience and adaptability. The wave of young people about to leave education will be entering a very different and potentially economically blighted future. We hope that by offering a central platform for schools to upskill all their staff, pupils will leave education with greater chances of career success.”
Through the use of mobile technology, live expert mentoring and the online content, the platform provides an interactive solution to professional development, that can be accessed anywhere at any time. Every qualification or teacher development course undertaken includes full remote mentor support, access to the online learning platform and expert videos, so teachers can study in their own time wherever they are.
