Ways to Enhance Personal Growth and Development

It can take a lot of hard work and dedication to be a teacher. Even those with the most natural teaching ability need to put in time and energy to enhance their own personal growth and development.

Being aware of your teaching style and areas for improvement is the best place to start your development. We recommend you use a combination of tools to gather valuable feedback and information that will guide your personal growth.

Find a mentor

Mentoring can be an invaluable tool for professional growth and development. Young teachers should be paired with veteran teachers. This relationship can prove beneficial for both.

Young teachers can lean on a veteran teacher’s experience and knowledge, who in return can gain a fresh perspective and insight into the newest educational trends.

A mentoring programme provides teachers with a support system where they are able to seek feedback and guidance, exchange ideas, and even share their challenges and frustrations.

Advanced degree

Earning a Masters degree or further qualification in an area within education is a fantastic way to gain a fresh perspective.

It’s also an excellent way to learn about the newest educational trends and provides great networking opportunities. These can lead to new career opportunities, and may allow you to specialise in an area where you have added interest.

Whilst highly rewarding, this option can sometimes feel overwhelming, as you try to balance the requirements of studying with other aspects of your life. However, if you are organised and dedicated, you can to use this as a successful way to improve yourself as a teacher.

Take notes

Writing down achievements, difficulties and milestones throughout the year is a great way to encourage self-reflection. It doesn’t have to take a lot of your time; 10 – 15 minutes every week can provide you with a lot of valuable information.

Learning opportunities will arise almost daily, and jotting them down allows you to capture these moments, reflect on them at a later time, and make adjustments that can help you become a better teacher.

Read

It is that straightforward! Read informative articles from solid, respected sources – there are an overabundance of books and articles devoted to teachers.

Dedicate an hour a day to read and gain more knowledge. You’ll probably not agree with every facet of every book, but most offer sensational titbits that can be applied to ourselves and to classrooms.

Working with you for professional development

At the Nottingham Institute of Education, Nottingham Trent University, our philosophy is the belief that teachers continue to develop throughout their careers, and that this should be fully supported.

We don’t market a CPD “offer”, preferring instead to respond to the needs and requests of our partners, so we can work with them to co-construct bespoke support for educators.

At the Nottingham Institute of Education we are often approached by individuals or, in growing numbers, by leaders charged with developing groups of staff, and many of these are looking for accredited courses. These may include:

• Masters credits, delivered on our Clifton Campus in Nottingham, or on the schools’ sites;
• the well-known and highly regarded National SENCo award;
• or individual study towards a doctorate in education, the EdD.

It’s not all postgraduate study though; our foundation degree in educational support caters for a growing number of non-teaching staff who are keen to gain formal qualifications based on their full-time roles in schools. We also provide routes to gain Qualified Teaching Status (QTS) with our Assessment Only courses.

For more information on our range of courses visit ntu.ac.uk/edu. Alternatively, contact us on 0115 848 4200 or edu.enquiries@ntu.ac.uk.