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The฀Use฀of฀the฀Materials฀in฀Staff฀ Development฀Workshops฀ INTRODUCTION฀ The materials contained in this handbook were designed as workshop resources. Tutors fro m professional teacher education programmes who were involved in the supervision of practical teaching i n school s cam e togethe r t o conside r wha t challenge s ar e inheren t i n conductin g supervisory conferences and the ways these might be addressed. In this Appendix, based largely on our own experience, we offer som e suggestions for runnin g workshops fo r th e benefit of others who may wish to run similar staff developmen t programmes. We are the first to accept that there are other ways, but these worked for us. The workshop s migh t b e organize d b y th e educationa l developmen t uni t withi n a n institution. We, as practising supervisors, ran them ourselves with our own colleagues, not as 'experts', but rather , a s concerne d colleague s wit h considerabl e experienc e o f carryin g ou t supervisory conferences. Whether we were a group with more than sixty years' experience or individuals with one year's experience repeated sixty times, we leave others to judge. Our aim was to provide a forum in which experiences and concerns could be shared. Our belief is that discussion among colleagues is preferable, but we accept that, in a climate of contract renewals and the like, people may not feel free in their discussion. In such case, the help of an educational development unit or colleagues from a neighbouring institution could be helpful . It is not our intention that a programme o f staff developmen t workshops based on these materials should deal with all the topics listed at one time. Some topics, for example, Frameworks for Supervision, might be left for individuals to read in their own time either before o r after a particular session . (Alternatively , thi s could b e used t o get people thinkin g generall y abou t where supervisio n fit s int o teache r educatio n before a workshop programm e a s a whole o r 192฀Bette r฀Supervision,฀Better฀Teaching:฀A฀Handbook฀for฀Teaching฀Practice฀Supervisors฀ afterwards as a focus for reflection.) We have tried to pick out those issues that our research had shown to be important. Workshop organizers need to consider what they feel would be most beneficial for their participants. It is important to take due note of participants' experiences and their levels of expertise in conferencing . In running workshops, we find that a session length of about one-and-a half hours is needed. An hour is too short and two hours is likely to drag. We have run them as 'brown-bag lunc h sessions'. We have ru n session s with abou t a dozen o r fifteen participant s seate d aroun d a table. Much larger numbers are likely to discourage interaction. If numbers are much smaller, then some individuals may feel too exposed. Our advice would be to accept sixteen participants as this allows for a few people to drop out during a workshop series. There are a number o f ways that the materials could be used. One might, when dealin g with difficult topics, for example, provide participants with the 'statement of the problem' and the parts dealing with the 'views of student teachers and supervisors'. Advice might be left to come out of the discussion and compared with our suggestions in conclusion. The suggestions for handling each topic could be photocopied and kept for distribution at an appropriate moment towards the end of the session. RUNNING฀THE฀WORKSHOPS฀ In thinking about advice on running workshops, we have found man y of the suggestions i n Schwartz and Webb (1993)1 and Heron (1989)2 to be useful, and organizers are recommended to look at these. What follows is the procedure that we have found to work. People can be uncertain about what such a workshop might involve and with colleagues in a big department, some 'breaking of the ice' may be necessary. We make a point of welcoming people as they come in and seat themselves at tables arranged in a square. This way, every one can see each other. If we can, we try to avoid having clusters, of either more or less experienced colleagues, around the table. One of the workshop facilitator s act s as...

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