Aims

“To lead improvement is to exercise influence in ways that leave the team, organization, or system in a better state than before.” Robinson, 2018

So, what’s the purpose of this guide? We take our cue from our guiding questions:

• Why does professional learning matter?

• What are effective professional learning practices that we can practically implement within our busy schools? And what can we do to support our staff in the process?

• How can we measure the impact of professional learning on student outcomes?

Our aim is three-fold:

	The Big Picture Perspective: To offer a 360° view of research-informed effective professional learning practices, to support schools at the whole school, team and individual level.
	Practical Approaches & Strategies: To simplify (mindful to not oversimplify) the complex, multi-layered and dynamic nature of a school professional learning ecosystem and share practical approaches and strategies that work (mindful of school contexts).
	Implementation and Impact: To provide insights on complementary and meaningful professional learning pathways to simultaneously strengthen the whole school, build team capacity, and meet the needs of individual adult learners.

Theory of Action

We approached this guide from our theory of action

If we, as leaders, can gain an understanding of the needs of all our staff, inclusive of teaching and non-teaching staff, when it comes to student learning and wellbeing, then we can develop professional learning to help meet their needs, while simultaneously meeting the needs of teams and the whole school.