Teacher training
Why we invest in training
The quality of a school depends on the quality and professional development of those who work there. That is why, in Becoming Education schools, training is not a one-off event but an ongoing process that fosters competence, awareness and a caring approach to education.
Professional development involves deepening one’s knowledge and methodologies, engaging with research and other professionals, reflecting on one’s own practices, and continually asking how to improve the educational and learning experience of children and young people.
Continuing professional development enables us to:
- To update and develop professional skills
- Developing shared educational and pedagogical frameworks
- To provide children and young people with meaningful, up-to-date and high-quality learning experiences
- Supporting teachers’ ability to observe, plan and reflect
- Strengthening collaboration, dialogue and professional identity
Training thus becomes an integral part of the educational programme, rather than a secondary element.
Becoming Academy
Becoming Academy is our continuing professional development centre, reserved exclusively for educators and teachers at Becoming Education schools.
It is a space for training, research and discussion where professionals gain a deeper understanding of innovative methodologies, explore new tools and develop skills through programmes designed for different age groups and school levels.
Meetings with educationalists and experts, opportunities for discussion, the sharing of experiences and visits between schools in the network enable the sharing of best practice and the circulation of knowledge and skills.
The Academy thus helps to foster a shared professional culture and to keep the dialogue alive between research, training and what happens in schools on a day-to-day basis.
The teacher as a researcher
At Becoming Education we believe in the teacher-researcher: an adult who explores and learns alongside children and young people, and who, day by day, becomes a living example of a curious and scientific approach to the world.
A professional who is aware of their own way of working, always on the lookout for practical and theoretical tools to help them develop.
A shared pedagogical framework
One of the key references for our project is the Manifesto Una scuola by Monica Guerra and Francesca Antonacci, lecturers at the University of Milan-Bicocca. The Manifesto was conceived as a proposal to examine and rethink the way we approach schooling, by bringing together the various dimensions that shape the educational experience.
The framework is structured around five areas — Encounters, Styles, Languages, Contexts and Possibilities — which invite us to examine the school through the relationships that run through it, the ways of teaching, the languages of learning, the learning environments, and the possibilities offered by educational and teaching design.
In Becoming Education, this framework supports teams’ reflection and planning and helps to establish common points of reference between schools, whilst allowing scope for the characteristics of different age groups and the identity of each individual school.