Emma Sheppard (@Comment_Ed), Founder of The MTPT Project, summarises the conversations and reflections of the recent MTPT Project London Summer Coffee Morning.
Today we hosted our second MTPT Project coffee morning in the beautiful and light (despite the rain outside!) surroundings of the British Museum Grand Court Cafe. It was a fantastic opportunity to strengthen a local community that had existed either remotely through Twitter, emails or telephone conversations, or in isolated pairings through connections made at Teach Meets, previous coffee mornings, or Teach First ambassador networks.
The location – whilst busy with a lot of foot traffic for babies now very eager to crawl around independently – was great for pre, post and inter-coffee explorations with almost everyone taking the opportunity to visit the Egyptian section, the Rosetta Stone, the New Zealand section or… the gift shop for a mini CPD experience during the day! For members with older children, this was a great way to break up what could otherwise have been a challenge in focus – sitting around listening to adults talk is not as much fun for a 3 year old as the Mummies section!
Our conversations were wide-ranging – from parental leave CPD recommendations to shared parental leave; female role models in children’s literature to whole school teaching and learning; return to work experiences to short and medium term career goals. Of course, we also spoke about weaning, 12 months olds’ inability to sit still and that nice, warm, flour-sack stage of new babies who fall asleep in their parents’ laps. Needless to say, it was also a delight to meet new babies and toddlers – Jonah and I had a very good conversation about Tutankhamen who did not have hair, but did have a face, and was lying down in a big box – and to see how much previous mini acquaintances had grown in both size and character.
With two of the five coffee-guzzlers back at work full time, one preparing for her imminent return, and one planning a carefully considered return when she is ready, it was also really interesting to consider the exciting themes that seem to be preoccupying our conversations:
- Returning to work after time out is intimidating, especially as the start date creeps closer and closer, but we all did it, and we have all adapted, survived and are enjoying it as much as – maybe more than? – we did before our leave;
- For those back in the classroom, we are beginning to see the impact of our personal parental leave CPD – the expertise in a particular area of pedagogy from that FutureLearn course; the impact of the adaptations to Library lessons after a rediscovery of reading for pleasure; improved reputations within school because of networking and collaboration experiences. It is so exciting to be so clear about the value of the CPD we completed during this time away from the classroom, and how it is positively impacting our colleagues, students and their outcomes – but also how it has re-engaged us with teaching, and given us the energy to balance our work and family commitments with passion;
- Whatever stage we are at on our MTPT journey – whether we are, or want to be, parents or not – we can support and empower each other in very practical and real ways to tackle the complex factors behind issues of teacher retention, the gender pay gap and the gender inequality in school leadership and parenting. Just from today’s meeting, I would empower you to…
- Coach, or be coached by, somebody within your, The MTPT Project, or WomenEd community
- Provide opportunities for teachers who have been out of the classroom for more than 9 months to gain ‘recent classroom experience‘ by volunteering at your school
- Collaborate and share ideas with others in The MTPT Project community to learn about practices in other schools to take back to your own teams
- Share CPD tips and resources – my copy of ‘High Challenge, Low Threat‘ has now been shared with two other members of The MTPT Project community in London, and I can’t wait to make book exchanges a more regular feature at our meet ups
These coffee mornings only happen because one person within The MTPT Project community fancied meeting up with others, so if you’d like to get together with others in your region, don’t hesitate. Check out how simple it is to organise, and enjoy a coffee, some cake and CPD chats!
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