Current awareness resources for professional development

The library has subscriptions to both the Times Educational Supplement (from 1999 onwards, not the most recent 2 years) and Times Higher Education (from 1999 to the current day) via the online database Lexis Library Newspapers UK. These publications provide the main news stories. This database also contains UK national regional newspapers from the past 40 years up to the current day, including The Guardian and The Times.

See the library guide to Lexis Library for more information and access details.

You can also go to the TES website (a “professional, digital community”), to read some articles, and find out about professional development opportunities, events, conferences, exhibitions etc. There is a useful “New Teachers” section. You can register on this site for free to access useful resources.

This library database provides access to 3,530 instructional videos produced by the Department for Education to train and develop teachers' skills through demonstrations and commentary by teachers and experts. Find via LibrarySearch/Find Databases/Teachers TV.

This library database contains over 30,000 educational documentaries and films. If you select Browse/Education you can see the subcategory Teacher Education Development which contains 160 videos, further divided into categories including Teaching Pre-School; Classroom Management; Special Education etc. There are also 131 Education Documentaries. For more details see the library guide at: https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/library/kanopy/

Social networking sites can be really useful for sharing ideas and asking questions to gather insights from the professional teaching community. Always be conscious of the impact of your online presence and behave with respect and professionalism. Be aware of the CCCU Social Media Guidelines for Students which outlines your responsibilities and expected behaviour and conduct when engaging with social media.
Canterbury Christ Church University (2015) Social media guide for students. Available at: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/students/docs/policy-zone/Social-Media-Guidelines.pdf (Accessed: 1 August 2024)

Also take note of the Teaching Standards which state that ‘a teacher is expected to demonstrate consistently high standards of personal and professional conduct’ (DfE, 2012, p14). This applies to student teachers’ conduct online, as well as in “real life”.

DfE (2012) Teaching Standards. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards (Accessed: 1 August 2024)

Many online teacher community forums are now being replaced by social media sites. You could engage with relevant Facebook groups (e.g. Centre for Literacy in Primary Education) and watch videos of trainee teachers sharing their experiences and advice such as the “For Teachers” YouTube video collection. You can listen to topical debate from the teaching community at Teachers Talk Radio, which has a varied daily schedule and listen back function: https://www.ttradio.org/

There are many university X (formerly Twitter) accounts that you can follow and interact with (e.g. @CCCUlibrary); relevant organisations and charities; news sites; book publishers; researchers; lecturers; other teachers; professional and subject associations.

@ukedchat

@TES_Primary

@CharteredColl

@BL_Learning

@TED_ED

@UKEDResources

@NATREupdate

@ALL4language

@The_GA

@ATMMathematics

@The_UKLA

@theASE

@C4Subject_Assoc