Middlesbrough SCITT Delivers Improved Initial Teacher Training for Students and Assessors with Paragon CPD

Vantage Technologies’ online training tool reduces the burden of paper-based portfolios for students and helps staff better monitor trainees’ work

06 February, 2009 - Middlesbrough SCITT has deployed Paragon, an online e-portfolio and continuous professional development (CPD) tool, to improve its Initial Teacher Training programme by making the recording of evidence process simpler for students and the monitoring process more effective for assessors.

Developed by e-portfolio and CPD specialists Vantage Technologies, Paragon supports trainees’ development and training requirements by allowing them to record evidence of their training in a secure, easy-to-access e-portfolio, and their mentors to easily access and review the evidence and provide feedback on their progress online.

By uploading evidence of training and teaching into their e-portfolio students can assess themselves against the Professional Standards for qualified teacher status. Having a current record of work lets mentors effectively track and monitor trainees’ progress, allowing them to be more involved in the training process, and helps trainees to be more aware of their professional development needs, providing a basis upon which they can focus their learning.

Sarah Earl, course director at Middlesbrough SCITT, said: “Middlesbrough SCITT is a partnership of ten schools, working collaboratively to deliver high quality Initial Teacher Training and Paragon supports this initiative. A key benefit of Paragon is its accessibility. Trainee teachers can log into the e-portfolio at anytime to upload evidence of their training and their tutors and mentors can access this information at anytime to monitor it and provide feedback. Being able to track students’ work from one location lets mentors identify any gaps in training and prompt their trainees if necessary.

“Both our trainees and their assessors have come back with very positive feedback on Paragon; they find it extremely easy to use. It saves trainees the hassle of having to rely on bulky folders to have their work checked - as is the case with traditional paper-based portfolios, and it lets mentors get a quick overview of progress by glancing online, instead of having to sift through piles of paper. It makes the whole monitoring process much simpler for both parties.

“Paragon’s flexibility has allowed us to adapt it to our needs and we are now training users in Paragon’s other useful functions such as its unique Ideas Generator feature. This feature allows trainees to access Paragon’s library of resources and make use of the material to further support their development, this will ensure our students get the full benefit of what the tool has to offer.”

Macmillan Academy, the lead school in the Middlesbrough SCITT partnership, is using Paragon internally to monitor their newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs) development as part of their induction process. They are looking to also use Paragon for their staff CPD in the future.

Middlesbrough SCITT deployed Paragon following a grant received from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), who is pushing for schools to adopt electronic methods to enhance teacher training and is looking to evaluate the effectiveness of an electronic CPD tool for trainee teachers.

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Issued on behalf of Vantage Technologies, contact 01142 479500
Press contact: Context, Priya Mistry
T: 01625 511966
www.contextpr.co.uk
vantage@contextpr.co.uk

Vantage Technologies Limited
Vantage Technologies Limited is an IT services and solutions company, founded in 1988, specialising in the delivery of innovative software solutions for the improvement of working practice. Vantage is active in a variety of market sectors including local authorities, healthcare, police and professional institutions. Its product portfolio of web-based solutions includes risk management, professional development and e-le