These partnerships were aiming for staff to use residentials as a vehicle to learn and then incorporate varied approaches to teaching and learning into their classroom practice. In particular, schools were looking for staff to increase learning outside the classroom and other practical activities back in school, because of their success in engaging students on residentials.
In pre-residential surveys, staff themselves identified that they wanted residentials to help them further develop their understanding of their students, both as learners and more generally as people.
There were also two other outcomes concerning staff, which hadn’t necessarily been an initial focus of the school partnerships but came through strongly in the evaluation of Learning Away: opportunities for professional development, and staff relationships.
Watch this filmed interview with Tony McDaid, the former headteacher at Calderglen High School, where he describes the impact of the school’s Learning Away residentials on the staff at his school.