Gervase Phinn to launch Teaching & Learning Academy at BG

 09/03/2012

Author and former Ofsted inspector Gervase Phinn will be at Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln next Tuesday (13th March) to help launch the East Midlands' regional centre for the new Teaching and Learning Academy.

BG is the regional centre for the TLA, which provides a framework for staff training and professional development for teachers and schools.

It was created in 2011 after the previous body, the Teacher Learning Academy, was acquired by a consortium of higher education institutions from the Cathedrals Group of universities and university colleges.

The launch at BG on Tuesday 13th March is one of a series of events taking place across the UK to raise awareness of the Teaching & Learning Academy.

Starting at 4.30pm in the Robert Hardy Building at BG, the launch event will include speeches from BG's principal, Professor Muriel Robinson, and Mr Rick Eastham, Assistant Head of Lincoln Christ's Hospital School - a former TLA school.

There will also be an address by the best-selling author and public speaker Gervase Phinn. Acclaimed for his published works including academic texts, children's books, and novels, Phinn is a former primary school teacher and school inspector and an honorary graduate of BG.

"Gervase Phinn has been deeply involved in education throughout his life and is a very well known personality in the sector," said John Barrow, Academic Co-ordinator in the Department of Professional Developmental in Education at BG.

"In its new incarnation the Teaching & Learning Academy encompasses everyone involved in teaching and learning - not just teachers.

"We want to raise awareness of the fact that the new service will be up and running after Easter, when we will be able to register people with the new TLA. With more schools becoming academies and resonsible for training their own staff they need access to high quality professional support. The re-launched TLA is designed to provide this."

The Teaching & Learning Academy at BG will offer learning opportunities and national recognition for staff working in schools, colleges and children's services at all career stages.

The scheme also provides a framework for professional development that enables schools to develop a research-based, whole-institution approach to staff development. It
encourages networking with others and can provide resources and expertise in supporting professional development across the institution.