Build Pupil Engagement and Belonging

You will explore evidence-informed approaches and building blocks to develop pupil engagement in your setting.

This ten week programme is delivered over four conference days:

Conference one: What is pupil engagement and how can we enhance it?
This conference focuses on defining pupil engagement and the wide-ranging benefits it can have for your pupils. You will then consider the role that self-determined motivation can have in fostering pupil engagement.

Conference two: Build pupil competence and relatedness.
This conference shares theoretical insights and practical examples around two key psychosocial needs – competence and relatedness.

Conference three: Autonomy-supportive teaching.
This conference focuses on pupils’ need for autonomy, what this does and doesn’t mean, and how you can manage this is the context of a school environment.

Conference four: Implementation.
This conference analyses the challenges and trade-offs around refining teachers’ and leaders’ day-to-day interactions with pupils.

The content is delivered via four virtual conference days, enabling you to learn together with your peers.

The virtual conference will be held in groups sessions, with plenty of time for discussion, questions and analysis.

Virtual coaching sessions will provide an opportunity for you and your colleague to consider the needs of your context and how to address them most effectively.

Tailored to your context
This programme is designed to help you analyse the strengths and limitations of your school or trust’s current approaches to building pupil engagement.

Support your team
Whether you work in a pastoral or teaching and learning role, this programme will help you to guide your team in making their interactions with pupils more purposeful.

Foster meaningful change
By having two participants from your school on the programme you can make change at different levels while senior leaders can focus on whole-school policies and processes that affect how pupils value school while middle leaders can focus on supporting colleagues to foster pupil engagement in lessons.

Working with a colleague also allows you to collaborate, challenge each other and support sustainable implementation.

Focused support
You and your colleague will receive three hours of bespoke support to help you analyse and apply your learning from the programme to your school.

Focused on your pupils’ needs
At the beginning of the programme you will have an opportunity to survey your pupils to understand their needs. You can also revisit this survey over time to analyse the impact of your work and refine your implementation.

Building your culture
You will be able to take the strengths of your existing school culture – for example predictable, calm and purposeful classrooms, and develop these by considering how to reduce pupil passivity and increase active engagement in school life.

Working across school
You may decide that you want to focus on a whole-school change. For example, planning in opportunities across the school year for pupils to feel seen, known and valued by a wide range of staff and pupils. This might include changes to form time, extra-curricular activities or wider learning opportunities.

Alternatively, you might select a group of teachers to pioneer new approaches at a classroom level. This could involve coaching them to present learning in ways that help pupils to see the value and interest in all parts of the curriculum – improving their motivation in lessons.

Improved teacher job satisfaction
As well as benefits to pupils, there is evidence that enhancing the school environment also evidence improves a teachers’ job satisfaction.