As mentioned, Sing Education teachers are sourced from the top universities and music conservatoires. However, our investment in high quality music provision doesn’t stop there.
We unite our staff together under one curricular architecture, one teaching methodology and one company ethos – i.e., “Every Child Has A Voice.” From onboarding to regular supervision from our directors to the app teachers use to communicate with one another during term time, we’ve designed a teaching experience that prioritises and rewards excellence through teamwork.
For example, we have a programme of collaborative learning between Sing Education teachers called ‘team teaching’. So how does it work in practice?
At the start of each academic year, we organise our teaching timetables so that staff can be released from their usual school placement for a day or two to work with another Sing Education teacher. Alternatively, teachers may go into a new school on a day they’re not typically scheduled to work with Sing Education. This extracurricular time is then dedicated to peer-to-peer observation and to the process of self-reflection based on working together with another teacher. We encourage the observing teacher to look critically at key practice areas such as, “How does this teacher create a positive and safe environment?, “How do they put across the teaching principles,” and “How can I implement those types of things in my own teaching?”
In addition to peer-to-peer learning, we also have a programme of coaching and support for junior Sing Education teachers. We organise term timetables so that our more senior teachers can be released to go in to work with more junior practitioners. This is especially beneficial during a teacher’s first two or three terms of teaching with us. When senior team members are able to go in and support their junior counterparts on site, in their regular school placement, the feedback and real-time mentoring is highly impactful.
That said, Sing Education knows the dividends of this approach go even further than schools receiving great provision.
Our teachers themselves benefit from working as part of a team. By joining Sing Education, they become part of a wide network of support. They build relationships with other teachers, friendships with other teachers, so that they can readily draw on peer expertise and knowledge. They also build skills critical to supporting their own teaching. And beyond the classroom we know that team teaching encourages staff to draw on one another for moral support and for career guidance. The world of teaching and education is often thought of as a really hard and isolating place to work. But, Sing Education believes that being part of a bigger team means we can support one another and draw on the strength of others to make sure that we’re all having a positive teaching experience.