Handheld Learning 2009

Zoe Goodwin has been working in education for 19 years and is currently seconded to the Academies Enterprise Trust as Director of Professional Training and Development across the federation of schools, responsible for leading on staff development at all levels. Prior to this position she had been Vice Principal at Greensward College in Hockley Essex, responsible for Training & Development.

With her roots firmly placed in initial teacher training and early professional development (she currently works as both an external assessor for a local GTP provider and as an OU Associate Lecturer and Subject Tutor for the now flexible PGCE distance learning course), Zoe has a keen awareness of the need for training to continue throughout a teacher’s career and has worked hard over the past few years to merge ITT with NQT induction and continuing professional development. In 2008, Zoe was part of a Masters writing team, working with Essex University and she is currently co-delivering a module on Mentoring and Coaching across the AET. She is also working with ARU on the delivery of a module for Early Professional Development and is a trained TLA leader and verifier for the GTCE.

Zoe also has a keen interest in all aspects of Leadership and she has recently developed a ‘Developing Leaders’ programme for the AET which forms the basis of a talent management initiative embracing both the pedagogical and organisational aspects of leadership.

Believing in the need for innovation and creativity in meeting the professional needs of those working in education Zoe has conducted a considerable amount of research into the use of observatories and filmed lesson observations in the development of teachers and has produced a document on good practice. She has also recently developed an e-portfolio for the monitoring and assessment of the Q standards required for the award of QTS – this tool is currently part of a TDA research commitment - she has already expanded this to incorporate the C, P, E and A standards.

Zoe’s interest in education, however, stretches outside of the school and the classroom. She has been involved in a considerable amount of research into learning how to learn, including the work of Gardner, de Bono and Buzan but most importantly into the concept of how we learn more effectively if we understand how the brain works. Part of this research included visits to Harvard University as well as to a number of Melbourne schools and colleges which explained much about the work of Dr Julia Atkin and how meta cognition permeates what the Australian’s consider to be a truly 'thinking curriculum'. As a result of this research and interest in the brain, Zoe has produced a number of resources for use in schools and has presented at both local and national level.