Doha College is one of the world’s leading British International Schools, with an outstanding reputation for academic achievement, and is the leading British curriculum international school in Doha, Qatar, based on examination results. Some 2,500 students aged 3 – 18 of more than 70 nationalities attend the school, making it a truly global community.
The school has pioneered High Performance Learning, a pedagogy focussed on developing a superior cognitive performance in students and its track record of educational excellence is based on firmly embedded values, a passion for learning, and an international environment which inspires through its sheer diversity.
The Challenge
In 2015, the school relied on a paper-based system for managing performance development, meaning documents were printed out multiple times and distributed, collected and filed by hand. As the school expanded from a two-form to a six-form entry in Primary, this paper system became unwieldy and it was far too easy for documents to go astray.
At the same time, they were keen to introduce a more bottom-up approach to professional development, giving more responsibility to staff to take charge of their own learning and enabling managers to map targets for individuals to the school development plan, and to the school’s bespoke professional standards.
Keeping up with best practice in the UK was also a concern. There was a feeling that the school risked missing out on new thinking around professional learning, and the technologies to implement them that were emerging there and in other countries.
BlueSky was introduced later that year and has been rolled out across the whole school with all staff, teaching and support services staff, now using it to log their professional development. School development plan objectives are on BlueSky and when staff set their targets for the year, they link them to the plan.
“When they undertake any training or CPD, staff identify which objectives it links to and it is then recorded on BlueSky,” says Uzma Zaffar, Vice Principal – Quality Assurance. “In the last year, in-house training and development opportunities have been uploaded to BlueSky for all staff to access and book.”
A key issue was staff omitting to log any internal training they had undertaken. “We offer so much for staff development but none of it was being recorded as evidence by staff who did it. Now, once they request training it is logged. We run weekly teaching and learning forums for primary and secondary, for example, which are attended by many staff and count as CPD, so now they are advertised and booked on BlueSky.”
“The extensive support BlueSky offers was key to embedding the system across the school,” she adds. “The support service is brilliant and help is instant so if you email with a query, it is answered within an hour. What’s also very good is the continuity. We have dealt with the same person from the beginning, he knows our system really well, knows exactly what we need and how we need it.”
“The easy recording of these activities on BlueSky has enabled us to widen staff’s interpretation of CPD, and all of the different ways that you can develop yourself, helping staff to create a more accurate picture of what they have achieved and building a foundation for their next stage.”
Uzma Zaffar
Vice Principal – Quality Assurance
BlueSky’s Role
By enabling staff to log every event, the system has helped managers to capture the full extent of staff development activity. Uzma says, “In the past, CPD has been understood to mean getting on a plane to go somewhere else for a conference or training course because there is a limited amount available in Qatar. But CPD is not just about going on a course. It’s an article you’ve read, it is talking to or observing colleagues too.”
“The easy recording of these activities on BlueSky has enabled us to widen staff’s interpretation of CPD, and all of the different ways that you can develop yourself, helping staff to create a more accurate picture of what they have achieved and building a foundation for their next stage.”
The Impact
“Their responsiveness has been a huge plus point. Despite the time difference, there have been no issues working with a team based in the UK”.
“Set up was simple, involving just a few emails about log ins and activation. BlueSky’s website, including FAQs and explanatory videos, has been really useful too.
“The BlueSky team uploaded our three-year development plan to our area, allowing staff to directly link their performance development targets to it. Lesson observations are also recorded via BlueSky – again our Doha College observation form has been transferred across.
“The reaction from all staff has been good and I get constant feedback about how simple it is to use. I’ve noticed that BlueSky is encouraging staff to do more around their performance development, for example by being structured so that staff set a ‘smart’ target when objective setting – something which wasn’t happening before. Staff are also being more reflective – BlueSky is genuinely empowering them.”
“The extensive support BlueSky offers was key to embedding the system across the school. ”
Uzma Zaffar
Vice Principal – Quality Assurance
What’s next?
Doha College has moved to a new, purpose built school which will offer a six-form entry primary and ten-form entry secondary school at full capacity.
“With a school of this size we will definitely need to make even more use of BlueSky,” Uzma says. “We’re looking at adopting the self-evaluation element and also exploring how we can use it to support our school development plan. We have a three-year planning cycle and are in the second year of it. Putting the whole plan on to BlueSky for everyone to see and refer back to would make the process much more efficient and make the plan ever more meaningful.”
“The whole system is so easy, and bespoke. I want to ensure that we are making maximum use of BlueSky.”
