“I really enjoy the alliance days and find the subject specific sessions really helpful” – history

“Extremely friendly, helpful and relaxed day with lots of useful information. Good lunch too!.”

“Really helpful preparation – thank you.”

These are some of the ways trainees described our Alliance Days this year. Trainees attend the University every Monday or Friday with the exception of five Monday/Fridays where all of our Arden Alliance trainees from our partner schools attend an Alliance Day hosted in one of our partner schools. These days give trainees the opportunity to get together and compare their different journeys in their different host schools. Each day has a training theme from The Professional You to Planning for Marking with the explicit aim of giving real world advice that links the pedagogical theory with contextualised ideas that you can use straight away. Hosted by the training team with expert guest speakers from the Alliance school’s staff these days are always an enjoyable event.

What sets the Arden Alliance apart is that we also deliver subject specific CPD in the afternoon sessions of these days. This was instigated following feedback from previous trainees who felt well prepared by the University in terms of general pedagogy but wanted additional training in how to implement this in their own subject areas. Small groups of trainees receive bespoke training from a subject expert who will help them gain confidence and give them ideas on how to teach the most complex and daunting areas of their individual subjects.