About this case study
As an expert witness for learners taking the SWiS in her school, Melanie has seen learners’ confidence and knowledge grow. She found the expert witness role personally rewarding and also useful for her supervisor role in school.
Melanie says:
"Since I started working at St Anne's eight years ago, I've always done a variety of jobs. As well as leading the midday supervisors, I do some finance and administrative work in the office. I'm also a teaching assistant, covering teachers' planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time, and a learning support assistant. Being a SWiS expert witness was a chance to develop another set of skills.
"When St Anne's initially looked into SWiS, four of the supervisors volunteered to do the level two certificate. I think people respond positively to SWiS because it recognises the value of what they're already doing as well as giving them an opportunity to expand their knowledge. It also helps them understand the thinking behind what they're being asked to do.
"Before the course started, myself and the other expert witnesses from schools in the area had two group training sessions with the SWiS assessor to make sure we understood what was involved. I could also contact the assessor by e-mail whenever I had a query. Getting plenty of support meant that I felt confident about giving my 'students' the help they needed. Mostly, they worked alone, but every month or so we'd all get together in school to talk through what everyone was doing and deal with any problems.
"The supervisors all come from different academic backgrounds and some were more comfortable with studying and looking things up than others. I worked with the less confident ones to help break the tasks down and make them easier to tackle. Because SWiS is so closely linked to people's everyday work, though, a lot of the time I was just pointing out to them that they already knew the answers. All our midday supervisors are teaching assistants too, so they've got a pretty good knowledge of what goes on in schools.
"I think everyone on the course found it useful and rewarding. It's always good to get recognition for your knowledge and skills. For me, doing the observations as an expert witness was a great way of seeing for myself how well everyone is doing their jobs and working as a team. I think SWiS has made a big difference, particularly in terms of how school policies inform people's work on a day-to-day basis. Now, people don't just know the school has policies – they know why they're there, and why it's so important to use them. I'm keen for this experience to lead to more training and development in the future. One of the supervisors is already doing a foundation degree. Personally, I'd relish the opportunity to do some more expert witness-type work. I found it really rewarding."
