Professional Development and Enrichment Courses

Teaching for Metacognition

My staff rated Michael’s course the most useful PD in the past five years. – Principal, Colo High School, NSW.

This course made me look at my own pedagogy more than I ever have before and helped me to identify both things that I do well but also areas for improvement. I like the fact that in identifying weaknesses, I now also have some strategies to play around with and try to implement. – Science teacher, ACT.

I enjoyed all of this course. I was particularly interested in of the impact of too much help. I agree that teachers really need to push back with students and parents because we are disabling them, and so the information about autonomy and competence was useful. – Sarah Flynn, Marian College, NZ

I thoroughly enjoyed this course.  It was highly informative and motivating.  I also really liked how it was structured – allowing me to pause the videos when I needed to and allowing for reflection on each section by way of the accompanying questions.  Name supplied, ACT.

I got a lot out of this. It was good to actually write down my thinking as this is an effective way of reflecting to understand. – Primary school teacher, Garran PS, ACT.

Teaching Musical Skill

Review: NSW MTA, Feb 2021: A refreshing and stimulating course, highly recommended! The delivery by Michael Griffin is easy to understand, clear and logical, and delivered in a non-patronising approach.

Review: European Piano Teachers Association, Jan 2021: Very worthwhile…inspiring!…ticks all the boxes, absolutely recommended!

Review: MTA, UK, Dec 2020: I was inspired to think about my approach to teaching and learning. Invaluable for instrumental teachers! Michael has a gift of being able to convey complex ideas in an easy to understand format.

This on-line, do at your own pace course really appealed to me. It refreshed ideas, emphasised the importance of making the teaching of “practice” more of a priority and gave back up research. It introduced me to new ideas that I’ve already found extremely useful in my lessons. It’s been great food for thought and the user-friendly format in short videos was refreshing and not at all demanding. Thanks Michael. Such a valuable service to teachers of all experience levels. – Wendy Armstrong, Instrumental Music Service, WA.

Energising! I’m really looking forward to spending more lesson time on improving my pupils practice methods. I hope more UK teachers and teachers across the world will soon enjoy this excellent course! – Cathy Davies, Bancrofts, UK.

Learning Excellence

This was exactly what the students needed at the start of their A levels. It got them thinking about how they work and about how they could make best use of their time to succeed at their goals. Focusing their minds on ensuring they know that they CAN achieve and supporting this with relevant examples was very powerful. – Clare Freeman, Head of Sixth Form, Royal Masonic, UK.

A fantastic course for our students to feel empowered and take control of their learning.

Michael exploded a few myths and spelt out a clear message about the path to success. – Craig Woodgate, Kingswood School, Bath UK.

Developing Musical Skill

Michael is an expert in this field with so much knowledge and experience of how to learn music and practice effectively and efficiently.  His presentation explains this in a clear, interactive and engaging way, which works well in person, online, and via video call.  His presentations have been equally valued by pupils, teachers and parents, and it has been wonderful to see the change in practice habits in the weeks and months after. – Gemma Russell, Director of Music, Wycliffe College, UK.

This course is excellent. The content is laid out in a very student-friendly manner and the comic characters help to confirm numerous important points, in a fun way! The ratio of music, talk and visual display is well balanced, the audio is clear. The content is wonderful, including lots of colourful quotes and scientific references. So interesting and beneficial! I am glad that I did this course myself – as a teacher, so I can use the quotes and references in lessons. Thank you for creating such a helpful program for young people. I hope it brings more meaning and joy into their music learning! – Margarita Krupina, Studio Music Teacher, Burwood, Victoria.