Like this:

Whether you’re a long-serving, long-suffering teacher who gets on a course once every 5 years, or an NQT with a bottomless pit of course funding, the first question is always the same: out or in?
Let’s consider some of the pros and cons.
My old Head of German used to say: “There’s no such thing as a bad day out of school”, and on the whole he’s still right. Anything that gets you out of your normal routine and especially, normal surroundings, has to be positive within reason. The course presenter may well be dire, but there’s a good chance that there’ll be chocolate Hobnobs at break, and there’ll definitely be no knocks on the staffroom door at lunchtime, as you savour a proper hot lunch.
Regardless of how good/bad the course is, the absolute clincher in many people’s book is the opportunity to swap notes with other teachers. Be it tips on approaching dull parts of the curriculum, or letting off steam about irritating colleagues and pupils. Saves you a fortune in therapy.
So where does this leave a departmental or whole-school INSET? The big advantage is that everyone gets to hear the same thing – if you’ve ever listened to, or had to deliver yourself, a “cascading” session, you’ll know what an ill-advised cost-cutting measure that tends to be. The reporting back tends to get pushed down the priority list and can often take place weeks after the event by which time it’s little better than a game of Chinese whispers.
It may feel more re-assuring to be on home turf to receive INSET, but there are some vital psychological points to bear in mind – will you be so brave as to ask the ‘stupid’ questions if your colleagues/boss/headteacher are there? Not forgetting internal politics, which always seem to get in the way, even of the most apolitical training.
Timing is more important too – school-based INSET at the end of the week / a long twilight session / day after a parents’ evening / (complete list yourself)…..All these things can sabotage a perfectly good bit of training, whereas a change of venue seems automatically re-invigorating at any time.
On the whole then, I’d side with going out on courses. With one major exception – anything which is predominantly IT or IWB based. Seeing something work on your own equipment in your own classroom is just infinitely more re-assuring than seeing it demonstrated.

(Don’t let this stop you coming on one of my seriously hands-on IWB courses with Dragonfly Training, but inviting me to your school is even better!)

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