Getting CPD Right: Embedding Successful CPD Programmes
By Jonny Kay
Effective CPD doesn’t occur automatically. It requires planning for practicality, should be based on what teachers and school leaders need and must be reviewed to ensure ongoing effectiveness. Jonny Kay explains…
As a corner stone of effective teaching and learning, teachers and leaders are fully aware of the importance of high-quality CPD. With 93% of teachers believing that CPD would make them a better teacher[1], the vast majority of teachers and leaders clearly see the value of professional development. And the research backs up its importance: research suggests that students can learn up to 40% more when taught by a very effective teacher[2].
However, it is not just in schools and colleges that CPD plays a key role: the societal benefit of all teachers receiving 35 hours of high-quality CPD (annually) for 10 years is estimated at £61bn[3].
With this in mind, and with teacher workload and availability so often in the spotlight, designing and implementing an effective CPD plan is more important than ever.
But where do we start? And how do we make sure it fits the needs of everyone (from whole-setting priorities to the personalisation and individualisation of professional development)?
To get CPD right, we need to identify what effective CPD looks like and there is no better starting point than the Education and Endowment Foundations 14 Mechanisms of effective professional development.
Of course, these mechanisms provide only a starting point because applying them in context is different in and for all schools and colleges. The next step in applying these mechanisms, then, is to identify the leaders and key staff to lead the development of the CPD programme. It’s important to get a range of experience, specialisms and views here, as this will help to create a truly inclusive programme to benefit all teachers and, therefore, the whole-school/ college. It’s also vital that this group is managed effectively, canvassing the views and (more importantly) allowing dialogue around needs, perceived needs, opportunities and potential limitations of CPD.
Having established a set of guidelines for effective CPD (the ‘what’) and a working group (the ‘who’), we need to drill down into the ‘why’. This is already established, to an extent: high-quality CPD improves outcomes for students and improves the effectiveness of teaching. However, all settings and teachers are different, so we require an additional ‘why’ and additional investigation.
This should include triangulation at 3 levels of need and consideration:
- School/ College Needs
- Staff Needs
- Operational Considerations
School/ College Needs
Firstly, we need to reflect on what is needed across the entire setting. A starting point is to evaluate the impact of previous CPD: what was the focus? Did previous CPD have an impact? How do you know? What did feedback tell you? Next, look at the available current evidence: what does achievement data suggest? What does the external data (e.g. achievement data, attendance, progression etc.) tell you?
Important also to look at the internal data and available information: what feedback do you see from observations, learning walks, work scrutiny, student voice etc.? Are there any dominant themes? If so, why? Where? If not, why not?
Mostly, this data will inform school or quality improvement plans, but important to interrogate this the context of previous CPD and development plans. This will also help you to design and select CPD which will fit in with the school/ college routine, culture and context.
Having said that, it’s also important not to spend months agonising over data – do enough to find trends, but not too much that you can’t do anything about those trends.
When you have a consistent picture of strengths, areas for improvement, challenges and potential next steps, it’s then time to test these conclusions. And the best way to do this, is to seek feedback from those on the ground.
Staff Needs
Having identified wider CPD themes, it’s vitally important to remember that, to be truly inclusive and developmental, CPD must be personalised and individualised. With this in mind, we must take into account the views, feedback and reflections of all staff. Obviously, there are many different ways of completing this process: from paper-based and Microsoft Forms to feedback within departmental meetings, the method of feedback is not nearly as important as what we do with it.
This is also very much something which should continue to be part of the process once a CPD programme is developed – consistent feedback from staff is vital, as the CPD programme is never finalised but a working document which adapts to the needs of staff.
During this process, there are fantastic opportunities to communicate to staff expectations around CPD, in both directions. From a leadership perspective, we can gain great insight into what staff want, what models they prefer, timescales of CPD and a number of potential CPD factors. At the same time, staff have the potential to give feedback on previous CPD and put this into context of their needs. Essentially, both parties get to communicate what they would like to gain from future CPD, which encourages joint ownership, and accountability, in future CPD.
In capturing feedback from staff, we also have an opportunity to set out the parameters of what is, and is not, possible in CPD.
Operational Considerations
This is, without doubt, the most challenging element of creating a whole-setting CPD programme. Operational considerations include the available budget (or lack thereof) for CPD, the timings and available resource, identification of who can/ will deliver CPD as well as locations and duration of CPD within the programme.
To get CPD right, should we integrate it throughout the week and take a flexible approach? Should we use the classic in-set day model? Should we continue with twilights? Or, do we attempt a different approach, providing resources for staff to use as and when they feel they need to, with flexible support and a team of advanced practitioners to develop and cultivate a central base of best practice, research and innovation? All of these considerations must be identified and budgeted for here – and this can be extremely challenging, even down to the geography of a setting: for every £1 spent on CPD (per student) in Leeds, £15.87 is spent on CPD (per student) in Bournemouth[4].
It is here also that we devise a plan to launch and implement a CPD programme, providing guidance on how teachers can access and adapt professional development, implementing what they learn.
Flexibility is not just key within determining a CPD programme, but also in the development of one: the vast majority of settings will likely start by focusing on operational concerns before looking at the focus for CPD. ‘What can we afford?’ can often come before, ‘Which topics/ subjects/ areas require professional development?’
Evaluation and Monitoring
Whether we start the process with operational considerations, teacher needs or student needs, we must always make sure that evaluation and monitoring, and the process to complete both, are key.
Again, flexibility is key – too much evaluation and monitoring and staff can feel that CPD is a quality/ appraisal tool, and look to ‘tick the box’ of CPD (as happens when the ‘why’ is not properly defined and there is no dialogue on CPD). When it comes to evaluation and monitoring, keep it simple – a short submission each half term on what CPD has been completed, what impact this had and proposed next steps is sufficient.
In line with this, it’s also important to continue to evaluate the CPD programme – is it flexible enough? Have needs changed? Has the focus of CPD changed? What next steps does the school/ teachers require? And, always important, how do you know?
Whether developing a CPD programme for a school or college, large or small, success will always be monitored on the impact we see in classrooms.
References
[1] https://schoolsweek.co.uk/research-what-do-teachers-really-think-of-cpd/
[2] 1. Murphy, R. and Machin, S., 2011. Improving the impact of teachers on pupil achievement in the Uk-Interim findings. UK: The Sutton Trust.
[3] https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/EPI-CPD-entitlement-cost-benefit-analysis.2021.pdf
[4] https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure
You can read more by Jonny Kay here.
