Connect’s Personalising CPD project

Outcomes of the meetings

The key points that emerged from the meetings were as follows:

• The most effective professional development needs to: start where the teacher is; be collaborative and sustained over time; involve some self-analysis.
• Performance management should be the servant of CPD, not the other way round. Make the system work for you and the best interests of staff and pupils.
• Effective leadership is crucial, as there is a clear link between high quality leadership and CPD co-ordination and high quality learning for both teacher and pupil.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution and schools need to be sure of matching CPD opportunities to the needs of all staff.

Resources for CPD leaders

• An edited version of the Personalising CPD presentation (Powerpoint, 273kb) used on the day, including slides on current research and performance management
• A PDF version of the Personalising CPD presentation (PDF, 147kb)
• An activity pack (PDF, 32kb) to stimulate discussion about the most effective forms of CPD
• Participant definitions of ‘Personalising CPD’
• Leaflets on the Teachers’ Professional Learning Framework (TPLF) including the latest one on research featured in the presentation (Making CPD Better 2007 ).
• A 15-minute video download about one school’s approach to personalising CPD is featured on the Teachers’ TV website

Agreed statements arising from the discussions

Some essentials

• CPD has an impact. It is quite clear that effective CPD improves teachers’ attitudes, which have as much impact as their knowledge and skills. Pupils' confidence, motivation and attitudes improve due to changes in practice arising from effective CPD.
• The importance of collaboration and networking should be actively reinforced.
• Coaching is a valuable tool for staff development and there are specific skills to learn in order to be an effective coach. A coach should not be a line manager or performance management reviewer. For more information on coaching and mentoring read the Mentoring and Coaching National Framework (PDF, 185kb).
• Ways of processing the needs of staff must be developed so there is a coherence and transparency to the CPD offer, maximising use of expertise and enquiry in the school. This is the stage before ‘entitlement’.
• Engagement comes from starting where the teacher is ‘at’ – but it is not always for the teacher alone to describe where they are ‘at’.
• A teacher has to enact a process 30 times for it to become a habit, and for it to become internalised. This shows why initiatives need to be given plenty of time to be embedded before a new one is introduced.

Suggested approaches

Aim to get one group of teachers on board so that their success and enthusiasm can encourage others – the ‘bird feeder approach’.

Enquiry-based learning should be used more widely in schools, as it helps to create a climate for learning in the school. An ideal would be to have all teachers as practitioner researchers, encouraging enquiry-based learning with intended outcomes that can then be evaluated. Using the Teacher Learning Academy is one way to achieve this.

The same can be done with external courses: the teacher and co-ordinator need to know what return is expected on the participation in an event, and follow-up questions later in the year can be asked about the impact it had.

A school needs teachers to know that it is okay to experiment to encourage creativity.

Involving the children and asking them questions about their learning and your teaching is a powerful way of evaluating change in the classroom.

Use internal and external networks.

Learning Walks (National College for School Leadership adapted model) can be effective.

Using the school’s intranet to buddy staff can work. Staff who are able to share their expertise by forming a coaching pair can be identified.

Raise the status of coaching by awarding certificates to co-coaches. Use teachers in their second year of teaching to mentor NQTs and beginning teachers and use the expertise of initial teacher training and induction mentors within CPD.

Organise in-reach work: the sharing of good practice and workshops led by staff.

Teachers can use audits to assess what CPD they need and the range of opportunities available. Use the GTC networks and TPLF, and encourage peer observation. Building such self-awareness could come into the CPD offer of a school, and be part of the self-evaluation process. What is important is to build a school culture in which teacher enquiry and mutual support prevail. The new Professional Standards, when published by the DfES will also enable teachers to be able to identify strengths as well as needs.

Staff meetings have evolved from information-giving or broad-ranging discussions into tightly focused learning sessions. Holding such meetings is an effective strategy for raising achievement. See One CPD Idea that Works (January 2007), which gives examples of this.

Action points identified by participants

• Produce some models for ways in which to take CPD strategies forward and respond flexibly to meet needs.
• Organise a local authority (LA) seminar on the future of CPD following the revision of the performance management regulations and the revised Professional Standards.
• Design new ways of working with multi-agency CPD.
• Make even stronger links in my presentations between culture and school CPD.
• Feed outcomes of research into review of LA CPD.
• Revisit performance management changes with more confidence and assertiveness. Look at how they can best serve the teachers and ultimately the pupils.
• Develop use of more rigorous peer observation methods.
• Work with LA CPD adviser on developing CPD leadership skills across the authority using the existing LA network.
• Develop the learning forum idea – changing focus of meetings to development time.
• Use the active learning set method in the learning forums.
• Develop staff expertise in coaching skills.
• Look at assessment rather than measurement of CPD impact, and develop tools to do this.
• Analyse the quality of professional learning in department meeting time. Initiate strategies and the use of internal case studies to achieve more effective departmental meetings.
• Develop the use of the student voice.
• Re-look at CPD in terms of the context of the school and individuals within it.
• Use the GTC website for Research of the Month and resource files.

How far do these points mirror your own experiences and goals? Do you have strategies and ideas to share? Let us know by emailing connect@gtce.org.uk.

You might also like to discuss the following issues in CPD leader networks and in school:

• How does your institution define ‘personalised CPD’?
• What do you need to do to meet the development needs of all staff:
• on a strategic level?
• on an operational level?

Learn from each other

Do you want to know what they know? Here are some brief descriptions of a sample of activities the participants from local authorities are involved in. Email them if you would like to know more.

Pauline Anderson, National Centre for Diversity

The Investors in Diversity Standard enables organisations to adopt, develop and benchmark behaviours and practices which promote inclusion, equality, diversity and achievement. Being attuned to diversity issues will support schools to offer a ‘personalised approach’.
pauline.anderson@centrefordiversity.co.uk

Keith Hildrew, Harrow LA

The key challenge for the LA is in providing the type of support needed by schools. It has now less a ‘provider’ role and needs to adapt to the current climate. Harrow has produced a 'learning and development framework' as a structure for schools rather than a set training programme and has put in place many things to try to meet schools' needs and support them.
Keith.Hildrew@harrow.gov.uk

Pat Mowat, Wigan LA

Schools make use of the LA’s intranet to access information and an informative, celebratory newsletter ‘School Workforce Development’. There is an inbuilt evaluation system: the LA offer a questionnaire about how participants will use any training or development opportunities and there is a six-month follow-up to find out what changes have happened as a result. A toolkit for middle leaders and higher level teaching assistants has also been produced.
p.mowat@wiganmbc.gov.uk

Michelle Cassidy, Southwark LA

The LA has produced a CPD handbook which is seen as an effective way of communicating clearly expectations, opportunities and support for CPD leaders. It is also seen as a tool to support effective performance management. (There is more from Michelle in our article Performance management in Southwark)
michelle.cassidy@southwark.gov.uk

Gordon Vincent, Buckinghamshire LA

The LA facilitates professional learning communities, an academy for school leadership, and a professional development school recognition scheme, which have been developed over the past four years. The starting point was to canvass the opinions and ideas of the heads in the county by inviting them to a two-day residential meeting, presenting 12 possibilities for collaborative CPD and asking their opinions. The intention was not so much restructuring as ‘re-culturalisation’. There is a strong emphasis on collaborative working and shared responsibility. This results in a strong sense of ownership.
Gordon.Vincent@bucks.gov.uk

Connect is also working collaboratively with six local authorities on small scale projects under the title ‘Personalising CPD’. The areas covered by these projects are listed below, together with the questions we are hoping to answer through the projects. If you are working on any related areas and would like to get involved, or share your work, email connect@gtce.org.uk

• Effective early professional development (EPD): What type of EPD is most valuable to those in the early years of teaching? How can it influence their future careers?
• CPD for long serving teachers: Developing CPD for those who have been in teaching for 20+ years: What is needed? What works?
• Coaching and mentoring: How can a cluster of schools develop coaching and mentoring as a means of sustainable CPD? What are the drivers and barriers?
• CPD leadership skills: How can CPD leaders’ skills be developed in order to offer a wide range of CPD activities?
• Changing role of LA: What can we learn about the changing role of the LA as a provider of CPD for CPD leaders?
• Professional standards: How can the proposed professional standards be best used to support performance management and teachers’ career progression?  What are the skills and experience needed to meet the standards?  

We are also beginning to work on CPD for Every Child Matters, so please contact us if you would like to get involved.