I am fully aware of the financial pressures all schools, independent and maintained, are facing. I know every head, bursar/school business manager and governing body will be considering where they can make economies, but I want to make a plea for preserving the investment in staff which comes from continuing to prioritise and fund a healthy professional development and learning programme.
Since I stepped back from headship, I have spent time conducting and reading educational research, and it seems to me that many claims which appear to be strongly evidence-informed are at some later point contested! However, I can find no research which contests the claim that, if we want to secure the best possible outcomes for our pupils, valuing and developing all our staff is crucial.
We need to ensure that we are deploying our resources wisely, and in the area of professional development, we should be alert to the availability of low-cost, good value sources of support. Many still equate ‘CPD’ with ‘going on a course’, and, although that is one avenue, it is certainly not the only one. Arguably it is not even the most productive route to professional growth. In particular, when it comes to focussed subject knowledge development (rather than the general development of pedagogical knowledge), academic Middle Leaders can do much to ensure they capitalise on the opportunities for classroom-based professional enquiry and sharing the expertise of their current team. This may involve coaching and peer support, collaborative reflection and observation, as Mark Enser explains in this recent TES magazine article: How to design a teacher CPD curriculum | Tes.
Observation and shadowing across departments and phases of the school (to learn, and not to judge) can also bring benefits. Aspiring leaders at all levels shadowing a leader in another school can be an excellent use of their CPD time. Networking, debating, and sharing through social media; watching webinars and listening to podcasts; reading education books and blog posts (and writing blog posts) can all encourage reflection and move us forward in our thinking. Every school can build an education library and encourage staff to form an education book club. Buying multiple copies of recent, high-quality publications, many written by serving practitioners, can enable discussion across departments to be facilitated, and learning shared.
Such sources of professional development are not exactly ‘free’, as they all require an investment of staff time, but they are good value, and do not always involve time out of school (with the cover and expenses repercussions in addition to course fees). Online training can also be cost-effective and time-efficient. Inviting speakers into school to focus on subjects of relevance and use to larger groups of staff, for example all the Middle Leaders, or all those who aspire to the next level of leadership, can work well – but ensure your speaker is well-briefed, aware of your context and able to tailor the training to the needs of your particular school and staff. Ian Gilbert, the CEO of Independent Thinking, recently wrote an excellent piece on what schools should expect from external trainers: Twelve Things to Look For When Choosing a Great INSET Speaker | Independent Thinking.
It is important to remember that the power of professional development arises from the ensuing impact: what difference will it make to professional practice? In their book, ‘The CPD Curriculum’, (Crown House, 2021) Mark and Zoe Enser conclude: “CPD does not happen through a particular input of information; CPD occurs through what happens next.” So whatever professional development and learning activity staff are involved in, that should be the start or continuation of the conversation, not the end of it.
As Tim Brighouse said, the sign of a good school is when teachers talk to teachers about teaching. If we commit to, and invest in, the professional development and learning of our teaching and support staff, we can ensure that dialogue continues, to the benefit of the young people we ultimately serve.
Thank you for reading.
jillberry102 