Creating an Effective Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework

In every school, there are always competing continuing professional development priorities vying for our attention. Whether it’s improving teaching and learning, ensuring high-quality provision for additional needs and disabilities, exploring ways to improve staff and student well-being, or addressing behaviour, educators are on a continuous journey of reflection, evaluation and development across various aspects of school life.

Challenges around planning and delivering effective continuing professional development

By trying to address multiple areas for continuing professional development, we can sometimes end up taking on too much in one go and approaching CPD in a fragmented, disjointed way.  Pertinent issues can move up and down the professional development agenda in response to external, real-time factors. While a degree of flexibility is essential, a predominantly ad-hoc approach can limit impact and place undue stress on staff to absorb and implement new ideas and thinking.

There is also sometimes a misalignment between leaders’ and teachers’ priorities, especially in instances where communication and collaboration across staff teams is limited. When leaders have sole responsibility for deciding professional development opportunities, staff can sometimes feel like their voices are not being heard, and any continuous professional development can feel as though it is being done ‘to’ them, rather than ‘with’ them. This can have wider ramifications for staff well-being, recruitment and retention.

Of course, school life is multi-faceted, and we cannot underestimate the challenge of juggling equally important focus areas. All aspects of the educational ecosystem are inextricably linked, making it difficult to balance what is urgent with what is important. This can create friction and can sometimes leave staff feeling that their needs are not being addressed.

Benefits of a structured CPD framework

Because of the potential pitfalls that professional development planning can present, we need to explore how to take a measured, well-considered approach that results in a clear but flexible framework. Creating a coherent structure enables us to allocate often-stretched budgets wisely, maximise the efficacy of any professional development, and positively influence outcomes for staff, students, and the wider school community.

An effective CPD framework means that senior leaders can equip their teams with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to perform optimally in their roles; teachers and support staff feel valued and engaged, and can confidently and consistently deliver practice that elicits the best outcomes for their students, socially, emotionally and academically; and children and young people can grow and thrive in a supportive environment that is designed to meet their unique needs.

Practical ways to plan effective CPD

So with so much to be gained, how can schools create an effective CPD framework that delivers lasting change and empowers every member of the school community?

1: Create ongoing opportunities for continuing professional development

CPD is, by its very definition, an ongoing process rather than a one-off event. Whether at organisational, classroom or individual level, we need to consider how we can create systematic, regular opportunities to review the impact of training and development and look at ways to develop further.

To do this, we can gather feedback from all staff, seeking ways to collate evidence in ways that are authentic and purposeful. We can build on typical models of training days and lesson observations, and facilitate open, honest discussions at regular intervals.

When we are joined by new staff, we need to ensure that they are quickly inducted into our methodology and are provided with appropriate and timely training to ensure consistency of approach.