The report, Meeting the challenge of providing high-quality continuing professional development for teachers, was produced by Sheffield Hallam University and has been published today (Wednesday 16 February) by Wellcome. Accompanied by the final evaluation report, produced by CFE Research, the findings from the Wellcome CPD Challenge present a strong case for an entitlement to professional development for teachers at all stages of their careers.
Other recommendations include:
- all schools should appoint a senior leader with explicit responsibility for leading professional development,
- all school staff should participate in building a shared understanding of the purpose and outcomes of sustained high-quality professional development,
- school leaders can embed small changes in practice to balance and align school development objectives with teachers’ individual learning needs, such as redefining the purpose and content of staff meetings.
The report follows a pilot study commissioned by Wellcome and led by the University’s Sheffield Institute of Education (SIoE) in partnership with Learn Sheffield to understand how teachers could better access and participate in high-quality, subject-specific professional development. The pilot was independently evaluated by CFE Research.
The three-year pilot ran in 40 schools across South Yorkshire and Derbyshire – including primary, secondary and special schools. The schools were set the challenge of meeting defined criteria relating to the quality and quantity of teacher professional development.
With the criteria acting as ambitious but achievable targets, it was hoped that all teachers would participate in a transformational amount of high-quality professional development directly relevant to their practice.
An interim report published in March 2020 found that two thirds of teachers taking part in the pilot said it has helped improve their knowledge and made them more effective. Other findings included staff reporting improvements in their confidence and leadership skills as well as an increase in the amount of professional development undertaken. The final reports show that an entitlement to a minimum of 35 hours per teacher, per year of high-quality professional development (where quality is clearly defined) provides a focus for improvement.
Governments worldwide view teacher professional development as a route to improved teaching and improved educational outcomes. However, in England, teachers typically participate in less professional development than teachers in other high-performing countries.
In recent years, the government in England has implemented large-scale teacher professional development initiatives, but there is limited evidence of sustained change towards a goal of all teachers being able to participate in high-quality professional development throughout their careers.
Emily Perry, Professor of Education at Sheffield Hallam University, said: “The levels of commitment shown by the schools in the CPD Challenge indicate that there is an appetite for system-wide and school-level change in approaches to professional development.
“The changes put in place by schools led to increases in the quantity and quality of professional development teachers engaged in, and to fundamental shifts in schools’ professional development cultures.
“Our recommendation to policymakers is that they should implement an entitlement to professional development for teachers at all stages of their careers.”
