- Quality Assurance of Teachers’ Continuing Professional Development (CPD QA) aimed at helping teachers and school leaders to choose CPD providers of a high quality
- Chartered College of Teaching working in partnership with Sheffield Institute of Education and Teacher Development Trust on Wellcome Trust commissioned project
- Teachers can face a challenge in selecting CPD which will have the most positive impact on their practice
The Chartered College of Teaching has today (17th March) announced the next stage of a pilot to support teachers and their schools to make the best possible choices for CPD provision. The second phase of Quality Assurance of Teachers’ Continuing Professional Development (CPD QA) will see the Chartered College working in partnership with Sheffield Institute of Education – part of Sheffield Hallam University – and Teacher Development Trust to look at a system to quality assure teachers’ professional development.
With teachers only spending on average four days per year on professional development, it is important that the CPD chosen is of a high-quality. The pilot, commissioned by Wellcome, is exploring the feasibility and impact of a CPD quality assurance system in helping school leaders find high-quality professional development. It will also enable schools to ensure development time is given to those opportunities that will have the best possible impact on staff and students. The first phase, in 2018, involved consultation with a wide range of stakeholders to design possible approaches, as well as a review of evidence from around the world. The next phase will see a quality assurance system developed and tested with a small number of CPD providers. Their provision will be reviewed by a panel of stakeholders, including teachers, against set Quality Assurance criteria and recognition will be given to provision which meets these.
The pilot approach will also provide support for providers to understand how they could evaluate their quality, identify improvements and for schools to identify and select appropriate CPD for their needs.
Cat Scutt, Director of Education and Research at Chartered College of Teaching, said:
“Effective engagement with high-quality CPD can lead to an increase in pupil attainment, has a strong impact on early career teachers and supports the recruitment and retention of teachers in our profession. However, not all CPD is effective and it is important that our teachers feel confident about the choices they make.
Through this pilot, we seek to understand whether a CPD QA system is feasible and can support teachers and school leaders to make decisions about the CPD they engage with. At the same time, it will generate new insights which will drive further improvements across the system. We look forward to working with our partners to benefit the whole teaching profession.”
Nan Davies, Professional Development Programme Lead at Wellcome said:
“Wellcome is pleased to have commissioned the consortium of the Chartered College of Teaching, the Teacher Development Trust and Sheffield Institute of Education, part of Sheffield Hallam University to carry out this project to develop, test and evaluate a system to quality assure CPD teachers participate in. This important research project will provide the sector with a clearer understanding of how a quality assurance system might work in practice.”
Maria Cunningham, Head of Education at Teacher Development Trust, said:
“It is so important to ensure that the landscape effectively ‘joins the dots’ between schools, participants and providers of CPD. At TDT we have been working with providers for some time to improve their quality of delivery and are delighted to play a role in the continuation of this exciting and long-needed project. We recognise the complexity of the question of quality assurance but see huge potential in helping providers to build and demonstrate their effectiveness and stimulating market expectation from the ground upwards.
Emily Perry, Deputy Head of the Centre for Development and Research in Education at Sheffield Hallam, said:
“We are delighted to continue our partnership with the Chartered College of Teaching and the Teacher Development Trust in this important project, working with the Wellcome Trust. This project draws on and deepens our wide-ranging expertise in teacher professional development. It has the potential to improve the professional development which schools and teachers participate in, by helping them to make better choices about professional development.”
This next phase of the CPD QA pilot follows the Chartered College’s Teachers’ Manifesto. This highlighted the desire of teachers for a national expectation to complete regular, high-quality professional development. The Chartered College is currently inviting teachers, school leaders and CPD providers to share their views on the draft QA criteria through a survey. To find out more, visit the CPD QA page.