Research carried out by Teacher Tapp provides an evidence-base for future policy making on continual professional development (CPD) for teachers.
This new report from Teacher Tapp, funded by Gatsby, highlights shortcomings in current teacher professional development. The biggest weakness, identified by 9,000 teachers surveyed in England, is that the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) provision currently available does not help to improve their weaknesses in the classroom.
The Gatsby Foundation commissioned this research in response to the Labour Party’s announcement that each teacher would receive a 'CPD entitlement' if the party enters government. A key question for Labour in the coming months will therefore be: what CPD should qualify towards teachers’ entitlement? Teachers’ views on this question are unambiguous: fewer than one-in-ten teachers would support an external regulatory approval of the CPD available to them.
Teachers are committed to improving their practice but do not always have clear improvement goals. They are also highly sceptical regarding the impact of the diet of professional development that is currently available to them. In-service training (INSET) is a cornerstone of schools’ CPD offer and is often delivered in the form of ‘Baker Days’ at the start of the school year. However these sessions rarely prioritise classroom practice. Instead, such provision tends to focus on policies and procedures. As such, it is far more effective in meeting heads and senior leaders' needs, than the needs of teachers in relation to instructional practice. In contrast, out of school (online and in-person) CPD is much more likely to be subject specific or to focus on curriculum, and SEND and inclusion.
