In a 2022 survey by Teacher Tapp, teachers were asked to comment on the statement: “My school’s professional development provision is helping me to become a better teacher.” Only 34% of classroom teachers agreed with this statement, with only 7.6% strongly agreeing. Interestingly, 67% of the headteachers questioned believed that they were providing PD opportunities which helped their teachers become better – this shows a significant gap between their perceptions and their teacher’s experiences.
Professional development is an important part of ensuring that teachers are teaching to the best of their capabilities and as Dylan Wiliam said, ‘the quality of teachers in our classroom is one of the most important determinants of how much children learn in those classrooms, with the very best teachers generating four times as much progress for their students as the least effective’ (William, 2016: 182). This is further reinforced by Zuccollo and Fletcher Wood, who add ‘high-quality professional development for teachers has a significant effect on the effectiveness of teaching.’ (Zuccollo & Fletcher-Wood, 2020).
Professional development opportunities for teachers are absolutely vital and as Zoe and Mark Enser wrote in their blog for IRIS Connect, ‘CPD does and can make a difference to the practice of teachers and the consequent outcomes of pupils.’ In addition to this, teacher professional development links to job satisfaction and both of these have a positive and significant influence on teacher performance (Tahir et al., 2021).
Staff who don’t receive effective training or targets risk their skills becoming stagnant and losing motivation. So, it is no surprise then that a lack of professional development is also intrinsically linked to staff retention – a lack of training and development leads to low morale among staff, which in turn results in staff turnover.
