The Teacher Development Trust welcomes the new focus from the Department for Education on the importance of professional development for teachers. The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, wrote to our Chief Executive last week and said:

“As you will be aware from your recent conversations with Ministers and officials, professional development for teachers is a central priority for my Department. We are actively considering how we can encourage all teachers to take part in more professional development opportunities which have proven to have a positive impact on teaching and learning. We are particularly keen to help teachers to make better use of educational research. Organisations such as yours will play a crucial role in ensuring schools have access to support they need to achieve this aim”

The press release from the DfE for the launch of the National College for Teaching and Leadership also noted:

“The merged Teaching Agency and National College will be known as the National College for Teaching and Leadership, Education Secretary Michael Gove announced today. The National College for Teaching and Leadership is a single agency focused on promoting high-quality teaching and school leadership. Its remit will also include continuous professional and leadership development and supporting school improvement.”

We welcome this renewed focus on the importance of CPD which improves teaching and learning and look forward to seeing policy and government resources applied to this challenging area. Given that so much CPD has been so poor, and had so little impact, improving practice and provision is a seriously difficult task but an important one. Our mission is to work with all education stakeholders to improve the learning in our schools by helping schools, training providers and government to design and implement evidence-based approaches to professional development. We look forward to working with the DfE and new National College for Teaching and Leadership to achieve this.