Traditional approaches to professional development for teachers aren’t working. That’s the stark message that comes out of a new report we commissioned from the Centre for the Use of Research Evidence in Education (CUREE). Too many courses and consultancy services lacked a serious evidence base, the opportunity to collaborate, and a clear focus.
Over the next few weeks the Teacher Development Trust will be hosting a debate on the radical alternative approaches outlined in this research. In the new model proposed by the research, one-day courses and INSET lectures would be replaced by long cycles of enquiry and experimentation carried out by teams. Professional development for career progression would be frowned upon, with schools expecting a clear focus on student learning from every training opportunity. The benefits from such an approach are expected to be great: improved attainment, enjoyment and understanding from students, and more enjoyment, motivation and self-confidence from teachers. However, the challenges are great.
David Weston, Chief Executive of the Teacher Development Trust, will be chairing the debate and asking questions such as are we ready, as a profession, to move from our traditionally individual approach to lesson planning to a collaborative model? Can schools create the opportunities for the teamwork, observation and evaluation required over the recommended fifty hours? Do we, in fact, even have sufficient understanding of this new approach to make it work?
Join teachers, trainers, academics and policy makers as we debate the issues over the course of six webinars:
• 28th June, 8pm: Should we ban one-day CPD courses?
• 2nd July, 4pm: Should teachers be required to plan lessons collaboratively?
• 5th July, 7pm: Should schools be forced to schedule staff collaboration time?
• 9th July, 4pm: Should school leaders be required to study the key components of effective CPD before taking up headship?
• 12th July, 7pm: Should training providers and consultants require a license to train teachers?
• 16th July, 4pm: If we know how to make CPD effective, why isn’t it happening?
David will be picking out key points from the research, participant views, vote results and key takeaways and sharing the findings of the debate with you via our blog and via the Teacher Development Trust website.
Sign up here to reserve your place