Key Information

Processes and Structures of CPD: Planning Strategically for Professional Development

Create CPD plans which maximise the return on investment and meet the needs of your school

Strategically planned CPD supports schools in achieving long-term improvement priorities and raising pupil outcomes. It requires working carefully with limited resources, such as time and budget, and considering a range of needs, from individual to whole staff, to address these priorities.

As a leader, you want confidence that the time and budget used for professional development is being well spent. This is where strategic planning comes in.

This module will help you to recognise the importance of carefully allocating and protecting time and budget for CPD. It will also support you to plan high-quality professional development that aligns with school priorities and measures impact. Throughout the module, you will reflect on how what you’ve learned applies to your school or setting and identify actionable next steps to continue your learning.

This module would be useful for any education leader with a responsibility for planning professional development in their setting, or someone who is aspiring to this role.

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, this module is for you.

  • There are a lot of competing priorities in our setting which means it’s hard to make time for planning, implementing, and evaluating CPD.
  • Professional development isn’t seen as valuable by our teachers or stakeholders
  • Staff at my school aren’t able to engage much with CPD due to time or workload pressures
What can I expect from this module?

This Online Learning Module Features:

  • Principles for Strategic Planning for Professional Development
  • A selection of approaches to strategic planning
  • Time and budget considerations for CPD
  • Downloadable resources
  • An interactive learning scenario
  • Case studies from real schools demonstrating good practice and how to overcome common challenges
  • The ability to save your progress to learn at your own pace

Schools are working with tight budgets, and leaders want to ensure that precious staff time is used as effectively as possible, whilst improving the provision for their pupils. This is where effective strategic planning of CPD comes in: creating long-term plans for raising pupil outcomes through high-quality professional development. 

The whole module is designed to take around 90 minutes to complete, although this will depend on how long you choose to take on the interactive and downloadable elements.

This timing is designed to fit into a PPA slot. However, there is the functionality to save your progress at any time and return later, if you would rather complete the module at a different pace which suits you.

Towards the end of the module, you will be encouraged to reflect and plan your next actions to develop your practice in this area.

When you finish “Planning Strategically for Professional Development”, you will be able to download your certificate of completion. You can also find this saved in your CPD Leadership Hub Profile. You will additionally be directed to more useful resources to continue to grow your understanding.

All Online Learning modules are intended for individual rather than cross-school or trust use. Any certificates of completion will be in the name of the Hub account holder.

Will this module help my CPD Leadership Practice?

The Teacher Development Trust’s insights on what makes great CPD are informed through our close work with education research, as well as our experience of working with over 500 schools on building stronger professional development programmes through the 7 Domains of People-Powered School Improvement

Each module is also shaped by the influential practice of school leaders working in education today, as seen in our case studies.