-
CPD is a mixture of short-term non-award-bearing provision and longer-term
award-bearing provision. All teachers will have undertaken some shorter
provision, either in school, in their local education authority or at a local
university.
-
Many fewer teachers, although still a significant number, will have undertaken
longer provision leading to professional certificates, diplomas or other
post-graduate qualifications. ITT providers and universities offer diplomas and
Masters courses in a range of subjects. Often teachers undertaking longer
award-bearing courses do not complete the assessed course work necessary for
them to gain the academic award for successful completion of the programme.
This lack of follow through on longer courses has been a matter of concern to
providers of such training, as it is often the assessed coursework that
requires participants to put theory into practice and to evaluate its impact on
pupils’ achievement and school improvement.
-
Each major Government education policy initiative has been accompanied by
training. For example, the introduction of the National Curriculum and its
associated assessment, and the introduction of the recent national Primary and
Secondary Strategies have been accompanied by bespoke training. This training
is usually delivered through a range of providers, including local education
authorities, ITT providers and private companies. More recently, in areas such
as behaviour management, the Government has been piloting participant-led
training in which groups of interested staff work together through pre-prepared
self-study materials.
-
Local education authorities offer a range of training tailored to the needs of
schools in the local area. In some local authorities schools use their training
budgets to ‘buy in’ training from the local authority.
-
Schools also deliver their own training. The Government is keen to encourage
schools to introduce different forms of school-based training, matched closely
to teachers’ training needs, so rather than trainer-led sessions, less
experienced or competent teachers may, for example, receive coaching in
particular areas from more experienced and competent staff. There is pressure
on schools to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the training and professional
development that staff undertake in term of its impact on standards of teaching
and learning and school improvement more generally.
-
Recently, more use is being made of developments in Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) to deliver CPD. Some award-bearing courses are
now offered on-line and training resources on all types of training course are
often available on-line. Some rural communities have experimented with
video-conferencing as a method of CPD delivery, to avoid teachers having to
make long journeys to training centres. On a more informal basis, many teachers
use the internet to gain access to a wide range of educational materials.
Through the National Grid for Learning, the Government sponsors the Virtual
Teacher Centre, the Standards Site and TeacherNet, which
offer a wealth of current, relevant information to teachers. An on-line
Teachers TV channel has also been introduced recently. All the main Government
organisations involved in education have their own websites offering
information and advice to schools and teachers.
Useful weblinks
For more information about the range of CPD available, click
here or here.
To visit the Virtual Teachers Centre, click
here.
To visit the Standards Site, click here.
To visit TeacherNet, click here.
To view Teachers TV, click
here.
|
|
