What are the keys to successful CPD provision?

What is effective CPD?

We all have opinions about what isn’t effective, or what doesn’t work, but how should we do it properly?

Well planned

When we prioritise time for CPD, it must be well-planned and organised. Any presentations should be quality-assured, and any (relevant) resources should be ready. A suitable room should be set up in advance with everything needed. IT needs to be checked, timings appropriate, and people need to understand their role (whether delivering or participating), with expectations made clear.

Relevant

Schools are dynamic places, with ever-changing needs. Our school improvement priorities may shift due to changes in context, outcomes, agendas and research. Whatever is covered needs to be relevant now – not just something planned some time ago that we feel the need to tick off. It also needs to be relevant to everyone there. If it’s not relevant to part of the staff team, they will certainly be able to put the time to good use doing something else. We also need to understand what people already know, understand and can do.

In our teaching, we’d never assume anything, we’d always do formative assessment, then plan from where people are at. It needs to be the same for CPD.

Direct instruction

There is a place for co-creating, workshops and exploration, but if the aim is new/developed knowledge or skills, we must be shown (or told) how to do it. Clearly defined learning objectives help to structure a session, just as they do for any teaching interaction. Being as precise as possible about the key learning helps us to stay on track and make the best use of time. More time spent carefully choosing and refining these learning objectives will always pay dividends.

Engaging and interactive

Listening is OK, but for maximum learning, we need to practice. Breaking everything into small, focused learning objectives, showing how to do something, and then allowing time to practice and apply is so effective. Wes Kao talks about the ‘Learn-Do Cycle’. Rather than lots and lots of new learning that can easily get lost, we should learn in small chunks, and then immediately practice or apply what we’ve learnt, before going on to the next new thing. This regular change of state, from learning new things to practising or using that new knowledge also helps to keep everyone engaged.

Short and focused

Training should match the purpose and the audience, rather than fill a particular time slot. An INSET day should be just that, not 4 days of content squeezed into one very long day in school. Equally, if a session is naturally 40 minutes, then let it be just that, don’t stretch it to an hour. If it looks like it will need an hour and a half, consider splitting it into two sections, to allow people to assimilate what’s being delivered and have a break to refocus. Make time for whatever content is most important, not the people or egos.

Connected

For learning to be the most effective, we need to build the opportunity to connect with others. These could be new connections, or we could give space to deepen existing ones. Discussing what we’re learning helps us to process it. It helps us to make sense of what we’ve learnt and to see how we can apply it to our setting. Building and deepening working relationships is also beneficial, although often left out of any training opportunity. Helping people to connect with others makes it easier to apply learning. It also enables people within the school to support each other and keep going.

Followed up

For any development to be effective, it must be part of a continuous process. Time needs to be given to implement changes, and it needs to be revisited regularly. We need to check for a common understanding, evaluate progress, give and act upon feedback and continue to develop. This may mean fewer new developments over time. However, if we research what is needed and choose wisely, then follow through with what we have chosen, the results will follow.