Institute of Education London

Effective Practices in Continuing Professional Development

Lessons from schools
Peter Earley and Vivienne Porritt

"Peter Earley and Vivenne Porritt have the eyes to see and the skills to describe vividly and compellingly outstanding Continuing Professional Development (CPD) practice.  In doing so, they increase the likelihood of ensuring that schools get the  best out of staff and that staff get the best out of school.  Here they assemble and describe ideas that every school will find invaluable: a 'must have' for  the school library."
Professor Tim Brighouse, former Chief Advisor for London Schools and previously Chief Education Officer of Birmingham and Oxfordshire

"This book is a really useful tool that colleagues, who are at different stages of developing their professional learning offer, can use for themselves, the teams they work in and the organisations they are part of.  It helps them to celebrate all the hard work that is currently happening in the area of professional learning for the whole school workforce or as a stimulus to help probe personal thinking about how Headteachers/CPD leaders can move professional learning forward in their own school or organisation."
Rebekah Iiyambo, Headteacher, Kaizen Primary School 

Effective Practices in Continuing Professional Development presents case studies of schools' journeys towards effective CPD practice as part of a TDA national project.  It tells the story of the goals set and achieved, and the challenges and successes along the way. Each case study makes specific reference to the nine factors or approaches to CPD identified in the book as underpinning effective practice.  This includes how a clarity of purpose was established at the outset of CPD activity and how the London Centre for Leadership in Learning's clear and rigorous impact evaluation framework supported and challenged projects to develop their thinking and practice.  All of this is contextualised within the wider literature about the successful leadership of CPD and the effective practice of school workforce development.

The editors introduce why effective CPD matters, and conclude with the lessons learnt and ways forward. Among the many cases provided by leaders in this field, Sara Bubb writes how coaching in a special school was used to make teachers and support staff feel more valued. John Tandy describes how primary school heads came together with the Local Authority to jointly develop a Leadership Charter that was a summary of effective leadership practice in the Borough. 

The book will interest practitioners and professionals who design and develop CPD opportunities and practice within all sectors of education, as well as all working within the strategic leadership of CPD.  It also complements the TDA's national development programme for the leadership of CPD by showing how the strategic implications of the nine CPD approaches identified can improve the overall quality and impact of professional development and so enhance the learning for all children and young people.

November 2009 • 978-0-85473-883-0 • 168 pages • £19.99