11+ Cost Effective Ideas to Take Charge of Your CPD as a Teacher

When was the last time you did some CPD that was targeted to your personal needs as a teacher?

It may have been a long time, especially as this tends to be targeted at new teachers (perhaps 10% of the profession).

Research also backs up the common-sense assumption that generic CPD is less likely to lead to improvements in teaching and learning. Research by Edurio in 2019 found that 19% of teachers have ‘no confidence’ that their school leadership understand the professional challenges they are facing, and a similar number are only ‘slightly confident’ that’s 2 in 5 overall!

Many of those present in a whole-school INSET session will already be aware of the ideas being proposed and may have implemented them already – for others a new teaching and learning technique might be irrelevant because they have more basic development needs such as behaviour management. And it’s very hard to quantify the impact of advice or training across different departments or year groups given all the other changes and innovations happening in a school.

19% of teachers have ‘no confidence’ that their school leadership understand the professional challenges they are facing, and a similar number are only ‘slightly confident

So, what can you do to get the training you need? Here are 11 cost-effective ideas for you or your school to consider…

1. Help to plan your school’s CPD

The Teacher Development Trust is clear that ‘teachers are more likely to improve when their experience, needs and their vision of pupils’ success are taken into account during development processes’. Department, pastoral and other teams within schools often have clear understanding of where they would like to develop and being asked will improve engagement with the process.

2. Engaging with subject associations

Improving your teaching may well be best done by increasing your knowledge of your subject areas and how to deliver it. There’s a lot of development available through subject associations (examples include the ASE (for Science) or Geographical Association. And while this has often seen as something that is more focused on secondary school teachers this is less true as the importance of a knowledge-based curriculum is being emphasised in primary schools, not least by external inspectors such as England’s OFSTED.

3. Taking part in grass roots events

An increasing amount of high-quality CPD is offered outside schools and at weekends – through events such as researchED or BrewEd (http://brewed.pbworks.com/w/page/120273042/FrontPage ). Many schools offer support now for these by paying for travel or cover costs in return for delegates sharing their findings internally – could your school support you this way?

4. Subscribing to online courses

Online training is a huge growth area, set to reach $370 billion by 2025 according to this report by Statista. There is therefore a huge amount of content for teachers available. Some excellent content is free – check out Future Learn for example, while other training providers such as Optimus Education have a subscription model that allows schools to access a huge amount of useful training.

5. Reading the latest research

One of the huge benefits of joining the new Chartered College of Teaching is the access it offers to the latest research including its own research-based publication Impact. Just having one member from your school gives access to a huge amount of useful material to circulate and discuss.

6. Creating your own CPD through lesson observations

The most personal forms of CPD are direct feedback on your own lessons and the chance to observe your peers teaching your classes. At schools that have a number of our camera systems, teachers come together regularly in teams to share actual lesson footage and highlight areas for advice.

7. Becoming a teacher mentor

With major changes coming to teacher training in England through the Early Career Framework the need for mentoring has never been greater, while giving you the chance to see teaching through the eyes of a new teacher and use the insight to improve your own! Many schools will welcome volunteers and training will be available through partner Universities.

8. Setting up a school teaching and learning library and book group

It might seem a small thing but setting up a corner of your school library with the latest books on teaching and learning and reading and discussing them with colleagues can challenge current practice and lead to significant change.

9. Joining a teaching and learning triad in your department or phase

Jointly planning, delivering and observing lessons is not a new idea – the blog we wrote on Lesson Study revealed that it dates back at least 140 years! However, the start of a year is a great time to team up with colleagues and work constructively on aspects of teaching and learning together – research evidence (cited in the blog) shows that there can be significant impact on student learning.

10. Listening to podcasts

For many busy teachers, your commute may be the only time you can freely engage in professional development! A great place to start is the ‘Teacher Toolkit’ podcast  – this consists of interviews with top experts on the latest educational issues. You’ll also be up to speed with changes in school and inspection practice.

11. Taking time to reflect on your lessons

Our final suggestion is the easiest one! We’ve found that simply helping teachers look back and self-reflect on their lessons makes real differences – we believe it’s the ultimate step solidify your knowledge and best practices.

What does your school do for CPD? What are we missing on our list?