With its specific focus on staff development, this paper will be useful to both school leaders wanting to help staff get the most out of their own learning opportunities, and teachers interested in how to improve their experiences of professional development.
Understanding what enables high quality professional learning
Synopsis
Drawing on a range of research and evidence, this research sets out to address the question, what makes for high quality professional learning for education practitioners?
Focusing on the features of professional learning, for both teachers and management, that lead to improvements for their pupils, the paper argues that the CDP for teachers most likely to benefit pupils is supported by specialist expertise, sometimes taken from non-teaching contexts; focused on helping pupils achieve their aspirations; involves staff working together to share good practice and experiences of new approaches; and is sustained over a period of weeks or months rather than just ‘one off’ events.
The study also examines the nature of the learning experiences of the teachers and mangers themselves.