Perspectives
Designing impactful teacher professional development
A lot of precious time, effort and resources are spent on professional development in schools. How can we ensure that this is both effective and efficient?
A starting point is to move from simply doing professional development to designing it to suit purpose, people and impact. Drawing on research evidence and experience from practice, the following ‘working model’ outlines key ingredients to consider.
Aligned focus
The focus of professional development matters. We need to be working on useful things. This includes:
- Informed by relevant evidence from research, practice and context
- Connected with school and system priorities
- Balancing both general and subject specific pedagogy
- Developing domain specific knowledge
- Aligned with teacher expertise and experience
Balanced mechanisms
Drawing on the outstanding Education Endowment Foundation Guidance Report on Effective Professional Development (and its E4L cousin), it is more likely that professional development will have an impact on classroom practice when it includes mechanisms from each of the following four groups:
- Building knowledge
- Motivating teachers
- Developing techniques
- Embedding practice
Data informed iterations
One and done professional development can be useful but cannot do everything. Drawing on useful data and repeated small iterations can add up to meaningful change over time. This includes:
- Capturing useful data (quick to capture and analyse, readily available, highly relevant, informative)
- Small iterations (picking a very precise focus to try, giving it a go, learning, and re-iterating)
- Deliberate reflection (always learning as we go)
Practical details
The practical details are the final aspect. Without these, busy teachers in busy schools are unlikely to improve as much as they would wish to. This includes:
- Resourcing
- Processes
- Structures