The professional development of teachers is our utmost concern. We are truly concerned by the poor quality of much of what is offered to schools with the purpose of developing teacher knowledge, understanding and skill. In light of this, we use the Teacher Development Trust’s (2015) guidance on effective professional development found in the ‘Developing Great Teaching‘ report to inform our work.
- We only engage in professional development which is relevant and supported by robust research evidence;
- We focus our professional development work on students’ learning outcomes;
- We engineer activities which clarify, challenge and develop our clients’ thinking about teaching and learning;
- We engineer activities which foster experimentation designed to apply new learning in the classroom;
- We design programmes which include observation and feedback intended to clarify the ingredients of success and provide guidance on what to do to move closer to it;
- We design programmes which run for a minimum of two school terms and have activities scheduled at least every month, if not every two weeks;
- We provide the external expertise needed to bring fresh, critical thinking which challenges orthodoxies. We also bring cutting-edge knowledge and understanding of evaluation design and implementation;
- We design programmes which are collaborative; we promote peer networks as a vehicle for improved learning;
- We design programmes which have coaching and mentoring at their heart;
- We design programmes which have school leaders involved from the start, so that a culture of challenge, trust and learning is created and they empower others.
While the ten points above don’t always sit comfortably with established practices for teachers’ professional development, we’re committed to designing our business around the best available evidence.
Contact us to discover how we will help your organisation develop evidence-based professional development programmes.