Last time we looked at the importance of having a needs-based teacher development programme. Today we are going to look at implementing a sustained programme, and over the next few weeks, we will discuss the other principles that can lead to more successful professional development in practice.
‘S for Sustained’
In the Cambridge Papers in ELT research paper due to be published soon, Effective professional development: Principles and best practice, we’ve set out some basic principles that provide the foundation for successful CPD programmes. These principles form the handy acronym: INSPIRE.
This week, we show you how the third letter: ‘S for Sustained’, can inspire better practice. Sustained teacher development programmes are exactly what the word suggests: they take a long-term approach to staff development. The institution’s commitment to ongoing teacher training should then lead to lasting change – both for teaching and for learning outcomes.
How does it work?
Teachers need time to learn new strategies in enough depth, to apply them confidently and effectively in the classroom. One way of achieving this is to create longer-term professional development plans, which track progress over one to three years.
Another approach is to focus on impact over quantity; for example by selecting fewer training topics, with activities focused on deeper learning. It can sometimes be difficult to set aside a chunk of time for teachers’ learning, so different practical solutions can overcome this. For example, a one day face-to-face seminar could be broken into three shorter sessions, spread over an academic year.
Equally, the seminar content could be delivered as a short face-to-face session, with online follow-up tasks that encourage teachers to apply what they’ve learned in their teaching practice and reflect on what works for their learners’ needs. It’s important to note with ‘sustained’ programme, that the training duration doesn’t guarantee effective learning by itself. Suitable types of activity and support throughout teachers’ CPD programme are equally important.
Look out for next week’s post where we’ll look at the peer-collaborative principle, and discover the implications and recommendations for applying this principle in practice.