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Secondary

4 ways to take charge of your own CPD

Develop your subject and pedagogical knowledge beyond statutory INSETS with these ideas from Tanya Price

Tanya Price
by Tanya Price
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SecondaryEnglish

I’ve taught for 17 years, but always struggled to find time for developing my subject and pedagogical knowledge beyond statutory INSETS.

That all changed six months ago, when I opted to take charge of my own CPD during lockdown…

1 | Getting creative

I first created a YouTube Channel called The Price Academy and started producing bite-sized history videos for remote learning and classroom use.

I initially focused on topics I’d recently taught, basing one series on the Miranda Kaufmann’s book The Black Tudors and another on the civil rights movement.

After reading The Five by Hallie Rubenhold, which highlights the stories of Jack the Ripper’s victims, I diversified and began researching and producing daily videos that followed a theme – ‘Medieval Mondays’, ‘Tudor Tuesdays’ and so on.

2 | Spreading the word

There are many fabulous teaching groups on social media, but few that let teachers advertise their creations.

That inspired me to set up the History Teachers UK Share Space on Facebook, to help history teachers share good practice while promoting their own work, should they wish.

The member count rapidly rose to over 1,700 in just five weeks, prompting our admin team to set up themed CPD days – my own being ‘NQT Support Sunday’.

3 | Finding a partner

Alongside fellow history teacher Andrew Hassan, we began the #NQTSupportSunday Twitter hashtag to try and collate tips for NQTs (me having previously been an NQT mentor, and Andy having just finished his NQT year).

The response was overwhelming, and led to Andy and I leading regular Zoom CPD sessions for NQTs on a half-termly basis.

4 | Forming a team

This led to the creation of The Teachers’ Studio – a team comprising an EY practitioner, two primary teachers and three secondary teachers, including Andy and myself.

We presented our first NQT support session via Zoom in September, and now have a dedicated Twitter account (@studio_teachers) and YouTube channel.


Tanya Price is a history teacher based in Cheshire; her Price Academy YouTube channel can found here, and you can follow her at @tanyaalex38.

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