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Take Charge And Grow – The Case For Teacher-led CPD

Better teaching leads to higher standards, observes Russell Hobby – and the best way to make it happen is to put power back in the right hands… It is a truth universally acknowledged, that teacher quality is the most important influence (inside school, at least) on standards in education. It is also a truth almost […]

Russell Hobby
by Russell Hobby
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Better teaching leads to higher standards, observes Russell Hobby – and the best way to make it happen is to put power back in the right hands…

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that teacher quality is the most important influence (inside school, at least) on standards in education. It is also a truth almost universally ignored. Government policy focuses heavily on structures and targets, neglecting the basic classroom practices which actually make a difference. Governments get distracted by the levers at their disposal, until they become ends in their own right.

The reason for this is perhaps understandable. ‘Teacher quality’ is difficult to influence collectively from the centre. You can influence the supply of teachers in terms of quality and quantity – although this only affects the smaller percentage of people entering the workforce, compared to the larger number already in it.

And the government seems to be struggling to do this well, in any case. You can influence the morale and motivation of existing teachers through pay and conditions, workload and the balance of praise versus criticism. But the government seems hamstrung on this issue too, given that its own policies are a primary cause of workload, and that it is determined to suppress pay.

Different directions

Which leaves us with professional development, which seems a promising avenue for effecting meaningful change in classroom practice at scale. Yet, once again, this is extraordinarily hard to influence from the centre. As the work of the Teacher Development Trust demonstrates, the most effective professional development is conducted as part of ongoing practice, in a tailored response to specific needs and challenges. It will vary from school to school and teacher to teacher.

It seems to me, therefore, that the best thing we can do is to let go of professional development and return the power to the teachers themselves. If we create the right conditions, then teachers could and should determine their own development. Said conditions would be these:

• Strong performance management, which signals where a teacher needs to develop for the good of the students (and which gives an incentive to do so) • Time and space for the development to happen • Good evidence about what actually works • Quality assurance of providers and sources of training

With an emphasis on these things, I’m not sure we’d need many mandatory and collective training events such as INSET days, aside from the odd one here and there to brief teachers on changes to policies and new school initiatives.

The rest of that time should be given to teachers and used to forward their own development. Here we have an opportunity for the profession to seize the initiative. NAHT, like other professional associations, has stepped into the CPD void left by the withdrawal of funding for local authorities. It’s about the profession taking ownership of standards – and responsibility for each other.

NAHT does this in may ways, not least by offering tailored training delivered in the classroom without the need for costly, time-consuming excursions. There are always occasions where standard ‘off the shelf’ training courses might not be right for an individual’s own needs. Our members – school leaders – may need training for a particular group of staff; their whole school; their cluster, branch or group of peers; or School Business Managers, for example. For some, it may be about generating ideas and structure around an upcoming INSET day. In-school CPD is clearly something that’s going to be vital when timetables and budgets are so tight.

Out and about

That said, it does us all good to get away from the coalface occasionally. Conferences and events offer teachers and school leaders a chance to extend their knowledge and challenge their thinking.

At our recent conference in Manchester, attended by over a hundred delegates, our president, Tony Draper had this to say: “I don’t worry about the people in this room today. You understand the importance of networks and continuous learning and getting out of the environment of your school. It’s vital to get out. But we’ve all got colleagues who are basically locked in their offices waiting to be done to. When you go back to your schools, think of someone you haven’t seen for a while and pick up the phone or email them, invite them to get involved, because schools working together have a strong voice and can achieve great things.”

The element of this that I worry about most is time. We can work on performance management; we can badge providers; we have a nascent evidence base emerging from the EEF and the College of Teaching. But where will we find the time for reflection, peer support and experimentation in the hectic timetables of schools?

A teacher in possession of a good career must be in want of some training. We need to make sure that the constant pressure on schools and the volume of change doesn’t crowd out the one thing that really does makes a difference.

Russell Hobby is general secretary of NAHT

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