Leading effective CPD across your department

The role of the team or department leader is changing dramatically. Teaching and learning are becoming the key focus for a team leader, as schools distribute the leadership of teacher development.

Department time and subject support are becoming increasingly important for professional learning. This is partly due to a recognition of the limitations of “whole-school” time and approaches – partly due to restricted budgets so that schools are doing more CPD internally, and also an increasing awareness of the importance of subject pedagogy and subject knowledge in CPD.

The Developing Great Teaching report (a review of what constitutes effective professional development conducted by Philippa Cordingley of CUREE, Professors Steve Higgins and Rob Coe of Durham University, and Professor Toby Greany of the UCL Institute of Education) found that for CPD to achieve its full potential it should include both subject knowledge and subject-specific pedagogy and, in fact, often professional development focused on generic pedagogy is insufficient.