35 hours? The case for an annual CPD entitlement

It is an oft-repeated phrase, but no less true for it, that “schools are only as good as the people in them”.

Our goal is for every pupil in the country to be taught by an expert teacher, with strong pedagogical content knowledge and an understanding of how children learn, and who belong to a profession that continually builds its collective expertise.

To achieve this, we need schools to be geared up to be effective learning organisations, not just for pupils but for the people that work in them – nurturing, valuing and recognising their on-going development.

School improvement does not happen overnight, it takes time, delivered more often through small incremental changes at individual classroom level rather than through “big-ticket” structural changes. Great teachers are made, not born. Yet we know that not all teachers and leaders have access to good CPD.