The evidence is clear. A great education depends on great teachers. It’s therefore no surprise one of Labour’s most prominent pledges in its ”opportunity mission” is a new Teacher Training Entitlement.
It’s a welcome pledge, but unless it is delivered well, teachers could end up being corralled into drafty school halls for extra Inset days, just so school leaders can tick off another prescriptive requirement.
There’s also a danger teachers could be sent on poor-quality courses that make little difference to pupils’ learning, and if this means more classes being covered by short-term supply staff, it could further disrupt continuity of care for little benefit.
Indeed, a recent study found only 11 per cent of teachers were participating in 35 hours a year of high-quality, subject-specific CPD. Teachers in England are also much more likely to say that expense is a barrier to participation compared to teachers elsewhere in the world.
Teacher retention
Yet a quiet revolution in teacher training and development is gathering momentum - over 35,000 teachers took part in evidence-led national professional qualifications (NPQs) last year and an extended two-year Early Career Framework is ensuring teachers are supported through their early teaching career.
Encouragingly, there are tentative signs this “golden thread” is starting to make a difference in the retention of new teachers.
Funding for time spent mentoring early career teachers looks set to be wrapped into schools’ general-purpose budgets, and the government has not confirmed whether NPQs will continue to be fully funded.
As such, Labour would be absolutely right to seize this opportunity by committing to a world-class system of CPD throughout a teacher’s career that helps ensure this golden thread truly does exist across a teacher’s career.
Here’s how a truly impactful CPD offer could shape up:
1. 100 hours of CPD a year - but not yet
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson should set an ambitious, long-term goal that matches the offer in world-leading systems like Singapore, where teachers participate in 100 hours of training a year.
It should be long term rather than immediate because a big jump in training time would be unfeasible.
Teacher shortages are making it hard to release teachers from the timetable, and uptake can’t increase until there is sufficient high-quality provision available.
2. Expand NPQs
Under the model I propose in Improvement through empowerment, there would be an expanded suite of gold-standard NPQs, including more specialist NPQs for teachers who don’t want to become school leaders.
It’s also important to recognise that not all teachers can commit to these time-intensive programmes.
Shorter programmes should, therefore, be added to the mix. These should continue to be based on a quality-assured, evidence-led framework signed off by the Education Endowment Foundation.
3. Recognise the informal
Finally, there should be something more informal and flexible. The most valuable CPD can come from staff building peer networks across schools, or independently learning about a new development in their subject.
Networks like Teaching School Hubs should therefore be funded to run lighter-touch programmes, perhaps in partnership with subject associations, so long as there’s evidence of demand and that programmes meet robust quality standards.
Prioritise CPD
Teachers deserve to be treated as the professionals we all know they are, and that includes access to high-quality training and development. Phillipson is therefore right to have made this a priority.
The best way to achieve her long-term goal is to strengthen the emerging “golden thread” of evidence-based training and development.
Loic Menzies is a visiting fellow at Sheffield Institute of Education and senior research associate at Jesus College Intellectual Forum
