Many schools are more focused on “short-term crisis management” training rather than other forms of professional development for teachers because of pressures to respond to pupils’ mental health, behaviour and attendance, Ofsted has found.
The watchdog has produced new findings today after being commissioned by the Department for Education three years ago to carry out an independent review of teachers’ professional development.
In around half of the school visits that Ofsted conducted, it found schools were focused on more short-term “crisis management” forms of development. Some leaders said they had prioritised ad hoc forms of training in response to emerging and pressing issues facing their school, such as safeguarding and pupil wellbeing.
Ofsted also found that “less than half” of teachers surveyed as part of the review who were not taking part in the Early Career Framework (ECF) or a national professional qualification (NPQ), said they were receiving a “high-quality and relevant programme of teacher development”.
The inspectorate said that in some schools the teacher development offer is “piecemeal and not strategically planned”.
The review has also highlighted concerns around a “drop off” of training opportunities for more experienced teachers, revealing that staff think there is a “gap in the golden thread between being an early career teacher (ECT) and moving into a leadership role”.
Barriers to development ‘persisting’
The inspectorate has also said that the “barriers to accessing high-quality teacher development” are a “long-term issue” and not just a consequence of the pandemic.
The review in 2023, which is the second phase of the project, highlights that many of the barriers to development reported in 2021 “have persisted”.
More than eight in 10 (85 per cent) of those surveyed said that workload pressures are a barrier to accessing training, similar to 2021 when 87 per cent reported this.
The number of respondents who said that the cost to the school was a barrier to teachers participating in professional development had risen in the two-year period, from 68 per cent in the 2021 survey, to 73 per cent in 2023.
The cost of supply for teachers was cited as a barrier for almost three-quarters of teachers and leaders (73 per cent) in 2023.
The latest review surveyed more than 1,800 teachers and leaders, used interview data from 43 research visits to primary, secondary and special schools and a longitudinal cohort study of 40 teachers over a year.
Ofsted found that while ECF-based training is “generally being implemented successfully”, there are still some “minor” teething issues including concerns around the flexibility and relevance of the ECF-based training.
The DfE recently updated and combined the training frameworks for early career and trainee teachers after ongoing concerns about workload and a perceived lack of flexibility.
Ofsted found that while the proportion of teachers who were satisfied with their teacher development offer had improved since 2021, “the proportion who agreed that the training they received in the last year was high quality, relevant or sufficient was still less than half”.
This statistic included those not enrolled on an ECF or NPQ pathway.
Concerns remain over ‘mocksted’ training
Ofsted said that some evidence of “poor-quality curriculum training”, which had been identified two years previously, remained in 2023.
The inspectorate said that it had found evidence that teachers had received curriculum training that focused on preparing for inspection, with some schools doing so because of uncertainties around what curriculum training should entail.
It warned that such training “does not improve teachers’ curriculum knowledge or pedagogical practice” and has a “limited impact on pupils’ outcomes”.
And Ofsted warned that they had seen some examples of special schools struggling to offer high-quality training opportunities due to the increased time pressures of statutory teacher development.
However, the report also found that NPQs are “highly valued” and “largely seen as relevant, high quality and tailored well to teachers’ needs”.
A DfE spokesperson said: “It is encouraging to see that our professional development reforms are being implemented successfully, are valued by teachers and are having a noticeable impact on their careers.
“High-quality professional development supports teachers and leaders to implement effective strategies to reduce workload. Our priority is to help all teachers and leaders continuously develop their expertise throughout their careers, so that every child can get the best start in life.”
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