The Chartered College of Teaching is to review 10-year-old standards for continuing professional development for teachers, aiming to end a “supermarket sweep” approach to sourcing training. Sam Twiselton, an academic and long-serving adviser to the Department for Education is leading the review. She said she hoped fresh guidance informed by latest evidence would allow both the government and schools to “make really informed decisions” when sourcing professional development. The CCT is seeking 200 teachers and leaders to help advise on the new standards, and plans to engage with thousands more between now and the end of June. It is understood the review is supported by the DfE, but will be led, funded and hosted by the CCT. £1 billion market A landmark report by the Teacher Development Trust (TDT) last autumn estimated £1 billion is spent annually on teacher development, through INSET days, “golden thread” funding and school investment. But it found provision was patchy, with 39 per cent of teachers and leaders feeling the professional development they engage with failed to improve their practice. Many also struggled to source professional development effectively, with a quarter of CPD found using internet searches. The current “standard for teachers’ professional development” is set out in a one page DfE document alongside 14 pages of implementation guidance. It lays out five requirements for professional development to be successful, including that there should be “a focus on improving and evaluating pupil outcomes”, and that it should be “prioritised by school leadership” and “underpinned by robust evidence and expertise”. But the standards were published before the introduction of the early career framework and the early career teacher entitlement (ECTE) that replaced it, and ahead of big changes to initial teacher training and national professional qualifications. Growth in technology has also impacted the content and delivery of professional development in the last decade, CCT pointed out. TDT merged with the college earlier this year. The new professional standards will build on latest evidence, including TDT’s 2025 report on “didagogy” – the teaching of teachers – and will be “grounded in the experiences of teachers”. It “will set out how professional development should be created and delivered by those providing it, and how teachers and school leaders can make the most effective choices,” said the CCT. Stopping waste Twiselton said the “urgent priority” is for the new standards to help budget setters and decision makers, “because we want to stop money being wasted”. “It matters a lot that the golden thread that is funded by the government is held to this standard”. But she hopes it will also help every member of school staff understand their “individual entitlement and responsibility”. “Ideally, it would be every teacher, maybe even every person who works with pupils in schools. We want people to be supported to be more discerning in making choices.” Seeking participants Twiselton will chair a steering group, with CCT’s director of education Grace Healy as vice chair. Also on the steering group will be Leora Cruddas, CEO of the Confederation of School Trusts, Education Endowment Foundation CEO Becky Francis, and Education Support CEO Sinéad Mc Brearty. Also on the group are Gerry Czerniawski, Heena Dave, Calum Davey, Sam Gibbs, Di Swift, Sonia Thompson, and Shareen Wilkinson. The CCT is also seeking 100 school leaders and 100 teachers from diverse backgrounds to help develop the standards. They will meet virtually to examine latest evidence from the English and international education systems, and other professions. The review will also aim to engage with the sector more broadly, targeting at least 10,000 teachers and 1,000 school leaders, as well as academy trust CEOs, CPD leads, training providers, policy makers and unions. A draft set of CPD standards is expected by March, with the final draft due to be published in June. Twiselton stressed the standards must recognise the vast differences between schools and their contexts. “It’s got to be a really usable thing,” she said. “It’s got to feel like it’s actually helping somebody who’s either judging their own CPD or buying in CPD, to know with clarity what to look for, while still allowing freedom. “It’s got to be a framework, not a formula.” Could inform Ofsted Twiselton said she hoped the standards could also be used by Ofsted to help grade inspections. She told Schools Week she had already met with the inspectorate about this. Ofsted declined to comment. Twiselton said also hoped the standards would feature in the trust inspection framework that is under development, as well as new inspection frameworks for NPQs and the ECTE. “There’s also the schools inspection framework,” she added. “We want this to be a way of Ofsted inspectors recognising what actually is professional development.” ‘Wild west’ Sufian Sadiq, director of teaching school and talent at Chiltern Education Trust and incoming president of CCT, said improving teachers was central to improving schools. “And you can’t improve teachers without high-quality CPD.” But he described the current CPD landscape as “the wild west”, with schools and MATs often deciding which training to invest in based on marketing rather than “where they should be putting that investment”. “You’ve got what I would describe as a supermarket sweep of people picking up anything and everything,” he said. “Spending the money in the right places is what has impact. We don’t want to become like the NHS, where there is lots of money going in, but the argument is it’s not being spent in the right places. “Within our profession at the moment, we don’t have anything that serves the sector well enough to help guide decision makers and teachers.” Sadiq added that improving access to quality CPD could also help boost teacher retention and recruitment. A 2025 TDT report found that of those who felt likely to leave the profession within three years, around 70 per cent said training tailored to their needs could make them less likely to leave. “What we know from research is where you feel invested, where you can see a sense of professionalism and development for yourself, you’re more likely to stay because you can see how you can develop and grow,” said Sadiq. Decade of change David Monis-Weston, who authored the current standards, welcomed the review. “Since the last review we’ve seen a massively increased central teacher development offer and new frameworks for ITT, early career and NPQs,” he said. “It’s definitely time to update the standards and weave in the significantly larger evidence base on what is effective and how teachers, schools, providers and government can design professional development that will allow school staff to succeed so that pupils thrive.” Alison Peacock, CEO of the CCT, said she was “proud to be hosting this review. “The Chartered College exists to empower teachers and leaders, and we are clear that they deserve the very best professional development available. Creating a new set of standards is part of the overall structure of support that the profession needs, and I am delighted to be working across the sector on this.”