Studies show professional development’s critical for any new curriculum, but one in five staff get under a day a year, warns Dr Mary Bousted
The wind of change is blowing in the world of education.
After a long period in which not much seemed to change in staff’s working lives, beyond increases in workload and decreases in funding, there’s a lot going on.
The question is whether teachers and leaders will be energised by the breeze, or hunker down to avoid the worst gusts and eddies of policy reform.
There’s a lot going on
The new Ofsted inspection framework has landed. The previous focus on curriculum has diminished, and there’s an increased focus on inclusion, particularly of pupils with SEND.
A white paper is keenly awaited which is also likely to advocate for greater inclusion of these pupils in mainstream schools.
Most recently, the government announced a £200 million national training programme for teachers, leaders and support staff to help adapt teaching to meet a wide range of needs in the classroom.
Into this mix enters the prospect of the revised national curriculum, due to be implemented in 2028.
This seems a long time away, and the temptation will be to think about that later in a profession which is over-worked and time-poor. But there are dangers in delay.
Welcome ambitions on the curriculum
The curriculum review recognises that teachers have a fundamental professional interest in, and responsibility for, the successful delivery of a revised national curriculum.
Teachers, the authors suggest, act as “curriculum makers”, interpreting and transforming the content to “author” instructional events with students in the classroom.
The review supports the innovation and professionalism of teachers, enabling them to adapt how they teach to reflect their students’ lives and experiences.
These are highly aspirational, welcome ambitions for the profession.
The question is: how are they to be achieved in the context of excessive workload, which drains creativity and confidence?
Some staff get less than a day’s CPD a year
A recent report from the Teacher Development Trust report on continuing professional development (CPD) reached very concerning conclusions.
Nearly 40 per cent of the teachers and leaders surveyed said the professional development they had undertaken had not improved their ability to perform their role.
Most shockingly, one in five teacher respondents said they spent less than one day in the year on formal professional development.
There is clearly a gulf between the ambition of the curriculum review committee led by Professor Becky Francis, and the reality in schools, where teachers and leaders are dissatisfied with the quality and quantity of the professional development they experience.
International studies have looked at the conditions required to successfully introduce a new curriculum. They identify professional development as the most important.
Five key questions for curriculum reform
That’s why the second inquiry of the Teaching Commission will ask what teachers and leaders need to be able to fully engage with and implement the revised national curriculum.
In particular the commission will investigate:
- What do the curriculum and assessment review and government requirements mean for teacher supply and the workforce, in terms of secondary subject specialists at secondary level and primary subject generalists?
- What are the time resources the profession needs to implement the revised national curriculum well?
- What professional training and development will be necessary to engage, inform and upskill teachers and leaders to be involved, to inform the revisions, and to be confident teaching and leading the revised curriculum?
- What additional financial resources must be made available to schools to support implementation?
- What forms of evaluation should be developed to gauge the success or otherwise of the reforms?
The curriculum and its assessment lies at the heart of teachers’ professional practice.
It is central to pupils’ experience of school. It is really important – which is why the commission’s next inquiry is so important.
We want teachers and leaders to get involved with our inquiry. We are developing a survey to gauge the profession’s views on curriculum reform and its preparedness. There is further information on our website.
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