rb429

8/13/2019 RB429

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/rb429 1/4

Brief No: 429

June 2003

ISBN 1 84478 006 6

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CONTINUING

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

David Hustler, Olwen McNamara, Janis Jarvis, Mary Londra, Anne Campbell Institute of ducation, Manc!ester Metropolitan "niversity# and

Jo!n Howson, ducation Data $ervices%

Introduction

Following the launch of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) strategy ‘Learning and Teaching: a

strategy for professional development (Df!!" #$%&''$) the nstitute of !ducation at *anchester

*etropolitan +niversity in colla,oration with !ducation Data -urveys were commissioned to conduct ,aseline

research into teachers perceptions of CPD.

Key Findings

• *ost teachers were satisfied with their CPD over the last / years. 0ey features of worthwhile CPD

were perceived relevance and applica,ility to school%classroom settings and negative feelings were

especially associated with ‘one si1e fits all standardi1ed CPD provision (eg much 2ew 3pportunities

Fund (23F) CT funded provision) which did not ta4e account of teachers e5isting 4nowledge

e5perience and needs.

• During &''$ most CPD was focused on teaching s4ills and su,6ect 4nowledge and was led

predominantly ,y school staff. Few teachers too4 part in CPD activities such as research

secondments award ,earing courses or international visits ,ut these were highly valued ,y

participants.

• 7lthough thin4ing a,out CPD varied in relation to school conte5t and career stage most teachers

wor4ed with traditional notions of CPD (such as courses conferences 2-!T days).

• Financial cost (perceived and%or real) distance from training opportunities and wor4load (the last

especially for older teachers) were important inhi,itors on access to CPD.

• *ost teachers felt that the principle drivers for CPD activity over the last / years had ,een school

development needs and national priorities and that these had ta4en precedence over individual needs.

*ost teachers accepted as reasona,le that there should ,e a ,alance ,etween system (school and

national) CPD needs and individual needs. 8owever they felt that personal%individual interests

however now needed more prioritisation with additional opportunities for professional control and

self9regulation.

• 7ttitudes to CPD were shaped ,y comple5 interrelationships ,etween local structural and cultural

factors (within and ,etween schools) and teachers career stage age and su,6ect affiliations.

8owever the status 4nowledge and approach of the CPD coordinator (and the -enior *anagement

Team (-*T) more generally) could radically effect positively or negatively teachers attitudestowards and understandings of CPD.

8/13/2019 RB429


Background and Aims

‘Learning and Teaching: 7 strategy for

professional development (DF!!" #$%&''$)

was devised in consultation with the eneral

Teaching Council (TC) to ensure that

teachers were given more opportunities forrelevant focused effective professional

development and to place professional

development at the heart of school

improvement. The strategy defined CPD as

‘activities;that increase the s4ills 4nowledge

and understanding of teachers and their

effectiveness in schools and also promotes

continuous reflection and re9e5amination of

professional learning. This includes ,ut goes

well ,eyond training courses and a wide

variety of other on and off9the96o, activities.

The CPD strategy developed the governments

recognition of the vital role of teachers in

raising standards in the reen Paper ‘Teachers

*eeting the Challenge of Change (Df!!:

<%$&%=>) and the associated central aim to

engender a strong culture of professional

development.

The strategy set out a num,er of ways in

which CPD would ,e enhanced in the long term

including the need to ‘carry out ro,ust and

relia,le research and evaluation into

professional development opportunities and

their impact on teaching and learning to

provide evidence of successful practice. The

first phase of this programme of research was

to underta4e a ,aseline survey of teachersattitudes to e5perience of and access to

professional development. The overarching

aims of the research were to:

• provide a ,aseline of teachers previous

e5perience of CPD their current

attitudes and their future

e5pectations"

• facilitate su,se?uent monitoring of the

impact of the CPD strategy on

teachers e5perience attitudes and

e5pectations"

• inform the overnments CPD strategy

and investment over the ne5t few

years.

Methodology

The fieldwor4 involving a ?uestionnaire survey

and a case study phase too4 place ,etween

Fe,ruary and @uly &''&. The ?uestionnaire

focused on 2-!T and CPD activities

underta4en during &''$ and more general CPD

e5periences underta4en during the previous

five years. 3ver &/'' teachers in primarysecondary and special schools returned their

?uestionnaires and their profile closely

matched that of the teaching force as a whole

(Df!- &''&).

Case study visits were made to a sample of &&

schools across the country. n addition to

augmenting the survey data the central

product of the case studies was a series of

‘CPD pen9portraits of individual teachers. Theempirically grounded pen9portraits were

anonymised and fictionalised and were

intended to provide additional insights into

inter and intra school factors and the

interrelations with individual career

stage%type orientations to CPD. They may also

serve to provo4e thin4ing a,out CPD within the

profession at various levels.

Further Details on the Findings

• CPD: School Cultures

There were some areas of

contradiction and variation regarding

how teachers thin4 of CPD suggesting

that the CPD strategy (involving a

significantly new way of thin4ing a,out

CPD) is only 6ust ,eginning to ,ite. t isclear from the case study evidence

that this is not 6ust a matter of

individual teacher variation and that

8/13/2019 RB429


CPD cultures varied across and within

schools.

t was apparent that some schools and

su,groups%departments within schools

had developed ?uite sophisticated and

effective professional developmentlearning communities others 6ust as

clearly had not. The conte5t of school

L!7 and region had a considera,le

degree of influence on perceptions and

e5perience of CPD as well as access to

CPD ,ut this is not 6ust an issue to do

with si1e or location of school and could

operate at a very localised level.

Despite good systems within a school

generally orientations to CPD were

often crucially shaped ,y the

department one happened to ,e a

mem,er of or the su,6ect or age range

responsi,ility or the particular mi5 of

career stages within a school su,9

group.

•

CPD: Balance and CPD Coordination

-ome schools had achieved a good

interrelationship ,etween system and

individual needs. Case study materials

made it clear that certain ‘pro6ect rich

schools involved in a large range of

initiatives had greater resources to

allocate to dedicated or general CPD

activity. 8ere the atmosphere and

resources provided a much morevi,rant set of individually motivating

and career9enhancing CPD possi,ilities

which also related to school needs.

There was also within school variation

(eg ,etween departments) and in these

cases CPD cultural isolation was more

invisi,le. n many schools a compliant

culture had emerged (or ,een

fostered) which led teachers to avoid

pressing for their particular

professional needs.

The CPD coordinator role was ,oth

crucial and often underdeveloped in

terms of support. t was clear that

many CPD coordinators (and associated

-*T colleagues) could ,enefit from

professional development if they were

to relate effectively to the CPDstrategy am,itions regarding

interrelating system needs and

individual needs.

• CPD: Age and Career Stage

Clear general differences appeared

,etween younger%early career stage

teachers and older%late career stage

teachers. *any older teachers across

the phases seemed to ‘accept that CPD

could not relate to their individual

professional needs. *any younger

teachers and 2ATs saw systemic CPD

needs as reasona,le in the main ,ut

also saw and hunted down more

personal CPD opportunities. n addition

younger teachers displayed a ,roader

understanding of and attitude towardsCPD.

• Professional Releance and Being a

Professional

-ome teachers negative attitudes

towards CPD stemmed from a feeling

that their particular su,6ect interests

were never ‘centre stage. Positive

feelings a,out CPD (for all ,ut the latecareer teachers) were ?uite often

associated with a reasona,ly clear

sense of career progression

possi,ilities to which CPD opportunities

had ,een and could ,e lin4ed. The

materials suggest that positive general

feelings towards CPD cannot ,e

disentangled from more positive views

a,out ,eing a mem,er of a profession

and the sense that in some part at least

teachers have a say in their own

professional development.

8/13/2019 RB429


Im!lications for Action

• The conceptualisation of CPD in the

governments CPD -trategy and

associated initiatives needs more

effective mar4eting to teachers and

dissemination within schools. *id andlater career teachers in particular

need to ,e made more aware of the

,roader life long learning

characteristics of CPD which the

-trategy is promoting and the

associated individual CPD opportunities

which this reformulation ,rings with it.

• -chools and government should

colla,orate in lin4ing the renewed

emphasis on teachers professionalism

with scope for professional control

self9regulation and choice regarding

CPD activity.

• *any head teachers and CPD

coordinators need professional

development in order to understand

how interrelationships ,etweenstructural% cultural and career stage

factors impact on staff CPD needs and

attitudes.

• overnment should address the

cumulative factors that can impede

positive CPD activity in small

geographically isolated schools.

• -chools must ,e helped to improvetheir needs identification processes for

staff and account must ,e ta4en of

individual teachers career moves and

routes. *any later career stage

teachers could ,e made more aware of

the availa,le CPD possi,ilities.

Teachers who are ,etween B and

years into teaching may re?uire

particular support regarding how CPD

can relate to their future professional

directions.

• *ore resources need to ,e ring9fenced

,y government for personal%individual

CPD and for those activities where

school needs and individual needs can ,e

clearly interrelated.

• The matter of how ,est to ensureeffective CPD evaluation and

accounta,ility re?uires serious

attention ,ut approaches to this must

,e ,uilt on the concern for ‘,alance in

the CPD strategy and not dominated

solely ,y system level targets.

Copies of the full report (B&=) 9 priced

EB.=/ 9 are availa,le ,y writing to Df!-

Pu,lications P3 o5 /'/' -herwood Par4

7nnesley 2ottingham 2$/ 'D@.

Che?ues should ,e made paya,le to GDf!-

Priced Pu,licationsG.

Copies of this esearch rief (B&=) are

availa,le free of charge from the a,ove

address (tel: '>B/ ' &&& '). esearch

riefs and esearch eports can also ,eaccessed at

http:%%www.dfes.gov.u4%research%

Further information a,out this research can

,e o,tained from e,ecca ylatt - Df!-

-anctuary uildings reat -mith -treet

London -H$P <T.

!mail: re,ecca.rylattIdfes.gsi.gov.u4

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/

rb429

Documents