CPD in Further Education

CPD in Further Education

The IFL conducts annual research into what constitutes effective CPD in Further Education. Dr Jean Kelly of the IFL highlights four key themes which result in effective professional development. We’ve taken these themes and provided practical solutions that can act as a guide to FE providers. These help ensure that the high number of teaching staff employed in the FE sector can benefit from effective CPD and can in turn support raising teaching standards and consequently student outcomes.

The IFL’s four themes in brief are:

• Sharing the outcomes of CPD is excellent CPD in itself
• Enabling self-directed professional development which has been shown to have the most significant impact on teaching and learning
• Ensuring that CPD ‘portfolios’ cover the breadth of teaching experience and subject specialisms
• Involving learners in development for deeper learning

There are a number of simple to use solutions which can be used to help enact these themes. At the heart of these ideas is process of colleges harnessing their collective capacity to drive improvements and releasing and building upon the skills and knowledge which already exist with the staff body. Many of these ideas use cutting edge video and cloud based technology which can be more effective and cost efficient than current practice.

7 ideas for enacting IFL themes

• Organise TeachMeet style staff get-togethers, where staff can come and share practice, innovations and resources in an open informal setting. These events give teachers the opportunity to hear about what colleagues are doing in their classrooms, what’s worked, what hasn't, be inspired and generate fresh ideas for their own lessons

• Enable self-reflection and review through video so that teachers can reflect upon their own lessons without the pressure of external observations and as part of their required 30 hours of CPD

• Build libraries of best practice within Departments and subject areas so that all staff can benefit from the modelling of best practice

• Allow peer observation as well as formal observations so that staff generate genuine communities of practice which are not just seen as part of formal quality assurance

• Use cloud based solutions so that staff can share over distance at any time – this eliminates time and costs associated with travel and allows staff to reflect at a time and venue which they find most appropriate

• Ensure that observations do not disrupt the classroom with too many ‘visitors’ by maximising the use of non-intrusive video technology

• Enable effective coaching and mentoring through the use of time linked notes on videos which contextualise feedback comments – even using remote in-ear coaching if appropriate