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• Types of CPD

Types of CPD experience

CPD is more than just 'going on a course'. There are many innovative, exciting and new approaches there, both formal and informal, that can contribute to your professional development.

What's important is that there's a purpose to every CPD activity you do, and you should identify in advance what it is you want to get out of it.

We've put together some information we hope you find useful:

Learning from others

Learning from others can be as simple as working together with another teacher who either has more experience or particular expertise in an area you want to develop.

Have you thought about team teaching or observing a colleague then getting together afterwards to discuss what you've learned? This could even be done in another school.

More lengthy experiences could include going on a teacher exchange (international or other) or carrying out a placement or study visit in another school or work setting.

Additional reading, scholarly activity, or study

You can choose to study a particular aspect of teaching more thoroughly by yourself to:

• enhance your subject expertise
• deepening your understanding of a particular learning theory
• learn more about different teaching methodologies

Through research

What about identifying an issue that you'd like to know more about and carrying out a piece of research? This could involve extending your own reflective process by asking your pupils or colleagues about their responses to a particular approach you are trying in class.

Or you could analyse the changes in pupil attainment after introducing a new teaching resource or method to evaluate what impact it has made.

You might even be interested in applying for support for this through our Teacher Researcher Programme.

Taking on an additional role or duty 

Another way of obtaining valuable CPD is to initiate or become involved in specific project or groups, whether at school, local authority or national level.

This could involve you in curriculum or policy development or taking forward a particular issue such as health promotion or involving parents in their child's learning.