Do you tweet? Are you involved in peer networking? Are you a member of a working group? Do you include these activities under the broad definition of CPD? And indeed, should you?
What does – and what does not – constitute CPD (continuing professional development)? At a time when grass roots professional development is taking root, opinions vary on what counts.
Too restrictive a definition can lead to lost opportunities. And with limited funds available for CPD, can we afford this?
It’s essential to be realistic about what constitutes the kind of CPD that brings about real change in practice. Yet schools with a truly embedded culture of CPD encourage teachers to make the most of every available opportunity to enhance their professional learning.
CPD has been defined as covering a ‘broad range of activities designed to contribute to the learning of teachers, who have completed their initial training’*.
Included in this ‘broad range’ of methods for professional learning are:
But in this digital age, could we also add social networking sites such as Twitter? And what of TeachMeets, these grassroots events where teachers come together to share their ideas with teachers?
Evidently no single approach to professional learning will be sufficient. Great CPD will involve a blend of professional learning opportunities and a strong commitment from the individual, too.
Everything that can be remotely linked with impacting professional development is worthy of consideration. We would be foolhardy to think that CPD is not triggered by, for example, an informal professional dialogue with a colleague in the corridor, or a cursory glance at Twitter during an education chat that leads to following up on tweeted research studies or relevant articles.
These activities may not be costly courses requiring time out of the classroom, but they do still offer practitioners the opportunity to stretch their learning through the synthesis of new ideas – and that, after all, is one of the indicators of a truly reflective practitioner.
Fundamental to this broad approach to professional learning is the professional learning mindset.
This involves having the mentality that seeks to learn from every situation encountered during the school day. It functions on deep reflection, and enables teachers to make the most of all learning situations. It requires skills of contextualising, too, without which learning remains abstract and limited.
If a school has a strong infrastructure for professional learning, then teachers are unlikely to rely on a limited range of activities to constitute CPD. They are more likely to have a professional learning mindset and to see potential learning opportunities all around.
*Continuing Professional Development: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Schools (Routledge Falmer, 1996), Anna Craft
Note: this blog post is based on an article originally written by Elizabeth Holmes for the Knowledge Centre