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17 teachwire.net is the person who’ll actually be delivering it. Using specialists in certain areas who can talk staff through best practice is a great way of getting buy-in. I’m personally a great believer in a transaction model, in which numerous individuals contribute something to your CPD from different areas. By themselves, these individual contributors may not necessarily be the most experienced members of the school or even their own department – but they should absolutely be experts at what they’re delivering in class. There’s a lot to be learnt here, and the opportunity itself can serve as a great avenue of development (and confidence booster) for different members of staff. Pursuing this type of approach will rapidly build your collective efficacy and immediately make your CPD offering seem much more inclusive in nature. There will, of course, be times when an instructionalist approach is more effective and therefore necessary. When it comes to improving schools collectively, or addressing issues around some difficult topics, it might not be possible for training to be facilitated by others outside of a small group. This doesn’t mean that a sense of community can’t be forged – just that the way in which staff are engaged will need to be different. Howmuch is ‘too much’? There can be a fear of ‘overdoing it’ when it comes to CPD. There will always be those who actively and endlessly seek opportunities for self-improvement, versus those who only turn up to sessions because they have to. CPD becomes burdensome when staff can’t correlate the purpose of the sessions with what they’re doing day-to- day. CPD providers must always consider the end user – classroom teachers – and their daily practice if the CPD in question is to ever become a part of a school’s ethos. If the sessions laid on aren’t helping in any way at all, then they’ll simply add to your staff’s workload and subsequently turn them off completely. Your CPD attendance may even be good, but bums on seats doesn’t necessarily equate to learning by itself. Striking that balance and ensuring your CPD is relevant for as many staff as possible is a tough task, but it’s vitally important to communicate where the school CPD offer fits in with the ethos of the school. CPD should form a part of your culture, and if planned effectively, become a seamless part of what the school does. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Adam Riches is a senior leader for teaching and learning and author of the book Teach Smarter: Efficient and Effective Strategies for Early Career Teachers (£16.99, Routledge); follow him at @teachmrriches “There’s no reason for leaders to be secretive regarding their reasons for covering a particular topic” C P D