headteacher-secondary

teachwire.net Failing to invest in staff development could damage children’s education, says StephenTierney - but effective CPD needn’t cost a fortune… How to cut costs, without cutting corners T he lack of school funding is having an impact on education in various ways. Some are very obvious: bigger class sizes, fewer teachers and support staff, lack of support for our most vulnerable children, buildings in a greater state of disrepair and below inflation salary rises, or none at all for many years, adding to the recruitment and retention difficulties. Less obvious are the other cuts that school leaders, headteachers and governors make – including to budgets used for funding staff CPD. In 2016/17 there was a nearly 9% reduction in CPD spending compared to the previous year, with 10.5% of secondary schools and 4.5% of primaries spending nothing on CPD. Cuts to professional development might not have an obvious and immediate impact, but in the long term, a lack of investment in staff will seriously damage the quality of education children receive. It may also lead to more teachers choosing to leave your school or possibly even the profession. Understandably, the adults working in school want to be educated and trained as part of their journey towards greater mastery and increasing agency. Amidst calls in recent years for school leaders to commit 1% of their budgets – approximately £10,000 for a one-form entry primary school or £45,000 for an average-sized secondary school – there is a need to do more with much, much less. I see the 1% CPD Challenge as a symbolic commitment to the importance of investing in and developing staff. Here are a few thoughts on how to get £10,000/£45,000 or more of impact, whilst spending less. Keep it real The first and most obvious way is to ensure that you align all CPD with the school’s development and improvement priorities. Be brutally realistic about the amount of time required; most leaders underestimate the professional development a new whole school initiative needs. When we were implementing a major new reading programme at St. Mary’s Catholic Academy (an 11-18 comprehensive school in Blackpool), the headteacher asked what CPD those leading the initiative or individual strands of it might require, compared what all staff may require. What ongoing CPD would be needed to address implementation and fidelity issues? There’s always a need to invest time in keeping things on track, but too few schools do. CPD isn’t a one-hit wonder or lightning strike; rather, it's a planned, phased and systematic rolling of thunder over months, 18