With renewed emphasis on sharing good practice around the system – and with budget cuts to make – leaders share their thoughts on how they are ensuring value for money in CPD.

Sticking with CPD?

Use own staff as trainers

We had a financially difficult year two years ago, and as a result had to be a bit creative about a number of things, including continuing professional development (CPD). We realised we had a number of staff who had some real strengths in the classroom and it made sense to tap into them, so we started offering our own in-house CPD, delivered by staff to their peers.

The response was really positive. Staff trusted their colleagues and were much more receptive to new ideas. It also meant that we could offer quality CPD to more staff more often. The double benefit is that it is great CPD for the presenter too.

Sandy Woodcock
Business manager, Ribston Hall High School, Gloucester

Capitalising on partnerships

The Leading Edge Partnership Programme (LEPP) may be on the way out, but its two main principles of “finding what works in your local context” and “sharing the practice across your partnership” will be with us for many years.

I recently hosted a joint Inset day called iSHARE for five secondary schools in our local partnership. Delegates could attend three seminars from a choice of more than 30, all led by teachers in the partnership.

In challenging financial circumstances, it is an innovative way of delivering training which is both personalised and cost- effective.

Gareth Burton
Assistant headteacher, Chipping Campden School, Gloucestershire

In-house preferred

It is true that the impending budget constraints mean that the money we have for training is likely to be cut back. But we already offer a lot of ours in-house, especially in teaching and learning where we have a number of outstanding practitioners.

Part of our school development plan is to address the needs of middle leaders specifically and they have an opportunity to share good practice with other departmental leaders.

Members of the senior leadership team deliver sessions to the whole staff and to selected groups based on the needs that staff themselves identify.

Michelle Davis
Head of support services, Thistley Hough High School, Stoke-in-Trent

Action research compliments CPD

While CPD budgets may seem an easy target for cuts, it is widely recognised that effective professional development for staff can be one of the biggest drivers of whole school improvement.

As such, we have reduced our budget by only 5 per cent for the coming year but, even so, it is imperative that more cost-effective methods of developing the school workforce are used. We make good use of in-school action research through the vehicle of the Teacher Learning Academy (TLA) and, for support staff, through our Associate Staff Learning Academy.

Cross-curricular and cross-school training (within and beyond our educational trust) capitalises on the most knowledgeable resource we have – our outstanding staff – and collaborative training days with other schools also add value for little financial outlay.

Tracy Jackson
Business manager, Ossett Academy, Wakefield

County-wide initiative

We have been giving department budgets weighted on staffing for some time, with strict sign-off controls to try and ensure spending and time is well directed. There has been a move to avoiding using teaching time for external training and we charge cover time to budgets as a dissuader.

West Sussex headteachers are just about to launch a county training scheme whereby schools pay a small registration fee and then earn credits for training they provide in areas of strength. They can then spend these on training in other schools.

This organised sharing of good practice will, of course, depend on the level of sign-up and the standard of training offered, but we think it is an excellent initiative. And if it works it will not just save money but actually provide the best CPD available by sharing the best practice in the county.

Jon Sale
Head of planning and resources at Shoreham Academy, West Sussex

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