We surveyed multi-academy trusts (MATs) across England for our ‘Grow your own: Best practice for developing teaching talent in school trusts’ report. 

Around a quarter of the MATs we surveyed told us a top challenge is personalising continued professional development (CPD) – but the same number also highlighted the challenge of providing consistent learning across schools. 

Learning personalisation is important in increasing engagement because teachers engage most with training that feels relevant to them. 

However, as some trusts pointed out, it can be challenging to provide a consistent CPD offer across multiple schools – and without consistency, personalisation at the school and teacher level risks fragmenting a trust’s learning.

So how can trusts personalise learning while ensuring consistency? 

What we learnt from leading trusts 

Trusts are building structured training options that reflect school priorities and shared goals while enabling individual learning personalisation. 

A trust-wide shared understanding of goals and priorities is key to doing this successfully, as well as an understanding of what ‘good’ learning looks like. 

One trust leader told us: “We give teachers access to high-quality content via our online platform and allocate time for them to spend on their PD, but we also give them autonomy by saying it’s their choice on what to do.” 

Providing teachers with curated professional learning content enables this trust to ensure a consistent quality of learning while also giving teachers autonomy in choosing the areas they want to focus on. 

The challenge trusts face 

The key takeaway here is that learning personalisation works best in a framework of shared values and when guided by strategic direction. 

However, our report also found challenges in providing consistent, personalised learning: 

• Leadership and teacher buy-in 

• Time allocation 

Both factors are key to success in this approach. So how can trusts work towards success? 

What trusts should take away 

The trusts we spoke with told us that it’s essential for trust leaders to: 

• Communicate how a professional development offer is relevant for individuals and at a whole-school level 

• Allocate dedicated time for schools and individuals to engage with learning 

Learning can be personalised at a trust, school and individual level. In practice, this looks like: 

• Ensuring the values behind training provision align with the values of the trust, such as collaboration or inclusion, as this makes learning feel relevant to staff 

• Providing schools with autonomy over the training staff can access, so they can ensure learning is aligned with the school context and goals 

• Allowing teachers choice over the content they learn and when they learn it, as this makes learning more relevant and impactful 

Essentially, trusts need to curate professional development options to their trust goals. They need to ensure teachers are aware of how their learning will benefit not just themselves, but their whole school – and they need to make sure teachers are allocated protected time to engage with learning. 

This balance is what provides a coherent trust-wide approach even where learning is personalised to individuals, ultimately leading to more meaningful engagement and a more successful professional development offer. 

Explore best practice for developing teaching talent 

Our report ‘Grow your own: Best practice for developing teaching talent in school trusts’ is a free tool to support ambitious trusts in developing teachers and securing their futures.

The report examines the role that professional development plays in teacher recruitment and retention, and how trusts and school groups can use learning and professional development to help their teachers thrive. 

Read the report for more insights into teacher development in trusts and start growing your trust’s future today. 

Download the report