Every school leader is facing the same challenge: a rapidly depleting school budget but an ever-growing need for high-quality, impactful professional development for our respective teams.
We could argue that for too long schools have been locked in a mindset that equates “value” with “cost”, leaving many in education feeling that a truly empowering professional development offer is simply out of reach.
But what if we reframed the problem? What if, instead of focusing on what we can afford to buy, we focused on what we are able to share?
These were the questions we asked ourselves at Dr Challoner’s High School, a large girls’ school in Buckinghamshire, when reflecting on our professional development offer.
What we created in response led us to discard the traditional transactional model of CPD and build something far more powerful: a collaborative, cost-neutral “ecosystem” of professional learning that connected hundreds of educators in a multitude of different settings, across three counties, and afforded individuals the chance to engage with more than 70 training opportunities.
Collaboration on CPD
The eureka moment came when we realised that the answer to what we were seeking lay on our doorstep: partnerships with local schools and trusts.
We have always valued our partnerships with local institutions - multi-academy trusts, primaries and specialist settings across Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Berkshire - established through avenues such as initial teacher training.
However, we realised we could do more by deepening our collaboration with an existing, key strategic partner - Danes Educational Trust (DET) - and then using this to go to other local partners with a simple pitch: we will open our doors and share our specialist knowledge if you will kindly do the same.
The response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive, with staff across 11 settings facilitating training in the first year alone.
This meant we could all come together to see what we could offer one another.
For us, at Dr Challoner’s High School, we facilitated sessions on our areas of strength, such as “Engaging Girls in Stem’ and “Addressing Imposter Syndrome”, delivered in a variety of formats - online, in-person, as twilight sessions and through collaborative conferences.
In return, our teaching and support staff gained free access to an incredible menu of expert-led training from our partners, such as sessions on “Disciplinary Literacy”, “Retrieval in Practice”, “Voice and Position in the Classroom” and “Mental Health First Aid”.
All of this was offered free of charge, removing the need for complex financial administration.
Teachers in control of their own growth
One of the most significant outcomes of this work was the tangible shift in our school’s culture.
We moved decisively away from a one-size-fits-all model of CPD, which fails to address the real needs of teaching and support staff in schools. Instead, we empowered our staff to become the architects of their own professional growth.
Individuals could look at what the schools were offering and curate their own, bespoke CPD programme, selecting opportunities from across our partnerships that align with their career stage, performance development targets and areas of intellectual curiosity.
Each setting looked to allocate time for staff engagement in this training offer: at Dr Challoner’s High School, we ring-fenced multiple twilight sessions in the calendar, but individuals were welcome to use this training time at their convenience, to attend training on their preferred topics and dates.
The impact of this offer was clear: 94 per cent positive feedback in the first year was a powerful testament to the new model we had created.
A blueprint for success
For other schools looking at such a model, it is simpler to set up than you might imagine, with success resting on a few key principles:
- Identify what expertise you can offer other schools.
- Lean into existing partnerships, such as our highly valued connection with DET, or reach out to neighbouring settings. You will find a wealth of specialist knowledge close by.
- Offer a mix of online and face-to-face opportunities to maximise engagement and accessibility.
- Ensure that you are partnering with schools from different phases and contexts to enrich your offer and provide invaluable new perspectives.
- Be sure to refresh the offer annually to capture the developing expertise of staff and respond to the evolving needs of everyone.
While the challenges in education are real, so is the power of our collective expertise. Through collaboration we can build a system that truly empowers individuals. This is an investment not in courses but in professionals.
Kate Brown is assistant headteacher at Dr Challoner’s High School
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