Creating a learning culture by investing in staff

How do we characterise an effective CPD programme? It is relatively easy to identify slots in the calendar and gather staff together, but good attendance and hours spent are not necessarily synonymous with quality and impact. And impact is what CPD is all about. Indeed, the key findings from the Teacher Development Trust’s 2015 summary of research into effective CPD highlighted that programmes that are clearly student-centred had a significant impact on their achievement (Cordingley et al., 2015). But this impact relies in no small part on ensuring buy-in. By 2014, in our school, our staff were with us in ‘cheerful cooperation’. But we had our sights set beyond ‘creative excitement’. We were convinced that a well-structured CPD programme could enrich staff and student experiences and craft a nurturing learning environment. We were struck by Dylan Wiliam’s vision of teacher learning communities, in which content – informed by research – was collaboratively explored us