Building Capacity, Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

5. Definitions and Purposes of CPD

Several authors have attempted to define CPD:

Michael Fullan wrote:

"Continuous development of all teacher is the cornerstone for meaning, improvement and reform. Professional development and school development are inextricably linked."

Fullan, M. (1991) The New Meaning of Educational Change.
New York: Teachers College Press. (p.123)

While Chris Day defined CPD as:

"All natural learning experiences and those conscious and planned activities which are intended to be of direct or indirect benefit to the individual, group or school, which constitute, through these, to the quality of education in the classroom"

Day, C. (1999b). "Professional development and reflective practice: purposes, processes and partnerships." Pedagogy, Culture and Society 7(2): 221 - 233.

Listen to these definitions

Definition of CPDDefinition of CPD

Gopi Nathan, Nanyang University
"Professional development in it's best and widest sense involves a way in which individuals, and particularly teachers in the school context, can continue to learn and continue to learn not so much in new knowledge but in terms of new practice..."

Definition of CPDDefinition of CPD

Ian Smith
"The term "Staff Development" means to me both personal development and professional development. Its about developing teachers as skilled professionals but also as people..."

What is clear is that CPD is not just about courses but involves using a range of approaches and harnessing naturally occurring opportunities within a teacher's normal working pattern.

This was recognised in official reports some decades ago:

In-service training should begin in the schools. It is here that learning and teaching take place, curriculum and techniques are developed and needs and deficiencies revealed. Every school should regard the continued training of its teacher as an essential part of its task, for which all members of staff share responsibility. An active school is constantly reviewing and reassuring its effectiveness and is ready to consider new methods, new forms of organizational and new ways of dealing with the problems that arise. (DES, James Report, 1972)

While in 1990 the SED (The Scottish National Guidelines for Staff Development and Appraisal) identified a number of principles and issues, among them were:

  • all staff to be consulted in the development and implementation of a school's SD&A policy and procedures;
  • SD&A arrangements to be systematic, clearly defined and embedded in a school's overall policies and procedures;
  • policies and procedures to be regularly monitored and subject to
  • review;
  • an annual programme of staff development to be planned and provided, reflecting the school's identified priorities and individual professional needs;
  • such programmes to include a range of activities indicating that staff development involves more than in-service courses;
  • prioritisation of needs to provide opportunities for individuals, schools and local authorities, and the ability to control the pace of change.

The nature of teaching makes it a potentially isolated and lonely job where teachers despite having departmental or stage colleagues and the possibilities of staffroom discourse have relatively few opportunities for professional interaction. Teachers are often deprived of seeing colleagues in action and therefore may not benefit from considering other models of teaching and interaction with students and as a result their teaching repertoire may be limited. Collegial work between and for teachers is now viewed as a useful strategy for CPD and perhaps explains the rise to prominence of the new emphasis on coaching skills. It remains to be seen if coaching and peer review will be more successful in professional development terms than the formality of Professional Development and Review. A school operating in a collegial manner, sharing expertise and reflecting deeply on a peer basis about teaching and learning and considering the context in which the school operates will build teacher capacity more readily than seeking 'expert' answers from outside although it is often useful to have a 'critical friend' to reflect with too.

Take a look at Section 8: More than just courses