Making a difference: a study of the impact of continuing professional development on professional practice

Abstract

There is a current debate concerning what constitutes evidence of impact on practice resulting from teachers' engagement in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses. The authors present two case studies of teachers who have completed a Masters Degree in Education, offering their own perceptions and those of their colleagues on the impact that their studies have had on their work in school. The case studies are based on interviews undertaken shortly after completion of the course and 1 year later, and show different ways in which impact may be demonstrated. It is argued that this has implications for higher education course providers and schools: they need to be flexible in their interpretations of the relationship between professional development and impact. In particular, the authors advocate that they listen to individual stories of the experience of CPD.

Teachers' perceptions of the impact of CPD: an institutional case study ed

“…Evidence from teachers is used to argue the case for the distinctiveness and value of such provision. This study supports the view expressed by Burchell et al (2002) that teachers' experiences and perceptions of the impact of CPD constitute an important part of an evaluative process of their continuing professional studies. Therefore, the central theme of the research is an articulation by teachers of the changes resulting from those studies on dimensions of their professional thinking, actions and personal development.…”

What is teacher learning? A socio‐cultural perspective

“…(p. 125) Such assumptions are implicit in many other recent reports about PPD (for example, Glover & Law, 1996;Burchell et al, 2002;Davies & Preston, 2002). However, the cognitivist model can be challenged as one which is inadequate for understanding the complexity of teacher learning on a number of fronts:…”

Postgraduate Professional Development for teachers: motivational and inhibiting factors affecting the completion of awards

“…These include collaborative work (Cordingley et al, 2003); specific workplace mentoring (Smith, 1999;Furlong et al, 2003); informed interest from senior managers (Hustler et al, 2003;Soulsby & Swain, 2003); a collegiate school culture (Clement & Vondenberghe, 2001;Wood, 2003); consonance with school development priorities (Ofsted, 2004); sufficient time and opportunity to undertake relevant projects (Hancock, 1997;Hustler et al, 2003;Ofsted, 2004); personal development (Dadds, 1997;Burchell et al, 2002) and enhanced promotion prospects (Kington et al, 2003).…”