Access to Continuous Professional Development by teachers in England

Abstract

This paper sets out to investigate issues of access to continuous professional development faced by teachers in England. Specifically, the paper attempts to understand the types of CPD activities that are offered to teachers, the types of activities in which teachers participated and whether a disconnect occurs between activities offered and those needed by teachers. Further, the paper also explores the barriers to access to high quality CPD that exist for teachers at both the individual and school levels. Data for the analyses presented were collected as part of the nationally representative, Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England – State of the Nation research study which was funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).

Keywords:

• teacher professional development
• access to learning
• organisational support for learning