Research School Network: Effective Professional Development: Putting recommendations into practice A welcome addition to the suite of EEF resources

by Kate Mouncey, Research Lead

The EFF Guidance Report ​‘Effective Professional Development’ has been a very welcome addition to the suite of EEF resources. Our previous blog ​‘Making Every Second Count’ looks at the main recommendations. 

It has been really interesting to think through the experience of professional development here at Sandringham School in light of the EEF report.

14 Mechanisms

The report has fourteen ​‘mechanisms’ which are defined as ​‘the crucial elements that cause impact’. It is acknowledged that they are a guide, not a fix-all solution and that the evidence base is still a work in progress. However, this is a very useful set of indicators to support schools as they seek to help teachers to develop and improve outcomes, particularly for the most disadvantaged pupils.

Challenges

Professional development programmes run in the vast majority of schools have many challenges. These include having to cater for a huge variety of teacher expertise and trying to address multiple priorities set at school, key stage/​department and individual level. There is also the constant pressure associated with time and resources. Despite these challenges, we know that there are many benefits of running a professional development programme for staff throughout the academic year and the report has offered very useful strategies to further develop our programme. In developing the internal PD programme to support all teaching staff, we carefully consider the priorities of the school alongside the needs of the teachers.

Changes

In the last couple of years, changes have been made which aim to incorporate more of the mechanisms identified in the EEF report. The original strengths of the programme have included basing the content on credible sources, with a focus on using recommendations from the EEF, Rob Coe’s The Great Teaching and Learning Toolkit and the Learning Scientists, alongside many other credible evidence sources.

Practising

There has also been strong practice in instructing teachers on how to perform a technique, with PD leaders planning sessions carefully and being supported by senior leaders in planning. Programme leaders have also often modelled the techniques that they are explaining to help colleagues understand and replicate a strategy with fidelity.

Reviewing

Reviewing the process, there are further mechanisms which looked like they could help to improve the outcomes of the PD programme. In particular, we are focussing on the group D mechanisms ​‘Embedding practice’. Teachers are going to follow one theme all year in the same group, with multiple sessions. There will be input based on evidence from colleagues who have a lot of experience in the theme. There will then be more time built in for teachers to plan their own practice and there will be facilitation of practical social support within each group. There will be clear opportunities for setting and agreeing goals at the start of the year and the prompting of action planning so that colleagues can leave each session with a direction for their own development. 

Developing

We think that the enhancement of these mechanisms will help teachers to develop more effectively in a way that is more sustainable, with the ultimate aim to improve outcomes further for pupils. Facilitators will be putting as much thought into these mechanisms associated with sustainable practice as they do to their planned input/​instruction. There were already some really strong ingredients included in our PR programmes, we think that these focus areas will build on this further. 

We don’t want to use the fourteen mechanisms as a crude ​‘checklist’, we have chosen the areas of focus to support our current programmes and believe that these are the most likely to support us in our particular context.