Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Policy

Principles and Values

Procter Dance Academy (PDA) is a community of learning where staff are involved in a continuous process of improvement and enrichment.

PDA is committed to promoting continuous learning and aims to motivate and develop its staff and students. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the means by which PDA achieves this aim.

CPD promotes high morale and self esteem within staff, building a satisfied workforce through personal and professional fulfilment. This is achieved through a variety of levels – through the individual, the team and the whole organisation.

PDA supports the Teacher’s Standards developed by the Department for Education (DfE) which states that teachers should ‘take responsibility for improving teaching through appropriate professional development’.

It believes that a clear and progressive opportunity to develop professionally and personally improves standards and raises morale. It also believes that CPD assists recruitment and encourages staff loyalty.

All staff are entitled to high-quality induction and continuing support and development. This organisation’s CPD provision will allow staff to progressively develop skills and abilities, allowing them to build on and reinforce skills and expertise.

Key Points

Continuing Professional Development:

• is the key to improving pupils’ achievement.
• is an entitlement for all members of the workforce.
• is the professional responsibility of the individual, as well as the organisation at which they are employed.
• should be underpinned by the process of self-evaluation.
• should be clearly linked to individual needs.
• should support all individuals within all areas of the organisation to develop their own practice and update their knowledge, skills and understanding.
• should promote professional reflection and enquiry.
• should support individual aspirations and career progression.
• involves a wide range of planned learning and development experiences.
• should be evaluated and reviewed by the individual and the organisation.
• provides a role model and enthusiasm for lifelong learning in our pupils.
• should be central to a strategy for recruitment and retention, making working within the organisation an attractive career option.

Roles and Responsibilities

There are two key partners involved within any individual’s professional development – the organisation and the individual. This partnership requires trust and clarity of roles and responsibilities. The following provides guidance on these roles.

The Role of the Organisation

The organisation’s commitment to CPD can be demonstrated by both policy and practice in recruiting and retaining a well qualified and well motivated workforce. This commitment will involve:

• developing a learning culture which promotes professional development opportunities for all staff.
• providing induction for all staff new to the school and/or undertaking new roles or responsibilities.
• supporting and leading CPD.
• providing the chance to discuss career and personal aspirations, and the means to achieve these goals, through annual staff appraisal.
• use of the full range of school and local expertise to improve practice.
• access to a wide range of organisation-based and / or external CPD opportunities.
• monitoring the success (or failure) of CPD activities by evaluating the outcomes of CPD and its impact on pupil achievement. This is to improve future provision and is a quality assurance process.

The Role of the Individual

The workforce of all teaching organisations includes a wide range of staff either directly involved in the teaching of pupils or in supporting their learning either inside or outside the classroom.

All staff within the organisation should:

• engage with the common aim of achieving the most effective education for pupils.
• take responsibility for their own professional development.
• take an active role in the evaluation and development processes of the organisation.
• support each other and work together to achieve the highest professional standards.
• reflect on their own practice and seek to improve skills and deepen knowledge.
• be fully committed to sharing their expertise in the interests of the pupils they teach or support.
• be open to learning from the effective practice of their colleagues.
• be prepared to change when new ideas, findings or technologies are introduced.
• identify training needs to improve working performance and personal career development.
• maintain a professional development portfolio that includes a record of achievements, self-evaluation and possible future development planning and career progression.