Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
 |
Shetland Islands Council Schools Service Continuing Professional Development
|
 |
Every teacher during their teaching career will have been involved in some form of personal professional development work. This may have taken the form of working groups, distance-learning, courses in Shetland or on the Scottish mainland, In-Service days, E-learning etc. This work is essential to progress as a professional and to develop and improve learning and teaching in the classroom.
The McCrone Agreement “A Teaching profession for the 21st Century” was published in May 2000. Since then the changes to teachers’ conditions of service recommended in the document have been implemented according to the suggested timetable contained therein.
Section 2.5 of the Report relates to Continuing professional development (CPD) It states:
-
“Teachers shall have an ongoing commitment to maintain their professional expertise through an agreed programme of ongoing continuing professional development.
-
An additional contractual 35 hours of CPD per annum will be introduced for all teachers, which shall consist of an appropriate balance of personal professional development, attendance at nationally accredited courses, small scale school based activities or other CPD activity. This balance will be based on an assessment of individual need taking account of school, local and national priorities and shall be carried out at an appropriate time and place.
-
Every teacher will have an annual CPD plan agreed with his/her immediate manager and every teacher will be required to maintain an individual CPD record.”
The above became part of teachers’ conditions of service on 1st August 2003.
CPD is not a new concept for the teachers. What is new is the agreement’s aim that this is planned and recorded to ensure that this is recognised formally.
The “Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000” set five National Priorities for education authorities for 2002-05. National Priority two, Framework for Learning, requires local authorities to: “support and develop the skills of teachers”. This gives the Education Service the statutory responsibility to promote, organise and monitor CPD activities available to teachers in Shetland.