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The College of West Anglia - Case study

Trialling Individual Learning Plans and Continual Professional Development Logs for Teacher Trainees at The College of West Anglia

 

Project Overview

This project aimed to achieve a seamless and streamlined process integrating the needs of Human Resources and the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) team for the continual professional development (CPD) of teacher trainees at The College of West Anglia.

 

The research team focused on the development of a CPD Handbook, incorporating Individual Learning Plan (ILP) and CPD log forms, which was distributed to and used by a wide sample of trainee teachers at the College. During the course of the project we extended our thinking to cover qualified and experienced teachers, and many of our findings are as relevant to line managers of qualified teachers as they are to those of trainees. Definitions of, and attitudes towards, CPD are discussed in some detail.

 

The research took place during a merger between the College of West Anglia and Isle College. The report points up various influences of the timing of the project, during a merger, on the process and outcomes of the research.

 

The full report also covers our research methodology and findings, and includes ideas for how to develop the project within our own institution and which we hope will be applicable to other colleges too.

 

The report concludes that the knowledge and understanding about CPD in the College has increased as a result of the project, and momentum has been generated within the ITT team and in other parts of the College. Several initiatives are underway at senior management level to review CPD in the light of a College-wide appraisal process, and work is being done in the ITT team to incorporate CPD more fully into the teacher training programme. A great deal of work is still to be done, however, to develop a College-wide approach, with the buy-in of all staff, and which is more than simply a ‘tick-box’ method of meeting the Government guideline of 30 hours CPD per annum. The forms and questionnaires used during the project are contained in the Appendices, and may be freely adapted and used by other institutions.