Private School wont pay for teacher CPD

[GrandpianoCoffee]

I work in a well-established, highly subscribed independent school and they just won’t invest in teacher CPD.

This is very frustrating because all of us teachers feel that we would like to receive training in several key areas (Maths/ Phonics/ Literacy) but the school just will not part with any money.

This has led to myself and my colleagues feeling increasingly de-skilled as the years have passed.

Is this legal for schools not to get their staff’s skills up to a certain standard?

Teacher training days consist of anything but CPD.

I’m at the stage where I will have to pay for my own CPD for fear that if I were to re-enter the state sector, it would look pretty poor not having kept my knowledge and CPD up.

There is absolutely nothing in the teacher standards about ongoing training. Which is shit.

It is bad because the way we were taught to teach when we qualified has (in some areas) been proven through research to be incorrect or less effective than more modern approaches, but because we aren’t invested in as professionals, the children suffer because they’re taught in outdated ways that can (in some areas) turn into misconceptions.

It's the same in the state sector so you won't seem deskilled at interviews etc. I find it shocking really. So much of what's considered good practice and what's not you just have to guess - no one ever tells you that the thing you had to follow to the letter 5 years ago is now what you efinitely shouldn't be doing, it just gets mentioned less and less and you are almost expected to pretend it was never a thing.

That's pretty bad. However, if you are really determined to get some CPD, a lot of good stuff is online cheap or free these days, post covid. Are you on Twitter? Have you ever been to a ResearchEd conference? (this is the best value CPD I've ever had).

Independent schools do not take part in OSTED. Or have fully qualified teachers , teachers are often paid less , the rationale being that they have much longer holidays. My friend was forced to resign when she got pregnant as were all her previous pregnant colleagues ( this was 15 years ago )

I'm sorry you are not trained adequately but it IS a business

no one ever tells you that the thing you had to follow to the letter 5 years ago is now what you efinitely shouldn't be doing, it just gets mentioned less and less and you are almost expected to pretend it was never a thing.

That is the best description. So frighteningly accurate!

Does anyone remember VAK styles of learning? I once had to rewrite the entire curriculum planning, full lesson by lesson schemes of work, for my department and every single lesson had to have VAK elements identified/manufactured. It was an utter arse of a job. Read something recently about all the damage that VAK had done by making kids believe they could only learn in a single style. Fuck's sake!!

Oh I haven't been on CPD for a decade in public sector