Career-long
Professional
Learning
Guidance for teachers on approaches
to professional learning
Transforming lives through learning
www.educationscotland.gov.uk/clpl
02
Introduction
Teachers work in a complex and dynamic
society. This means that teachers need to
be critically informed, have professional
values and knowledge and take actions
that ensure a positive impact on learners
and learning. Teachers therefore need
opportunities to develop in order to address
these changing demands.
Scottish
education
recognises
the
importance of high quality career-long
professional learning for all teachers. In
recognition of this national partners are
working together to inform and support the
teaching profession.
The General Teaching Council for
Scotland’s (GTCS) Professional Standards
and supporting guidance have been
developed to support self-evaluation within
“
professional learning. As teachers progress
through their careers, the Standards can
be used to identify, plan and develop
professional learning, ensure continuing
development of professional practice as
part of the PRD process and help to prepare
for a variety of roles. This guidance and the
Framework for Educational Leadership
have been developed not as stand-alone
resources but to be used in conjunction
with the Professional Standards to support
self-evaluation and professional learning.
It is vital that engagement with the
Professional Standards, this Career-long
Professional Learning guidance and the
Framework for Educational Leadership
is underpinned by effective Professional
Review and Development (PRD) and
Professional Update processes.
The most successful education systems invest in developing their
teachers as reflective, accomplished and enquiring professionals
who are able, not simply to teach successfully in relation to current
external expectations, but who have the capacity to engage fully
with the complexities of education and to be key actors in shaping
and leading educational change.
Teaching Scotland’s Future: Report of a review of teacher education
in Scotland, G Donaldson, Scottish Government (2011)
03
This guidance for teachers is about
a strengthened model of career-long
professional learning. This will support
teachers to improve further their
approaches to professional learning so that
there is maximum benefit to themselves,
the children and young people they
teach, their colleagues, their individual
school and across schools in the wider
learning community. This guidance will be
developed further as approaches to careerlong professional learning evolve. More
resources and sources of support including
case studies will be added as these become
available.
“
The sections ‘Self-evaluation’, ‘Planning
professional
learning’,
‘Professional
learning activities’, ‘Evaluation of impact’
and ‘Evidence of impact’ include reflective
questions which can be used by individuals
to support their engagement with this
guidance. The reflective questions can also
be used by mentors, managers and groups
of staff to support professional dialogue. The
questions have been collated in Appendix
1 to provide a means of structuring
responses. This can be amended to suit
the user.
Long-term and sustained improvement which has a real impact on
the quality of children’s learning will be better achieved through
determined efforts to build the capacity of teachers themselves
to take responsibility for their own professional development,
building their pedagogical expertise, engaging with the need for
change, undertaking well-thought through development and
always evaluating impact in relation to improvement in the quality of
children’s learning. That is the message from successful education
systems across the world.
Teaching Scotland’s Future: Report of a review of teacher education
in Scotland, G Donaldson, Scottish Government (2011)
Appendix 1 - Supporting professional dialogue on the
reflective questions - Word document (39 KB).
04
Key messages
This guidance is structured in nine
sections. The key messages of the
guidance are highlighted briefly below.
Career-long professional learning is
based on the concept of teachers as
enquiring practitioners who engage in deep,
rigorous, high impact professional learning.
They understand the inter-connectedness
between enquiry and self-evaluation.
Career-long professional learning links
professional review and professional
update. Teachers recognise the need
for professional learning to impact on
professional practice, the quality of learning
and teaching and school improvement.
Teachers know that through working and
learning together and achieving the right
blend and balance of professional learning
activities, they will have the greatest
possible impact on the learning of children
and young people.
Planning professional learning is about
focusing on collegial and collaborative
activities and models of learning which are
more embedded, sustained and relevant
and have a greater and more positive
impact than the more traditional ‘one-shot’
workshop or ‘course-led’ models. There is
increasing awareness among teachers of
the importance of engaging in a wide range
of professional learning and in achieving the
right blend and balance of activities.
Professional learning activities should
result in teachers refreshing their awareness
of the implications of local and national
priorities and initiatives, their knowledge,
understanding and skills, particularly in
relation to pedagogy, curriculum areas and
the use of technology to support learning
and teaching. In addition to this, effective
professional learning will result when
teachers work with others to share practice
and learning. Effective professional learning
often takes place when:
• it is sustained, as part of a planned
process
• it has clearly defined outcomes
describing what impact the
professional learning is intended to
have
• it is directly relevant and meaningful
to the individual teacher, group and/
or school and takes account of current
knowledge and expertise
• it is experiential, action or enquiry
based
• it is undertaken with others
• it is based on best available evidence
about learning and teaching and is
facilitated by those with the necessary
level of expertise.
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Evaluation of impact is integral to the
process of high quality professional
learning to ensure that the activity has
been worthwhile and to help plan next
steps. Impact should be considered in its
widest sense: in terms of the individual’s
professional learning needs, school and
system level priorities for improvement
and the learning goals for the children and
young people.
evidence base and success criteria, two
aspects of impact should be considered:
Evaluation of impact should consider how
well these needs have been met through
the professional learning activity in the short,
medium and long term. In focusing on the
Evidence of impact can be gathered from
a broad base of sources including direct
observation, information and data and
people’s views.
• how effectively the participant uses
new knowledge and skills
• what impact the teacher learning has
on the educational experience of the
children and young people and the
outcomes that they achieve.
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What is career-long
professional
learning?
Continuing professional development
(CPD) became an entitlement and
expectation of all teachers following the
implementation of the recommendations
of the McCrone Report (SEED, 2001,
A Teaching Profession for the 21st
Century).
Career-long professional learning builds
on current strengths of CPD and extends
the concept of the enhanced professional.
It sees teachers as professionals taking
responsibility for their own learning and
development,
exercising
increasing
professional autonomy enabling them
to embrace change and better meet the
needs of children and young people.
Career-long professional learning is a
continuous process from the point that
student teachers begin the early phase
of teacher education to the end of their
careers. Career-long professional learning
aims to develop further and sustain a
highly competent, committed workforce
of enquiring professionals who focus on
the best possible outcomes for children
and young people. Professional learning
for teachers is dependent on a range of
interlinked factors and processes. These
include:
• analysing children and young people’s
learning needs continuously to identify
their own professional learning needs
• engaging critically with new and
emerging ideas about learning and
teaching and about the context in
which learning takes place
• enhancing their knowledge,
understanding and skills in relation to
individual, local and national priorities
• exploring and challenging their thinking
and considering how this impacts
on their teaching and the learning of
children and young people
• engaging with and contributing to the
development and implementation of
national, local authority and school
policy
• being motivated to sustain career-long
effectiveness
• modelling lifelong learning for children
and young people
• job satisfaction and the teaching
profession as a whole.
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The concept of teachers as reflective
practitioners is well established across
the profession. Teachers as enquiring
professionals aim to build on this practice
by raising the bar so that, increasingly,
teachers engage in deep, rigorous, highimpact professional learning. Figure 1
has, at its centre, teachers as enquiring
professionals who are both committed
to on-going self-evaluation and are
supported by and engage in coaching and
mentoring relationships with others. Figure
1 demonstrates the inter-connectedness
between enquiry and self-evaluation,
professional review, professional update
and impact on professional practice and
school improvement. It also emphasises
that teachers working and learning together
rather than as individuals will have the
greatest possible impact.
Impact on
professional
practice and
improved quality
of learning and
teaching
SELF
-E
V
Professional
learning
opportunities
Teachers as
enquiring
professionals
ES
SS
CE
UATION PRO
AL
School
improvement
Professional review
and development
and professional
update processes
Figure 1
Figure 1: Adapted from Teaching Scotland’s Future National Partnership Group,
(2012), Report to Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning
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A model of careerlong professional
learning
What is a model of professional learning?
This model (Figure 2) supports career-long professional learning of all teachers from the
early phase into developing their pedagogic expertise and leadership. It has been generated
from research studies exploring the relationship between professional learning and the
enhancement of practice.
REFLECTION
ON PRACTICE
COLLABORATIVE
LEARNING
EXPERIENTIAL
LEARNING
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
Figure 2: A model of professional learning
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Who should use the model of professional learning?
The model of professional learning maps out the four connected elements of learning
experience and provides the basis for teachers planning their own learning, either individually
or collaboratively. This model can also be used by those who design or lead professional
learning to ensure these four elements of learning come together in meaningful professional
learning activities.
The model can be used by a teacher who is intent on improving her or his classroom teaching,
or to improve leadership and management practice, or to prepare for a new role or specialism.
This model places the practitioner at the centre where the focus is on self-directed learning.
What is self-directed learning?
In self-directed learning, teachers map out their own development and work individually or
collaboratively with colleagues to reflect on and evaluate their practice. They identify learning
goals and opportunities for learning, participate in professional learning and enquiry and
evaluate outcomes.
How does professional learning support the improvement
of practice?
While career-long professional learning centres on the individual, the form and nature of
professional learning and its impact on practice are strongly influenced by working with
colleagues and learners. Whether in the classroom, across the school or learning community,
changing practice always depends on securing the co-operation of others. In addition,
changing practice needs to be supported through coherent programmes of learning rather a
series of disconnected short-term opportunities.
What are the elements of the model of professional learning?
Research into professional learning suggests there are four interrelated processes that
support professional growth of teachers and transformation of practice.
• Reflection on practice: where through professional learning, practitioners are curious
about and critically explore practice.
• Experiential learning: learning through structured activities to question, try out and enhance practice.
• Cognitive development: developing ideas to challenge assumptions and deepen understanding of practice.
• Collaborative learning: learning with and through others to enhance practice.
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Professional learning should provide opportunities for all
forms of learning experience to be combined and sustained
as the new practice becomes fully integrated into professional
action.
How does the model of professional learning relate to the
Professional Standards?
The key first step in career-long professional learning is the process of self-evaluation. The
Professional Standards and accompanying guidance provide the basis for self-evaluation
and the identification of learning goals. The model of professional learning then provides a
way of mapping out the elements of the professional learning experiences to be undertaken.
Elements of the model of professional learning
Reflection on practice:
• asking questions, being curious and looking closely at practice
• developing skills in observing what is happening
• developing skills in analysing and evaluating what is happening
• exploring roles and approaches in professional practice.
Experiential learning:
• trying out and exploring the impact of approaches
• experimenting and taking risks with innovative practice
• examining outcomes and identifying learning from innovative practice
• building new ideas into practice in structured ways
Cognitive development:
• being open to and seeking new ideas and practices
• questioning assumptions about practice
• using different sources to critically examine experience and practice
• testing ideas and exploring the implications for practice.
Collaborative learning:
• working collaboratively to support each other in changing practice
• sharing ideas and experiences through professional dialogue
• seeking constructive feedback on practice and the impact on pupil learning
• providing constructive feedback on practice and the impact on pupil learning.
References:
Reeves, J. and Fox, A. (2008) (Eds.) Practice-based Learning: Developing Excellence in Teaching, Edinburgh:
Dunedin Academic press.
Forde, C. (2011) Leadership for Learning: Educating Educational Leaders. In T. Townsend and J. MacBeath
(Eds.) International Handbook of Leadership for Learning, Netherlands: Springer, 355-374.
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Self-evaluation
Having highly-skilled, committed and
motivated teachers is to the benefit of
all our children and young people by
improving their learning experiences.
Developing and maintaining skills,
commitment and motivation is part of a
career-long process. This process involves
all teachers engaging in self-evaluation
and in being career-long learners.
Teachers who engage in self-evaluation
are best placed to be active participants
in determining the focus of their learning
and its intended outcomes, how their
learning occurs and how its success is
evaluated. Self-evaluation should help
teachers to identify the best way forward
for themselves, the children and young
people, their school and their wider
learning community including associated
schools groups.
Approaches to self-evaluation
Self-evaluation of learning and teaching
should not be an overly bureaucratic
or mechanistic process. It should be a
reflective professional process through
which teachers get to know themselves
better in terms of their strengths and areas
for development. It should be robust,
based on searching, reflective questions
and be supported by evidence derived
from a number of sources including direct
observation, information and data and
people’s views, including those of children
and young people, parents and carers and
others linked to the school community.
schools group or learning communities.
The most effective approaches to selfevaluation are often:
Self-evaluation processes for learning and
teaching range from reflection on daily
practice to significant areas of professional
development when a more structured
approach may be required. Self-evaluation
can be carried out on an individual basis
by teachers or in collaboration with others:
for example, a critical friend, coach,
mentor or line manager; or in groups:
for example, whole school, associated
• able to generate specific strengths and
areas for improvement
• precise and focused on the experiences of and impact on children and
young people
• practice-based rather than just paperbased - there is clear action taken as a
result of self-evaluation activities
• focused on improving not just proving
learning and teaching
• detailed and searching in the analysis
of children and young people’s progress
• comprehensive in gathering evidence,
including from children and young
people and their families.
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The most effective approaches to self-evaluation
enable achievement to be immediately recognised and
underachievement to be immediately challenged.
Self-evaluation should be an integral part
of the improvement planning process by
helping to identify strengths and areas
for development. Effective professional
learning is the result of a cycle of selfevaluation (Figure 3) (teacher and/
or school), planning for improvement,
identifying appropriate professional
learning activities and evaluating impact.
Individual teachers have a key role in the
achievement of the priorities set out in
team and school improvement plans and
their own priorities for improvement should
articulate closely with them.
An important element in this is the
professional review and development
(PRD) process in which all teachers have
both an entitlement and a requirement
to participate. Teachers should refer to
Journey to Excellence Part 4 - Planning
for Excellence for advice and guidance
and to their school and/or local authority
for policy and practice in relation to PRD
and the role of self-evaluation in this.
Revised guidance on PRD which has
been prepared by Education Scotland in
partnership with other organisations was
published in January 2014.
Figure 3: Cycle of self-evaluation
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Key resources
There are a number of key resources
which will assist individual teachers,
groups of teachers and schools in using
self-evaluation to support continuous
improvement.
Professional standards against which
all teachers in Scotland should evaluate
their practice and which can assist in
generating priorities for professional
learning are available on the General
Teaching Council Scotland website.
Evaluating practice and performance
contains links to quality frameworks such
as How good is our school? and The
Child at the Centre. These frameworks
include quality indicators and a six-point
scale, including illustrations of levels 2
and 5, against which practice can be
evaluated.
Publications such as Improving Our
Curriculum Through Self-evaluation
and Improving Outcomes For Learners
Through Self-Evaluation provide advice
and guidance in relation to specific quality
indicators.
The Learning Together series including
Learning Together: Opening Up
Learning - self evaluation offers guidance
and support in the implementation of
Curriculum for Excellence.
The Journey to Excellence web resource
can assist individuals and schools by
providing a series of Improvement Guides
and ‘Learning Together’ resources
amongst others.
The Curriculum for Excellence series
Building the Curriculum and explanations
of the four capacities to be developed in all
children and young people can be found in
The Curriculum section.
The Framework for Educational
Leadership in Scotland is intended
to support the development of high
performing leaders. It is designed
around a model of professional growth
in leadership which is inclusive of all
teachers. The model includes reflection
on practice, experiential learning,
cognitive development and social learning
processes.
The guide Getting It Right For Every
Child (GIRFEC) describes how
practitioners can use the GIRFEC
approach to help bring about changes in
culture, systems and practice that will help
children and young people achieve their
potential.
Mentoring Matters provides advice
and guidance for mentors who are
supporting those in the early phase of
teacher education. It will assist individuals
and groups of teachers to evaluate and
develop their mentoring practice through
reflective questions linked to video and
other resources.
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Reflective Questions
Where am I now in relation to my skills, capabilities and knowledge of:
• pedagogy
• developing the curriculum for my learners
• the use of technology to support learning and teaching?
What evidence do I have which supports this and what am I going to do next?
How broad a range of strategies/resources do I currently use to support my selfevaluation activities, for example, do I use feedback from children, young people
and their families?
How well do I use self-evaluation to help plan my professional learning? How could
I make self-evaluation a more central part of my planning?
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Planning
professional
learning
Professional learning is the process whereby teachers develop and refresh skills,
capabilities and knowledge throughout their careers to become increasingly accomplished
practitioners.
“
This review endorses the vision of teachers as increasingly expert
practitioners whose professional practice and relationships are
rooted in strong values, who take responsibility for their own
development and who are developing their capacity both to use
and contribute to the collective understanding of the teaching and
learning process. It sees professional learning as an integral part of
educational change, acting as an essential part of well planned and
well researched innovation.
Chapter 8: Better Public Services - Renewing Scotland: The
Government’s Programme for Scotland 2011-2012
Approaches to professional learning
Research indicates that collegial and
collaborative learning and models of
learning which are more embedded,
sustained and relevant have a greater and
more positive impact on teachers, schools
and children and young people than the
more traditional ‘one-shot’ workshop or
‘course-led’ models.
There is increasing awareness among
teachers of the importance of engaging in
a wide range of professional learning and
in achieving the right blend and balance of
activities. The right blend would be a variety
of approaches including individual and
collaborative, for example, peer to peer,
school to school and within associated
schools groups. A good balance of
activities would include those which
address individual and school priorities as
well as those which contribute to systems
level improvement, for example, local
16
authority and national priorities. Agreeing
and designing the most appropriate blend
and balance for each individual teacher is
a central aspect of successful professional
review and development. Therefore, in
planning professional learning, it is useful
to consider the following broad categories
into which activities might fall. While these
are described separately, in practice, it
could be that a blend of approaches is
most appropriate.
• Teachers as reflective practitioners:
reviewing practice regularly in order to
seek improvement.
• Teachers as enquiring practitioners:
adopting ‘action research’ or
‘professional enquiry’ approaches.
• Teachers as collegial or collaborative
practitioners: developing and sharing
practice with other teachers and/or
professionals from other agencies/
fields.
Guidance on practitioner enquiry was
published jointly by Education Scotland,
the University of Edinburgh and the General
Teaching Council Scotland in March 2013.
A significant number of teachers have skills
in professional enquiry, developed through
their course of initial teacher education and/
or later careers. Teachers should continue
to use, apply and refresh these skills as they
engage in professional learning, curriculum
development and school improvement.
Planning professional learning involves
taking considered decisions about which
learning activities will result in clear benefits
for the participant and, ultimately, for
children and young people. It is important
that, when planning, teachers identify what
the intended impact of the professional
learning will be.
Planning should be
considerations such as:
framed
around
• how the professional learning activity
will benefit the teacher, colleagues,
school and children and young people
• what specific outcomes will result from
this activity
• when these outcomes would be
evaluated
• what the evidence basis will be.
Such considerations can be undertaken on
an individual basis but would benefit from
the input of a colleague or line manager
through learning or mentoring conversation
as part of the professional review process.
It might also be useful to consider the
Dynamics of the Model of Learning [Figure
4 on the next page] which shows a blend
of different types of learning - reflection,
enquiry and critique - and the creative
connections between these. The model
shows the particular activities or contexts for
learning to which these relate: professional
practice, dialogue, support and ideas. At
the heart of this model are teachers as
learners who have a major role in shaping
their own development.
17
Figure 4: Dynamics of the Model of Learning.
Figure 4: Forde, C. and Reeves, J. (2011) The Learning Programme, Glasgow: Western SQH Consortium
18
Masters-level learning
‘Teaching Scotland’s Future’ describes
how teachers have a role as co-creators
of the curriculum and need to be expert
in both pedagogy and in their areas of
specialism.
• Practice (applied knowledge and
understanding)
The report states ‘advanced study is part
of enhanced professionalism’ and makes
clear that professional learning from the
early phase of a teacher’s career needs to
be critical, informed and coherent.
• Communication, numeracy and IT
skills
‘Teaching Scotland’s Future’ sets out
much higher expectations for careerlong professional learning. Building on
the strengths of the Chartered Teacher
programme, the wider use of masters-level
learning as an appropriate standard for all
teachers is advocated. Education Scotland
provided advice to Scottish Ministers in
relation to this particularly through the
report Moving Forward with Teacher
Professional Learning.
Planning and reviewing professional
learning using the characteristics of SCQF
level 11 and the GTCS Standards will help
to ‘raise the bar’ of professional learning
for all teachers.
Increasingly teachers’ professional learning
and activities provided by local authorities
and others should be planned around the
appropriate masters-level characteristics
and/or benchmarked against masterslevel. These characteristics are described
in the Scottish Credit and Qualifications
Framework (SCQF).
The SCQF lists the general outcomes
of professional learning at masters level
(SCQF Level 11) under five broad headings:
• Knowledge and understanding (mainly
subject based)
• Generic cognitive skills (eg evaluation,
critical analysis)
• Autonomy, accountability and working
with others.
Some teachers will want to accredit their
professional learning and/or complete
taught modular masters programmes,
leading
to
enhanced
professional
qualifications. Universities in Scotland offer
wide-ranging opportunities for teachers
for post-graduate masters-level learning.
Information can be found on the university
websites listed below. Other providers of
masters-level learning are also available.
Teachers engaging with the Standard for
Career-long Professional Learning may
be engaging with Masters level learning
and/or Masters Qualifications. GTCS
Professional Recognition can be used
to identify and provide opportunities for
receiving recognition for specific areas of
accomplishment in teaching and learning
or academic study.
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Universities in Scotland offer wide-ranging opportunities for
post-graduate masters-level learning.
University of Aberdeen
University of Dundee
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow
Open University
University of Stirling
University of Strathclyde
University of West of Scotland
Reflective questions
How well do I plan my professional learning around what the expected impact and
outcomes will be, particularly for children and young people?
How successful is my planning of my professional learning? How effective is my
development of approaches such as reflection, enquiry and collegiality/collaboration?
How well do I use existing research and my own professional reading to inform my
planning?
How well do I achieve a blend and balance of my professional learning activities?
What evidence do I use to support this?
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Professional
learning activities
Professional learning is about teachers
refreshing their awareness of the
implications of local and national priorities
and initiatives and their knowledge,
understanding and skills particularly in
relation to pedagogy, curriculum areas,
use of technology to support learning
and teaching. In addition to this, effective
professional learning takes place when
teachers work with others to share
practice and learning.
Effective professional learning often takes
place when:
• it is sustained, as part of a planned
process
• it has clearly defined outcomes
describing what the professional
learning will deliver
• it is directly relevant and meaningful
to the individual teacher, group and/
or school and takes account of current
knowledge and expertise
• it is experiential, action or enquirybased
• it is undertaken with others
• it is based on the best available
evidence about learning and teaching
and is facilitated by those with the
necessary level of expertise.
Bearing these key features in mind, what
follows is a list of possible professional
learning activities. It is not intended to be
prescriptive or exhaustive but to give an
indication of the range of activities which
can result in high quality professional
learning.
• Self-evaluation and reflection
• Experiential, action or enquiry-based
learning
• Focused professional reading and
research
• Curricular planning
• Peer support eg coaching or
mentoring
• Classroom visits/observation
• Work shadowing
• Co-operative or team teaching
• Participation in collaborative activity
eg professional learning community,
learning round
• Leading or participating in a working or
task group
• Planning learning which is interdisciplinary or cross-sectoral
• Participation in activities relating to
assessment and moderation
• Secondments, acting posts and
placements
• Accredited courses or activity related
to achieving national professional
standards for teachers
An interim Glow-based professional
learning portal was launched in January
2013. The intention is that this will be
developed into a ‘one-stop’ site where
teachers can access advice and support,
set objectives and share their learning.
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Reflective questions
How well do the professional learning activities which I am planning accord with the
key features of high quality professional learning?
How successfully do I engage in collegial or collaborative processes with other staff?
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Evaluation of
impact
Evaluation of impact is integral to the
process of high quality professional
learning. Evaluation, proportionate to the
nature of the professional learning activity,
“
will ensure that the activity has been
worthwhile and to help to plan the next
steps.
At the outset of any CPD activity, the intended impact on young people,
and the aspects of the relevant professional standard the teacher will
improve as a result of the activity, should be clear.
Teaching Scotland’s Future: Report of a review of teacher education in
Scotland, G. Donaldson, Scottish Government (2011)
How to evaluate impact
Impact should be considered in its
widest sense: in terms of the individual’s
professional learning needs, school and
system level priorities for improvement
and the learning goals for the children and
young people. Evaluation must go beyond
gauging the participant’s immediate
reaction and look at the effect that the
experience has had over time to avoid
a narrow and premature identification of
successful professional learning.
Although there is no single best approach
to evaluation of impact there are several
approaches associated with effective
evaluation which can be applied to a broad
range of professional learning activities.
These are the key approaches/guiding
principles for effective evaluation of impact.
• The core focus should be on linking
the planning and evaluation of
professional learning to improvements
in teaching and learning and ultimately
improved outcomes for children and
young people.
• Planning for professional learning and
its evaluation should be integral to
teacher and school self-evaluation.
• Decisions about what to evaluate,
when and how to go about it
should be made at the outset of the
professional learning activity.
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• Evaluation should go beyond the
activity itself to evaluate the extent
of teacher’s professional learning,
how this supports improvements at
individual, school and system level
and the effect on children and young
people’s learning, progress and
achievement.
• The timescale for impact evaluation
should be based on projections of
when impact will occur across the
short, medium and long term. This
should allow for sufficient time for
teachers to adapt new ideas and
practices and for learning outcomes to
become evident. Formative evaluation
at agreed stages should provide
information that will strengthen or
improve longer term professional
learning activities.
• Professional learning can have
unintended impact so information
should be gathered from a broad
range of sources to give a complete
picture of impact. Sources of
information and evidence should
provide opportunities for corroboration.
• Evaluation methods should be tailored
to the activities and experiences.
• For selected professional learning
activities the evaluation of impact
should include value for money
assessment.
• Evaluative practices and processes
should be regularly assessed to ensure
they are and continue to be effective
and proportionate.
Reflective questions
In planning the evaluation of impact of my professional learning, how well do I ensure
that I focus on the short, medium and longer term benefits to myself, my colleagues,
my school and the children and young people?
24
Evidence of
impact
“
We know that it is the commitment and skill of individual teachers
which makes the biggest difference to children’s progress and
achievement. All teachers, therefore, have a responsibility to continue
with professional learning throughout their career and further develop
their knowledge and practice in order to meet the expectations
placed upon them by Scottish society.
Teaching Scotland’s Future: Report of a review of teacher education
in Scotland, G. Donaldson, Scottish Government (2011).
In focusing on the evidence base and
success criteria it is useful to consider
two aspects of the impact of professional
learning: how effectively the participant
uses new knowledge and skills; what
impact the teacher learning has on the
educational experience of the children
and young people. The list, which is not
intended to be prescriptive or exhaustive,
gives a broad base of sources including
direct observation, information and data
and people’s views. Selecting one or
two relevant sources from each of the
sections can help to generate good quality
evidence to analyse impact and plan next
steps.
25
Direct observation
Written material
Record and reflect
on your own
lessons
Children and young
people’s work
(analysing before
and after planned
professional
learning)
Data collected
nationally or
locally
Discussions with
children and young
people
Observe lessons
Reports to parents
and carers
Children and
young people’s
progress in
meeting targets
Individual interviews
with parents
Shadow an
individual child,
young person or a
class
Children and young
people’s profiles or
learning plans
Children and
young people’s
progress from
prior levels of
attainment
Individual interviews
with members of staff
Exchange classes/
carry out peer
observations
Teachers’ plans,
diaries or records of
work
Value added
measures of
performance
Pupil/student Council
discussion
Work alongside
other teachers
Programmes of
study
Examination
results
Parent Council
discussion
Using research
based tools
and strategies
to evaluate the
quality of learning
in action, such
as the ‘Leuven
Scale of Active
Engagement’ see attachment
below
Progress reports
Children and
young people’s
attendance,
exclusion rates
and leavers’
destinations
Questionnaires,
surveys, written
responses and
comments
Course materials
Policy and
guidelines
Minutes of
meetings
Quantitative data
People’s views
Team meetings
26
Evaluation of impact is not the end of the process. It is a crucial part in the cycle which is
intended, ultimately, to improve outcomes for children and young people.
“
Nothing within a school has more impact on students in terms of
skills, development, self-confidence or classroom behaviour than the
personal and professional development of teachers.
Improving Schools from Within, R.Barth, Jossey-Bass (1990)
Appendix 2: Leuven Scale of Active Engagement
- PDF document (294 KB)
Reflective questions
What evidence of my professional learning can I provide which suggests that the
professional learning has the intended impact on me, my colleagues, my school
and the children and young people? How do I best determine the quality of this
evidence?
Appendix 1 Career-­‐Long Professional Learning: Supporting professional dialogue on the reflective questions The purpose of this document is to provide teachers with a means of structuring their responses to the reflective questions, to consider what evidence has been used and to think about next steps. It can be amended as required. Theme Reflective Question Teacher Response Evidence Next steps Self-­‐evaluation Where am I now in relation to my skills, capabilities and knowledge of: • pedagogy • developing the curriculum for my learners • the use of technology to support learning and teaching? What evidence do I have which supports this and what am I going to do next? How broad a range of strategies/resources do I currently use to support my self-­‐
evaluation activities, for example, do I use feedback from children, young people and their families? How well do I use self-­‐evaluation to help plan my professional learning? How could I make self-­‐evaluation a more central part of my planning? Planning How well do I plan my professional learning professional around what the expected impact and learning outcomes will be, particularly for children and young people? How successful is my planning of my professional learning? How effective is my development of Professional learning activities Evaluation of impact Evidence of impact approaches such as reflection, enquiry and collegiality/collaboration? How well do I use existing research and my own professional reading to inform my planning? How well do I achieve a blend and balance of my professional learning activities? What evidence do I use to support this? How well do the professional learning activities which I am planning accord with the key features of high quality professional learning? How successfully do I engage in collegial or collaborative processes with other staff? In planning the evaluation of impact of my professional learning, how well do I ensure that I focus on the short, medium and longer term benefits on myself, my colleagues, my school and the children and young people? What evidence of my professional learning can I provide which suggests that the professional learning has had the intended impact on me, my colleagues, my school and the children and young people? How do I best determine the quality of this evidence? Appendix 2
Leuven Scale of Active Engagement
Level
Engagement
Examples
No concentration: staring, daydreaming; An absent, passive
1
Extremely low: the child
attitude; No goal-oriented activity, aimless actions,
shows hardly any activity
not producing anything; No signs of exploration and
interest; Not taking anything in, no mental activity
2
Low: the child shows some
Limited concentration; looks away during the activity, fiddles,
degree of activity which is
dreams; Is easily distracted; Action only leads to limited
often interrupted
results.
Routine actions, attention is superficial; Is not absorbed in the
Moderate: the child is busy
3
the whole time, but without
real concentration
activity, activities are short lived; Limited motivation, no real
dedication, does not feel challenged; The child does not gain
deep-level experiences; Does not use his/her capabilities to
full extent; The activity does not address the child’s
imagination.
The child is engaged in the activity without interruption; Most
4
High: there are clear signs
of the time there is real concentration, but during some brief
of involvement, but these
moments the attention is more superficial; The child feels
are not always present to
challenged, there is a certain degree of motivation; The child’s
their full extent
capabilities and its imagination to a certain extent are
addressed in the activity.
Is absolutely focussed, concentrated without interruption; Is
Extremely High: during the
observation of learning the
5
child is continually engaged
in the activity and
completely absorbed in it.
highly motivated, feels strongly appealed by the activity; Even
strong stimuli cannot distract him/her; Is alert, has attention
for details, shows precision; Its mental activity and experience
are intense;
The child constantly addresses all its capabilities: imagination
and mental capacity are in top gear; Obviously enjoys being
engrossed in the activity.
Professor Ferre Lavers, Leuven University, Belgium
HMIE Good Practice Conference: Dynamic Learning in the Early Years, 2008
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