Support for continuing professional development now available on the Excellence Gateway

Added: (Tue Nov 10 2009)

Pressbox (Press Release) - In September 2007 the Government introduced new regulations to reform the training, qualifications and professional development of teachers, tutors, trainers and assessors. The reforms included changes to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and to Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

In order to maintain their professional status, all educators must:

- Register with and join a professional body, e.g. the Institute for Learning http://www.ifl.ac.uk

- Complete minimum of 30 hours CPD a year, if work full time

- Complete pro rata CPD, with minimum requirement of 6 hours, if work part-time

- Maintain a record and reflective account of their CPD and submit CPD record by Aug 31st each year. This can be completed online via CPD self-declaration form on the IfL website.

Employers are expected to support their staff with their professional development. As a manager you may find challenges to delivering your organisation’s CPD programme, or require materials to develop a staff CPD programme which supports your organisation’s business priorities. As an educator you may find challenges/ barriers to developing your CPD plan, finding time and resources to carry out relevant CPD activities, support to record your CPD journey and ideas on measuring impact and sharing ideas.

As the leading portal for learning and teaching resources, the Excellence Gateway has developed content to support CPD, including sections on:

- CPD Requirements
Requirements for educators to maintain their professional status.

- Using the Excellence Gateway to support CPD
How educators, departments and organisations can make use of Excellence Gateway tools and resources to support and develop their CPD programmes.

- Programmes to support CPD
How participation in one or more programmes from the Teaching and Learning Programme can bring benefits to individuals and to organisations.

Recording and reflecting on your online activities can contribute to fulfilling your CPD requirements. Registering on the Excellence Gateway will allow you to use a variety of learning tools and resources. Content includes:

• Over 75,000 pages of content

• Forums and collaborative workrooms

• EGTV channel and news services

• Ofsted Good Practice Database

• More than160 e-learning case studies produced by the JISC regional support centres (RSC)

• Guidance, tools and materials to support educators on fulfilling their CPD requirements and for managers to plan staff CPD programmes

• ‘My Excellence Gateway’ – where you can share teaching and learning resources with others through communities of practice, private virtual workrooms and discussion forums to help you share and transfer effective practice.

To access the content, visit www.excellencegateway.org.uk/cpdsupport

Registration and use of the Excellence Gateway is free at http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/register