Professional Development and Evidence-Informed Practice
Effective teaching makes a difference
An increasing body of literature recognises the quality of teaching instruction as the most significant determining factor in student achievement1. Furthermore, positive impacts arising from effective teaching are even greater for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and for those with special education needs and disabilities2. Reaching the highest academic outcomes for all students remains a central aim for teachers, schools and policymakers worldwide. Achieving this aim requires a sustained commitment to teachers' high-quality professional development (PD).
Providing consistently high-quality PD to teachers across the UK education system is challenging. Several barriers exist, including a history of systematic overhauls and political interventions, alongside disagreements over conceptualisations of effective teaching practice3. Consequently, school teachers and leaders navigate pedagogical approaches with a degree of caution as they seek the desired impact of raising student attainment4. This situation is problematic because training effective teachers is highly precarious without a universally agreed conception of effective teaching.
The growing interest in evidence-informed practice