Enhancing Quality in Education: Strengthening the Role of CPD Educators
Quality pedagogy depends on well-educated and qualified staff. As schools and preschools become ever-more diverse, having well-trained teachers and staff becomes more important than ever. Teachers need to be able to assess everyday teaching situations and develop teaching responses that can be effective for all children under different circumstances.
According to TALIS 2018, educators who participated in continuous professional development (CPD) activities focused on teaching in diverse classrooms, tended to report feeling elevated levels of self-efficacy to continue teaching effectively in these environments. However, high quality CPD activities cannot exist without high calibre practitioners to deliver this training. Despite their unique and important role in society, CPD educators* have long been neglected from policy and research.
To this end, Educational Research Institute from Slovenia and Open Academy Step by Step from Croatia, both NEPC members, partnered with the International Step by Step Association based in the Netherlands in a consortium to develop a set of Principles of Quality in Education of Teachers (PIQET).
As a first step, PIQET project consortium made a comprehensive analysis, which delves deeper into the context of continuous professional development and sheds light on professionals delivering in-service opportunities. Why was this important? CPD Educators’ professional development does not get enough attention in research and professional discourse, consequently, does not get the recognition when addressing the complexity of quality in ECEC and primary school education.
The PIQET analysis provides a comprehensive view of the CPD landscape for continuous professional development educators, pinpointing challenges and proposing actionable solutions. Committed to shedding light on this often-neglected aspect, PIQET’s goal is to heighten the discussion around it, through quality principles that will guide both CPD educators and providing organizations in ensuring high-quality opportunities for professional development and nurturing the professional development of CPD Educators.
NEPC members ERI and OASBS also prepared detailed country reports on this topic. You may download the reports here:
