News

A 35-hour a year CPD entitlement could stop 12,000 teachers quitting

Implementing a £4bn CPD entitlement for England’s teachers would generate a £61bn boost to pupils’ future earnings and could prevent as many as 12,000 teachers from quitting the profession, it is suggested.

A cost-benefits analysis commissioned by Wellcome concludes that a “well-implemented” policy of 35 hours a year of high-quality CPD for teachers would have “significant benefits” for society and schools, including raising pupils’ outcomes at GCSE and their future earnings, increasing teaching standards, and boosting teacher wellbeing and retention.

England is currently behind international averages when it comes to CPD. Across the OECD nations, teachers receive an average of 62 hours a year of CPD. However, in England secondary teachers get just 43 hours, while primary colleagues get 55.

The Wellcome trust is campaigning for a 35-hour entitlement for CPD that meets individual teacher need and is at least 50 per cent subject-specific (for more, see SecEd, 2020). It must also meet quality criteria as set out in the Department for Education’s Standard for teachers’ professional development (DfE, 2016).

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