The importance of evidence and a professional environment for teacher development

The best thing we can do for disadvantaged students is to give them-high quality teachers. Research from the Sutton Trust in 2011 showed the significant impact that the effectiveness of a teacher has on student progress for disadvantaged pupils in particular. Papay and Kraft (2017) show us the quality of the professional environment for teachers has a great impact on student outcomes over time: support the teachers, help them grow, and you improve outcomes for students: ‘In supportive schools, teachers not only tend to stay and be more effective in their classrooms, but they also improve at much greater rates over time.’ (p. 24) We know from the DfE standard for teacher professional development (2016) that there is support for the use of evidence to underpin sustained (key word) professional learning programmes, with a focus on improving outcomes for students as well as providing challenge and opportunities for collaboration. The publication of the ‘ITT core content frameworkâ