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Effective leadership for professional development: A literature review

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Professional development progress
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In 2014, the Department for Education published a consultation: ‘A world-class teaching profession’. It stated that ‘it is vital that serving teachers have access to on-going, high-quality opportunities to update and refresh their skills and knowledge’ and that ‘evidence-driven, career-long learning is the hallmark of top professions’; also identifying that ‘teachers report that far too much professional development is currently of poor quality and has little or no impact on improving the quality of their teaching’ (Department for Education, 2014: 10). In this literature review, I will consider what characterises effective professional development according to research, and the leadership models, strategies and actions that are required. Whilst the current focus on professional development has heightened awareness, it is not a new field. In order to locate this research in current thinking and practices, a focus will be placed on more recent work. For a professio

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This article was published in October 2017 and reflects the terminology and understanding of research and evidence in use at the time. Some terms and conclusions may no longer align with current standards. We encourage readers to approach the content with an understanding of this context.

References
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