Wellcome CPD Challenge: School Stories Volume 2

Science education is a critical part of an excellent education. We want young people to be enthused by science and encouraged to consider science and science-related careers. Moreover, science helps young people develop skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, which are essential for decision-making. We know that teachers play a vital role in this - quality of teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving pupil outcomes. It makes sense, therefore, for science teachers to be supported throughout their careers. We believe that all science teachers should participate in high quality subject-focussed continuing professional development (CPD) every year but we recognise that this is unlikely to happen for science teachers unless there is systemic change for all teachers – of all subjects and in all phases. With this in mind, we set out to discover what schools and the wider education system would need to put in place in order for all teachers to participate in CPD every year and established the Wellcome CPD Challenge. The CPD Challenge has been funded by Wellcome as part of its extensive programme of work on teachers’ professional development, managed by Sheffield Institute of Education, part of Sheffield Hallam University, and independently evaluated by CFE Research. As the CPD Challenge draws to a close, we are delighted to support the publication of this second volume of ‘stories’ from the second and third years of the Challenge – and we very much hope you will find inspiration from them as your school continues its own professional development journey.