Research and analysis

Terms of reference: Ofsted’s independent review of teachers’ professional development

Published 22 September 2021

Applies to England

The government has asked Ofsted to carry out an independent review of teachers’ professional development. This is one of two reviews that we will use to assess the progress and, where possible, effectiveness of the government’s education recovery plans. We are also carrying out a review of tutoring, and we have published terms of reference for this.

The review will look broadly at the quality of teachers’ training and development, with a particular focus on the early career framework (ECF) and national professional qualifications (NPQs).

We will collect evidence throughout the academic years 2021/22 and 2022/23 to establish the main features of effective teacher development in schools. This data will also enable us to determine whether the ECF and NPQ reforms are having an impact on education recovery priorities.

We will report on the findings of our review in early 2023 and early 2024. The review will answer the following questions.

What teachers and leaders are receiving

• Who is receiving training and professional development, what is their experience in teaching and what are their responsibilities?
• What is the content of the training and development that teachers and leaders are receiving? Does it meet the aims of the recent reforms?
• Who is involved in training or mentoring teachers, what is their experience in teaching and what are they responsible for?
• How does this vary across different schools and training routes?

Management of professional development

• Do senior leaders value and prioritise the development of teachers?
• Are school leaders effectively managing and supporting teachers to develop in their schools?
• How well do school leaders work with providers/partners to ensure that professional development is delivered effectively?
• How does this vary across different schools and training routes?

Awareness of professional development

• Are teachers and leaders aware of their entitlement to professional development?
• How knowledgeable are teachers and leaders about the concepts in the government’s new reforms?
• How does this vary across different schools and training routes?

Quality of professional development

• Is professional development of high quality?
• Is the quality of professional development improving? Are the recent reforms a factor in any noted improvements?
• What are the barriers that prevent planned professional development from being delivered effectively?
• What are the main features of effective models?
• How does this vary across different schools and training routes?

Impact of professional development

• Have improvements in professional development led to improvements in teaching and leadership in schools?
• Are more teachers and leaders becoming involved in high-quality professional development?
• Have improvements in professional development had an impact on pupils catching up with their education that was affected by the pandemic?

Our approach

To answer these questions, we will:

• commission a large-scale questionnaire in autumn 2021; we will repeat that survey will in autumn 2022 to observe changes over time
• carry out research visits to schools in spring term 2022 and spring term 2023; these visits will focus on what makes different models of deployment for professional development effective
• carry out a small-scale teacher cohort study to track a sample of early career teachers and other teachers through their professional development journeys; this will run for the duration of the review
• retrieve data from ECF/NPQ monitoring inspections to supplement the evidence from other activities; we will begin this in the summer term 2022 when provider monitoring visits start