The Teacher Development Trust is a UK charity which works to raise awareness of the importance of professional development for teachers and other education professionals. Founded by teachers in London in March 2012, the Trust promotes access to evidence-based, high quality training through its nationwide programmes.
Mission
Teacher Development Trust mission statement: The Trust also states that it aims to promote types and characteristics of teacher professional development proved successful by "strong international research". Chief executiveDavid Weston has said:
Origins
In April 2012 the British government closed the , the national body formerly responsible for teachers’ training and professional development. In response to the planned closure, Teacher Development Trust was founded by teachers as a new agency aiming to support teachers’ professional learning.
Programmes
Teacher Development Trust currently runs two nationwide programmes alongside its ad hoc consultancy services.
TDT Advisor
is the Trust's professional development database. It provides listings and ratings for professional development training courses, consultancy, and other services. TDT Advisor was launched in 2012 and is free of charge to providers and users. Users are able to review courses and resources they have used. This has been compared to the "TripAdvisor" style of rating, referring to the popular site's effective use of user generated content. In January 2013, a partnership was set up between Teacher Development Trust, Education Endowment Foundation and Sutton Trust. As part of this partnership, GoodCPDGuide professional development listings are aligned with the topics listed in the EEF-Sutton Trust . This Toolkit summarises research to provide "guidance to teachers and schools on how to use their resources to improve the attainment of disadvantaged pupils." All TDT Advisor users must agree to the site's Code of Practice. Teacher Development Trust, EEF and Sutton Trust, undertake joint random quality sampling.
Teacher Development Trust Network
In July 2013, Teacher Development Trust launched the Network. TDT Network is an opt-in UK school network whose member organisations will share and develop evidence-based professional development practice. Services offered to members of the network include: TDT Lesson Study is based on the theory and practice of Lesson Study, a teaching improvement process originating from Japan. In Lesson Study, teachers work in a small group to discuss their learning goals, create a "research lesson", then observe this lesson to revise and report on results. Groups finish by writing and disseminating their findings to assist colleagues and other teachers. Lesson Study has been credited as enabling "better understanding of student thinking in order to develop lessons that advance student learning". Pilot Lesson Study schemes in England in 2003-2005 have also shown that the process allows for "increased risk-taking through sharing the ownership of the lesson and its outcomes – which contrasts sharply with much of the effects of inspection and performance management oriented observation which can lead teachers to play safe".
Other work
Teacher Development Trust provides free advice for teachers and schools and offers support and consultancy for training providers. The Trust runs a frequent blog and contributes each month to , a weekly magazine for secondary education. The Trust was represented at the conference in Manchester in March 2013 and at the where chief executive David Weston spoke on Bridging the Chasm Between Practitioners and Researchers. David Weston is also a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper’s .
Response
The Department for Education, the Teaching Agency and the National College for School Leadership have all expressed support for the Teacher Development Trust. In a speech to teachers and headteachers at the National College for Teaching and Leadership on 25 April 2013, Secretary of State for EducationMichael Gove said of the Trust’s chief executive David Weston: "I’m indebted to David Weston, Chief Executive of the Teacher Development Trust - who is a principled and non-partisan voice for reform" In its September 2013 report on the causes of educational failure, , the Centre for Social Justice used Teacher Development Trust research and reports to demonstrate the importance of professional standards in teacher development. The Trust has also gained support from major education organisations for its "rigid focus upon the quality of CPD provision" and from , who described the Trust as a "grass-roots alternative in development, designed to support members of the profession at all stages of their careers." In May 2013, chief executive David Weston was appointed to the judging panel for the .
Management
The Trust's chief executive is David Weston, a former maths and physics teacher and Chair of the Department for Education's Teachers' Professional Development Expert Group. The Trust's work is supported by former and current teaching professionals and education experts. Public Relations and communications for the Trust are run by .
