Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the ongoing, career-long process through which teachers systematically maintain, develop, and broaden their knowledge, skills, and professional practice beyond initial training. CPD is distinct from pre-service qualifications like CELTA or a PGCE; it begins where initial training ends and continues throughout a teacher's entire career.
The British Council defines CPD as "a planned, continuous and lifelong process whereby teachers try to develop their personal and professional qualities, and to improve their knowledge, skills and practice, leading to their empowerment, the improvement of their agency and the development of their organisation and their pupils" (British Council CPD Framework, 2015).
The British Council's CPD Framework (revised 2025) consists of 12 professional practices covering the full range of knowledge and skills a teacher needs. Each practice is broken down into elements, and teachers self-evaluate across four stages of development.
The framework is designed to be:
The Cambridge English Teaching Framework describes teacher competency across four stages (Foundation, Developing, Proficient, Expert) and five categories. It provides a complementary lens for CPD planning, with specific descriptors for what teachers can do at each stage.
The British Council framework focuses on what teachers should develop (professional practices). The Cambridge framework focuses on what teachers can do at each stage (competency descriptors). Both are useful for CPD planning.
| Category | Activities | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| Formal courses | DELTA, MA TESOL, TKT, online certificates | Structured, often assessed |
| Self-directed learning | Professional reading, webinars, podcasts, conferences | Flexible, interest-driven |
| Reflective practice | Teaching journals, video self-review, critical incident analysis | Individual, ongoing |
| Collaborative | Peer Observation, lesson study, team teaching, PLCs | Social, shared expertise |
| Research-based | Action Research, exploratory practice, reading groups | Systematic inquiry |
| Mentoring | Being mentored or mentoring others | Relational, developmental |
| Institutional | Workshops, in-service training, observation feedback | Organised by employer |
| Online communities | Social media groups, forums, blogs, Twitter/X chats | Informal, networked |
Richards and Farrell (2005) distinguish between training (learning specific skills or knowledge, often externally directed) and development (longer-term growth in understanding of teaching, often self-directed). Effective CPD includes both.
Research consistently identifies what makes CPD work (Borg, 2015; Kennedy, 2005; Darling-Hammond et al., 2017):
A practical CPD cycle:
| Challenge | Reality |
|---|---|
| Time | Teachers have full schedules; CPD competes with marking, planning, and personal life |
| Cost | Formal courses and conferences require funding that many teachers lack |
| Isolation | Teachers in small schools or remote areas may lack peers for collaboration |
| Relevance | Top-down CPD imposed by institutions often fails to address individual needs |
| Measurement | Demonstrating the impact of CPD on student outcomes is methodologically difficult |
| Sustainability | Initial enthusiasm fades without ongoing support and accountability |