Planning for your future: make the most of CPD in 2021

Is it too early to start thinking about New Year Resolutions for 2021? I’m not just talking about the usual plans to get fitter and healthier, but serious pledges to take our careers forward to the next level.

In the spirit of planning ahead, I agree with Richard Endacott, who blogged  that there is huge value to be derived from educators keeping up to date with their own personal development plans (PDPs).

A PDP helps to assess progress against career goals previously set, actions taken to move from A to B in the previous 12 months, new aspirations for progress in the forthcoming year and a list of tools and tactics to employ. When taken together, this provides a framework for continuous personal development (CPD) that creates momentum and supports career progression.

The role of CPD

CPD is important not just for teachers but for all of us in every walk of life. Teachers who continue to learn beyond their original training and qualifications are more likely to stay interested in their careers, to engage students with new and different thinking and ideas, and to be confident and resilient.

So what could your personal toolbox of CPD materials contain? The good news is that formal training and seminars are just one resource category. Other activities include reading relevant journal articles or books; undergoing peer review, mentoring or shadowing; online learning including engagement in discussion forums and blogs; and viewing or reviewing television programmes and documentaries.

Identifying a toolkit

With budgets under pressure in many UK schools, the provision of formal CPD training sessions can be in danger of moving to the back burner, making online resources even more valuable.

Part of our mission when launching Opogo was to transform education by providing resources that would help teachers explore new subjects, as well as stay up to date with developments like the use of technology in education.

I’m delighted to report that we have maintained a steady stream of rich content that is published on our Community Platform for the benefit of our members. We have expanded our team of subject matter experts to include some of the most visionary and innovative leaders in education, from schools inspector and leadership coach Diana Osagie to gang violence expert Raymond Douglas.

Together they create blogs, videos, digital resources, webinars and online courses as well as host mini-conferences and round table events on a regular basis.

As part of our commitment to the education sector, we also run face to face sessions that teachers and student teachers in our network can attend free of charge. This month, for example, we have run events on the subjects of Teaching English in KS3 and KS4 and Working with KS4 pupils to support their post-16 options and are expanding our formats to enable on-demand learning in the new year.

Our promise

Opogo helps you because we understand what educators need to make their lives easier and more manageable. From powerful features like our Journey Planner, virtual time sheets, flexible working patterns and weekly social and CPD sessions, Opogo is driven by teachers’ needs. Plus, our Community Platform is created by leading experts and is packed with valuable and varied content.

When making our own collective New Year’s resolutions at Opogo, we will remain committed to helping everyone in our network achieve their potential through CPD and the support given by other members.

In the meantime, we pledge to never stop learning either. We welcome your feedback on what has worked well this year and what could have worked better – as well as what else we could be doing to support our members in the future.

So to answer my original question, I don’t believe it’s too early to start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions, even if we may need to wait for some much anticipated downtime over the holidays to follow through with an actual written assessment and plan.