In 1998 the Teaching and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) led the Award-bearing In-Service Education and Training (INSET) scheme for the (then) Department for Education and Skills (DfES). A joint review by TDA and the DfES published in 2003 highlighted areas for development, including:
- improving the responsiveness of courses to local needs;
- increasing the accessibility and flexibility of courses; and
- increasing participation amongst teachers and monitoring the impact of courses.
In response to these recommendations, and building on the strengths of the existing award-bearing INSET scheme, the TDA developed a new programme of award bearing postgraduate courses known as the Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD) programme. The TDA PPD programme provides funding to support teachers’ learning and development at postgraduate level (M level). Allocations of the first round of funding for PPD courses were made in February 2005, for the academic year 2005/06.
There are currently more than 60 providers of TDA funded PPD courses across England. The providers are partnerships or consortia usually made up of a combination of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Local Authorities (LAs), schools, subject associations etc. The make-up and size of the partnerships varies considerably.
The Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE) was commissioned by TDA in July 2006 to undertake a three-year evaluation of the PPD programme to monitor the quality and impact of the scheme. The evaluation was also intended to contribute to the evolution of the programmes, through working collaboratively with course providers to increase understanding of effective CPD and to use this to guide the development of the provision.
