In this current educational climate, online learning is very much taking centre stage as teachers and students keep up their studies from home.
Whilst there are plenty of digital resources for teachers to continue lessons for their students, many may be wondering how they can also continue their own development as educators while they remain at home.
We’ve put together this list of Continual Professional Development (CPD) tools and courses, all of which can be accessed online from anywhere. Whatever subject they teach and no matter their current teaching circumstances, these amazing resources enable teachers to keep their finger on the pulse of modern education.
The Best Free CPD Resources for Teachers
Pastoral/Well-Being
Teaching Students Who Have Suffered Complex Trauma
Complex trauma affects the physical, emotional and social development of children and adolescents.
In order to minimise harm, teachers and school leaders need to respond appropriately using trauma-informed practices and policies.
In this course, you’ll get an introduction to what complex trauma is; how it affects young people’s development at school and the neuroscience behind traumatised students’ behaviours. You’ll also learn how to apply trauma-informed strategies and policies that will minimise risk to students and school staff.
We all have Mental Health: In Introduction for Teachers
Main teachers believe that they don’t receive sufficient training in mental health to allow them to carry out their role.
This free course, ‘We all have mental health: an introduction for teachers’ provides teachers with an introduction to mental health; equips them with the skills and knowledge to recognise and respond to a student who may be experiencing a mental health problem, and lead a conversation about positive mental health.
Emotional Intelligence at Work
This course aims to teach learners all about emotional intelligence – its role in the workplace; how it influences our relationships with others and also with ourselves.
Learners will be introduced to the origins of emotional intelligence and key theorists who have attempted to define and discuss this fascinating construct. They will also look at how emotional intelligence can be applied within organisational settings and whether it is possible for someone to be taught to become more emotionally intelligent.
Safeguarding: Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation
This NHS Seen & Heard course takes teachers through the practicalities of protecting students from sexual abuse and exploitation.
Throughout the course, you’ll have access to narrations from real young people, gain professional insight and be able to test your knowledge at the end.
Bullying in Schools: How Should Teachers Respond?
Bullying is something that happens fairly frequently in schools; yet many students will be reluctant to report it to a teacher.
This course helps teachers understand the risks a child experiences before and after telling an adult that they’ve been bullied, and what steps to take next. They’ll explore their own attitudes to bullying and the most appropriate ways to respond, using research-based insights to understand the complex nature of bullying in schools.
Upon completion of this course, teachers will ideally have learnt strategies to help reduce bullying in their own school and classroom.
Professional Relationships with Young People
Young people with few good-quality relationships in their lives often find that entering into informal relationships with adults who respect, accept, like and listen to them is a new life experience. These relationships can offer the young people new perspectives on approaching, developing and managing quality relationships of their own.
This free course explores different approaches in developing relationships with young people, along with working practices which can inform working with them in a professional and positive way.
Get Moving, Get Healthy
This easily digestible free course covers the health benefits of physical activity, how much we should be doing, the importance of diet and how we can incorporate exercise into your lifestyle.
Armed with this knowledge, teachers can inform and inspire their students to look after their physical well-being and make health more of a focus in the classroom.
Ed Tech
Take your Teaching Online
This easy course can be completed in just 24 hours and takes teachers through the practical steps of delivering a seamless, tailored and flexible online teaching experience.
Learners receive a certificate of participation upon completion and will get to test their own knowledge at the end.
Leadership of Education Technology in Schools
Education technology can help schools reduce workload, promote efficiencies and support evidence-based teaching and learning approaches.
However, the huge potential of education technology cannot be realised without a carefully designed and implemented strategy, aligned with the school’s overall strategy and goals.
This course is perfect for teachers looking to instil a more progressive implementation of edtech in their school. They’ll learn everything from developing a technology strategy to communicating their vision as a school leader and designing a CPD programme for their staff.
Accessibility of e-Learning
Many disabled students may use computers in different ways when taking part in e-learning or may need alternative teaching methods.
This free course covers the technology and techniques used by disabled students, the adjustments to teaching methods that might be reasonable, design decisions which affect the accessibility of e-learning tools and strategies for evaluation.
The Online Educator: People & Pedagogy
This free course, developed by The Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology, allows you to enhance your online teaching with strategies from educational technology experts.
As e-learning becomes ever-more widespread, online educators are being required to design learning experiences that engage and meet the needs of very diverse learners.
Studying the course will help teachers improve their online teaching practice through videos, quizzes and discussion with peers.
Essential Digital Skills
A new legal digital entitlement is coming for adults aged 19+ with no or low digital skills.
This CPD programme from the Education & Training Foundation (ETF) is intended to support teachers and trainers who will be delivering courses to support the entitlement and those who want to develop their own digital skills
The blended training programme consists of five elements: an interactive self-assessment tool; online resources; face-to-face training and online webinars; online communities of practice for different FE pathways to offer tailored peer-to-peer support, and a multimedia CPD toolkit to guide you through the programme.
Performing Arts
Becoming a Better Music Teacher
Vocal coaches and music teachers have an important role in improving their students’ ability to sing or play an instrument. This 5-week course allows music teachers to learn new teaching methods to enhance their instrument or singing lessons.
They’ll learn to assess their current teaching strategies and look at new ways to engage students during their lessons. They’ll get instrument-specific advice and resources, as well as guidance on how to plan music lessons within a broader curriculum.
Why Teach Art?
This free course provides intelligent insight and ideas for teachers looking to teach or already teaching art and art-related subjects.
From looking at different teaching approaches to examining art’s role within the wider curriculum, teachers should finish with a new and invigorated perspective on what it means to promote this important subject.
Literacy
An Introduction to Speech, Language & Communication
This free online short course is a great place to start learning about children and young people’s speech, language and communication development. It looks at how you can support the development of these skills on a day-to-day basis in your setting, and how to spot children and young people who might be struggling to develop these important skills.
This course has since been re-developed so it is now tailored for the needs of practitioners working across all the different education phases.
Understanding Language: Teaching & Learning
What is language? How do we learn meaning in a new language? What is easy and hard about learning another language? And what is the best way to teach other languages?
This free online 5-week course is developed by the University of Southampton and the British Council, and aims to provide some answers to these questions. The course draws on their exciting joint online course, MA in English Language Teaching. Fully participating learners in this online course will be eligible to apply for a scholarship to cover part of the MA fees. You will find out more when you join the course.
Involving the Family in Supporting Pupils’ Literacy Learning
Teaching children to read is one area where collaboration between teachers and parents/carers is of vital importance.
In this free course, teachers will learn how families and schools can work together to support and promote childhood literacy development, and the ways in which educational institutions respond to the diversity of needs amongst students.
Teaching Vocabulary
This course enables teachers to understand the fundamentals of teaching vocabulary, including key research related to vocabulary teaching and vocabulary teaching strategies that they can apply in their own context.
Thanks to valuable insight from experts in teaching vocabulary as well as their teaching peers, teachers should leave the course confident in their ability to help students develop their vocabulary.
Modern Foreign Languages
Teaching Secondary Modern Foreign Languages
Teachers of modern foreign languages (MFL) will be able to identify and explore some of the key issues around teaching this subject in this short course.
Engaging with these issues and debates will help beginner teachers reflect upon and develop their practice, as well as create a greater awareness of the wider context of MFL education and how this impacts the secondary school curriculum.
Assessment in Secondary Modern Foreign Languages
This free course allows teachers to identify and explore some of the key issues around assessing MFL in secondary schools.
Engaging with these issues and debates will help you to reflect upon and develop your assessment practice as a teacher of MFL. You will also develop a greater awareness of how assessment can be used in helping students become more independent in their use of the target language.
STEAM
Girls in STEM
Why are so many STEM careers male-dominated? It is the responsibility of all community leaders such as teachers and parents to create conditions for STEM learning that authentically appeal to and engage women.
This course introduces educators to research and resources that support STEM education for girls and inspire female students to explore STEM careers.
Managing the Practical Classroom in Secondary School Science
This course will show teachers how to maximise learning through practical science in the classroom – particularly strategies for managing the practical classroom.
From monitoring behaviour and fostering positive attitudes to learning, to implementing departmental processes and working with colleagues, you’ll explore all aspects of practical activities in the school or college laboratory.
Linking Curriculum Learning to STEM Careers
How will you develop your students’ career aspirations? This course on linking curriculum learning to STEM careers aims to enhance your role as a science, technology, engineering or mathematics subject teacher by linking curriculum learning to careers.
Through weekly tasks and learning from experienced educators who have adapted their teaching, you will identify how to adapt your STEM curriculum, engaging your students in careers linked to their classroom learning.
Inspiring Young People in STEM: Feedback Tools for STEM Ambassadors
Responding to feedback is a crucial part of volunteering with young people – as well helping you quickly understand how effective you are and show you what you need to change to improve.
On this course teachers and volunteers will learn how to use different tools to get immediate feedback during STEM activities. They will also reflect on further ways to improve their ability to work with educators and inspire young people about STEM subjects.
Have you found a brilliant CPD resource you’d like to share? Join us in the conversation on Twitter – @TrueEducation_P.
