Teachers professional development

There are four key stages of a teacher's professional development:  initial; induction (the first year of teaching); early professional development (EPD) (the second and third years of teaching); and continuing professional development (CPD).

Guidance on the initial, induction and EPD stages of teacher education can be found in the Teacher Education Partnership Handbook (August 2010 Edition).

CPD, and teacher education in general, is currently under review.  Further information can be found under Teacher Education Review.

As part of the wider Teacher Education Review, the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI) produced on behalf of the Department a publication entitled 'Teaching:  the Reflective Profession' which was launched by the Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane, on 15 June 2007.  The publication sets out the 27 teacher competences (which supersede the previous model of 92 competences) that have been developed in consultation with a range of education partners, as listed in the Teacher Education Partnership Handbook (September 2009 Edition).

Professional Qualification for Headship (Northern Ireland) (PQH(NI)) and other leadership development programmes for senior managers and aspiring principals are provided by the Regional Training Unit (RTU) for Northern Ireland.

There are also a wide range of international professional development programmes available through the League for the Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers (LECT).  These include one year exchanges, study visits, short term exchanges and job shadowing programmes.

Locally the Northern Ireland Centre for Information on Language Teaching (NICILT) provides courses and seminars for teachers of modern languages.