Professional Development That Makes a Difference

An Evidence-Informed Approach for School Leaders

School and trust leaders invest significant time and resource in professional development, with the aim of improving teaching and outcomes for pupils. There is now a growing evidence base about effective professional learning, but navigating, interpreting and applying that evidence can be complex. The challenge is to connect research insight with real‑world professional learning decisions in meaningful ways.

The NIoT Evidence Portal has been designed to address this problem.

It is a free, accessible resource for all school leaders, bringing together the most rigorous global research on professional learning alongside perspectives from schools and trusts in England. Its purpose is simple: to support leaders to make better, evidence-informed decisions about how professional development is designed, delivered, and sustained.

Why an Evidence Portal?

Many leaders are already committed to evidence-informed practice. However, in reality, using research to shape professional development can be difficult.

Evidence is often:

• Fragmented across multiple sources
• Time-consuming to access and interpret
• Challenging to translate into day-to-day decisions

As a result, professional development can sometimes be shaped more by habit, external pressures, or available provision than by what is most likely to improve practice.

The Evidence Portal aims to bridge this gap not by adding more information, but by organising research into a practical, usable format.

What is the Evidence Portal?

The Evidence Portal is a decision-making tool for leaders.

Each area of the toolkit within the Portal is organised into “strands” of professional learning for example:

• Coaching
• Teacher collaboration
• Lesson study
• Inclusive professional learning
• Data-informed professional development

Within each strand, leaders can explore:

• What the approach is
• What the evidence suggests about impact
• Key insights into effective design and delivery
• Implementation guidance and common barriers
• Reflection questions to support decision-making

This structure allows leaders to move from understanding the evidence to applying it in context.

A Focus on Rigour and Relevance

A key strength of the Evidence Portal is the quality and balance of its evidence base.

It draws on:

• High-quality international research, including systematic reviews and meta-analyses
• Insights from practice, grounded in the experience of schools and trusts

This combination is important. Research provides a reliable foundation for understanding what is likely to work, while practitioner insight ensures that guidance remains grounded in the realities of schools.

For example, across multiple strands, the evidence consistently highlights that effective professional development:

• Is sustained over time, rather than one-off
• Includes opportunities for practice, feedback, and refinement
• Is aligned with school priorities and context
• Focuses on changing teacher behaviour, not just knowledge

These principles are well established in research, but the Portal helps leaders see how they apply across different approaches and what they look like in practice.

From Evidence to Practice: What Does This Mean for Leaders?

One of the most valuable aspects of the Evidence Portal is how it supports leaders to translate evidence into action.

Leaders can use the Portal to support them to plan professional development.

• Compare different approaches (e.g. coaching vs collaboration)
• Identify what is most likely to work in their context
• Avoid common pitfalls, such as over-reliance on one-off training

For example, rather than asking “What CPD should we deliver?”, the Portal encourages leaders to ask:

• What behaviours are we trying to change?
• What evidence-informed approaches are most likely to support this?

The Portal reinforces that how professional development is designed is critical.

It supports leaders to consider:

• How learning will be sequenced over time
• Where opportunities for practice and feedback will sit
• How staff will engage with and apply new ideas

This aligns closely with evidence on effective implementation, which emphasises the importance of structured, sustained approaches rather than isolated events.

Evaluating professional development is often challenging. Too frequently, success is judged by attendance or staff feedback rather than changes in practice or outcomes.

The Evidence Portal encourages a more robust approach by:

• Highlighting the limitations of self-report data
• Encouraging multiple sources of evidence (e.g. observation, pupil experience)
• Prompting leaders to consider longer-term impact

A Resource Shaped by the Sector

The Evidence Portal is not a finished product. It is designed to evolve over time, shaped by the expertise and experience of the sector.

School and trust leaders are invited to:

• Share case studies of effective professional development
• Provide feedback on existing strands
• Contribute insights from implementation

This collaborative approach recognises that while research provides a strong foundation, the sector itself holds valuable knowledge about what works in practice.

By contributing, leaders can help ensure that the Portal remains relevant, practical, and responsive to the needs of schools.

Why This Matters Now

At a time when schools are navigating increasing complexity, ranging from curriculum demands to workforce pressures, getting professional development right has never been more important.

Done well, professional learning can:

• Improve teaching quality
• Strengthen staff confidence and retention
• Enhance pupil outcomes

Done poorly, it risks becoming a compliance exercise with limited impact.

The Evidence Portal provides leaders with a practical way to ensure that professional development is:

• Grounded in the best available evidence
• Thoughtfully designed and implemented
• Focused on meaningful change

Getting Started

The NIoT Evidence Portal is completely free and accessible to all school leaders.

Whether you are:

• Reviewing your current CPD offer
• Designing a new professional development strategy
• Leading across a trust or teaching school hub

Explore the portal today to support your professional development decisions: About – NIOT – Evidence Portal.

By making high-quality research accessible, relevant, and practical, the NIoT Evidence Portal aims to support leaders to turn evidence into action, and action into impact.

The author

Nicola Arkinstall

Nikki is a Senior Impact Research Fellow at the National Institute of Teaching and an experienced school leader. When Nikki is not working she loves to spend time with her husband, children, friends and family. She loves travelling, reading, listening to podcasts, watching Netflix series and swimming.

https://evidenceportal.niot.org.uk/