Continuous Professional Development for Staff for Diversity Sensitivity

Introduction to Topic

In many European countries diversity is increasing, creating super-diverse classrooms. Super-diversity (Vertovec, 2007, 2010) refers to the fact that diversity is a far too complex concept to be defined by single characteristics/differences, such as gender, learning abilities or cultural background. These characteristics interact with one another, creating rich personalities and unique experiences of people. Unfortunately, not all experiences are equally positive. Numerous studies show that diversity characteristics are related to disadvantages and inequalities. Looking at the school context, we for instance see that there are unequal (learning) opportunities for girls, children with disabilities, children with darker skin tones, children from cultural or religious minorities, and so on. Because the identity of children consists of an interplay of diversity characteristics, this also means that some children experience disadvantages and inequalities at more than one level (for instance when you are a black girl with a learning disability). This is called intersectionality(Bešić, 2020).

Inclusive education is meant to tackle all students’ diversities (and their interplay) in order to reduce all forms of exclusion, marginalisation and inequalities and to guarantee quality education for all (see Goal 4 of the UN 2030 Agenda; UNESCO, 2015). To fulfil this role, schools should be a place where all students are equally supported in their well-being and development. This means we should unequally invest in students, because of their different experiences. Students should receive the best possible support adapted to their needs (equity), rather than giving every student the same treatment (equality). In order to achieve this, we need teachers who are sensitive to the diversity of the class. Diversity sensitivity is about the ability to acknowledge, accept and value diversity. These are important steps in creating an inclusive environment that supports students’ well-being (Pastori et al., 2019, 2020).

Many teachers indicate that they lack this diversity sensitivity and that they feel ill-prepared for teaching the super-diverse classroom (e.g., Banjeree & Luckner, 2014; Slot & Nata, 2019). This chapter describes how continuous professional development can be used to further support teachers in working in diverse classrooms.

Continuous Professional Development

Professional development refers to all the actions and activities focused on education, training and development opportunities for teachers with the ultimate goal of improving students’ developmental or educational outcomes (Sheridan et al., 2009). In other words, professional development is not about becoming a better teacher, but about becoming a better teacher for your students. Continuous professional development (CPD) emphasises that this learning should be a continuous and ongoing process. Teachers are learners themselves, and their initial teacher training is just a first step in the process, but they continue to develop as teachers long after that. With respect to diversity sensitivity, we should be aware that our understanding of “diversity” is evolving over time too, making it necessary to continuously develop on the topic.

CPD can take on a lot of different forms, ranging from short workshops to extensive multi-year curricula. However, not all forms of CPD are equally effective (Civitillo et al., 2018; Parkhouse et al., 2019). CPD is most likely to be effective and sustainable if it follows an embedded and contextual approach (Romijn et al., 2021). Using the following model (see Figure 1), we will explain what this means.

Figure 1: Conceptual framework of professional development

Key components of CPD

When choosing or designing a CPD activity, it is important to think about its key characteristics: who is it for, what is it about, and how is it delivered (Buysse et al., 2009).

 Who. CPD is always for someone, so we should consider the characteristics of the learners and their context. For instance, a teacher who has a lot of experience with students with visual impairments, might need a different approach from a teacher who has never worked with such students before. A teacher with a minority background can make use of other strategies when trying to bond with students with a minority background, than a teacher with a majority background can. A teacher who is resistant to change will probably need a different strategy than a teacher who has an internal motivation to make a change because they want to solve a certain problem in their classroom. Thus, CPD is most likely to be effective when it is adapted to who the learner is.

 What. CPD is always about a certain topic or targets a specific domain such as knowledge, skills, beliefs or behaviour. Depending on what your focus is, different strategies might be useful. For instance, if there is a need to learn new knowledge, reading a book (like you are doing now) can be a useful strategy. However, if teachers wish to improve their skills in communicating with children from different backgrounds, merely reading a book will not necessarily work. Thus, an important step in choosing or designing an effective CPD activity is to properly define what needs to be learned (learning goals).

 How. A wide range of strategies and delivery modes exist, such as workshops, immersion experience (i.e., doing an internship), coaching, video-feedback, critical friendships, learning communities, online self-ratings. When learning goals are more complex, a combination of strategies and delivery modes is recommended. In general, research shows that strategies that are more intensive (in duration and dose) and have a collaborative component are more likely to be effective (Siraj et al., 2019). Later in this chapter, we will elaborate on what strategies and delivery modes are most common and how they can be effectively used.

Individual teachers in a wider context

Figure 1 also shows that while development happens within an individual teacher (intra-individual level), this individual teacher is always part of a wider context. To understand how development occurs, we must first investigate the underlying mechanisms within the individual. Teachers all have their own unique set of characteristics, related to their personal background and beliefs, previous experiences, knowledge and skills. This informs how they behave in classrooms and what practices they are likely to use with their students. However, this relationship between what one knows, feels or believes on the one hand and what one actually does on the other hand is not as straightforward as one might believe. Studies for instance show that teachers’ explicit attitudes towards diversity are not always in line with their implicit beliefs and actual behaviour (Álvarez Valdivia & González Montoto, 2018). By using the mechanisms of reflectionand enactment teachers can develop their knowledge, skills and beliefs as well as their behaviour and practice. In the next section we will elaborate on these internal mechanisms.

Though CPD is a process that primarily happens within the individual teacher, we cannot think of the teacher as a sole entity that is completely separated from their context. Teachers are always part of a classroom, part of a team of teachers and support staff and part of a school within a local community. Moreover, CPD has the ultimate goal to impact the students’ well-being and development. Therefore, it is necessary that CPD also has a sustainable impact that moves beyond the individual teacher. In the last part of this chapter, we will further discuss what needs to be done to make CPD more sustainable by properly embedding it within the wider context.

Key aspects

Individual processes in learning and development

At the core, learning and development is an individual process. When engaging in CPD, teachers contribute a unique combination of characteristics encompassing their cultural background, upbringing, personal experiences, beliefs, as well as their existing knowledge, skills and competences. These individual variations impact how teachers approach their role as learners during CPD, their motivation and engagement, and the process outcomes. In this section, we will discuss the importance of individual belief systems for developing diversity sensitivity and elaborate on the mechanisms of reflection and enactment.

Teachers’ belief systems

All teachers have a belief system, which is a set of developed assumptions, beliefs, attitudes and values (Spies et al., 2017). Though these terms are related, they cannot be used interchangeably, and a relevant distinction can be made especially between beliefs and attitudes. Teachers’ ideas, beliefs and values encompassing the different factors involved in education, have been referred to as teachers’ beliefs (Pajares, 1992). When beliefs towards a specific object, for example, diversity inclusive education, are organised and predisposed to action, this cluster of beliefs becomes an attitude (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993).

The main components of attitude are cognitive, affective, and behavioural, indicating that attitudes concern the individual’s knowledge, feelings, and predispositions to (re)act toward a specific object (de Boer et al., 2011). When considered in relation to diversity in education, the cognitive component refers, for instance, to the teacher’s beliefs regarding the adequacy of their school to embrace diversity (for example, “I hold the belief that students with special needs should be included in mainstream schools”), the affective component to teacher’s emotions (for example, “I am worried that students with behavioural issues may disrupt the classroom environment”), whereas the behavioural component pertains to how the teacher is inclined to behave in relation to a specific scenario (for example, “I can offer afternoon activities to support non-native speaking students”). According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 2001), teachers’ attitudes play a role in determining their actual behaviour, insofar as attitudes are one of the factors influencing the intentions to perform it (for example, positive attitudes are likely to result in more open and welcoming behaviours, while negative attitudes are more likely to lead to avoiding and/or rejecting behaviours; see the box below for examples related to Alex’s case). Attitudes towards diversity inclusive education have been found to be influenced by a wide range of factors (Avramidis & Norwich, 2002), including years of teaching experience and higher perceived self-efficacy, which you will learn more about in Section 2.5 (Kunz et al., 2021).

Another distinction worth mentioning here is between explicit and implicit attitudes. Explicit attitudes are conscious and generally overtly reported. However, especially in relation to sensitive issues, such as diversity inclusive education, people might have opinions diverging from mainstream social norms. In this case, individuals might be more reluctant to overtly express what they think. For instance, a teacher might think “Dealing with diversity is so stressful that I would prefer to work in a special educational provision system rather than in an inclusive one,” but might feel that this would not be well received by colleagues and supervisors. In contrast, implicit attitudes are automatic reactions to an object, which can be observed even in absence of the individual’s awareness (Glock et al., 2019). We will see in Section 2.4 an example of how implicit attitudes affect teachers’ practice.

The individuals’ existing attitudes can influence the way they perceive and interpret new information. Indeed, to simplify information and make rapid decisions, individuals often activate cognitive patterns that align with their pre-existing beliefs and attitudes. These systematic patterns of thinking are known as biases (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). Although biases allow people to handle the high amount and complexity of information in a time and resource efficient way, they can nevertheless lead to oversimplification and generalisation and thus open the doors to stereotypes and prejudices (Haselton et al., 2005).

Teachers, just as everybody else, may apply their generalised knowledge or stereotypical beliefs to their students, often without being fully aware of that (Glock et al., 2019; Turetsky et al., 2021). Examples include the assumption that students in culturally diverse schools are more prone to disruptive behaviours, that students with low socioeconomic background are less likely to be high achievers, that girls are more likely to excel in verbal tasks and boys in STEM subjects, or that all students have a canonical family. Teachers’ misconceptions about their students can significantly influence their interaction with them, the assessments and evaluations, as well as achievement expectations. Research shows that teachers’ biases have a profound impact on students’ actual learning outcomes and can contribute to the perpetuation of educational disparities (Pit-ten & Glock, 2019). However, while teachers’ attitudes towards diversity typically have a lasting impact on their behaviour, it is crucial to recognise that these attitudes can nevertheless be modified through targeted CPD activities (Kunz et al., 2021).

The relation between belief systems and CPD engagement

Teachers’ beliefs towards diversity influence their motivation to take part and commit to CPD initiatives (Liu et al., 2019). Additionally, any CPD approach, by employing specific practices, establishes particular ways of knowing as more significant than others (Musanti & Pence, 2010). Hence, it is unsurprising to witness resistance among teachers when it comes to engaging in CPD initiatives (Musanti & Pence, 2010). The sources of resistance are usually classified as individual resistance and political resistance (Musanti & Pence, 2010). Individual resistance reflects the conflict stemming from a discrepancy between the expectations or requirements placed on the teachers and how those align with the teachers’ needs and evaluations. For example, teachers may perceive ad-hoc training on certain topics as relevant to only a subset of the category, leading them to implicitly question its relevance (for example “It is not my thing”, “Why should I be involved? This doesn’t apply to me”). Political resistance instead refers to the resilient act of reclaiming a sense of agency (“I didn’t choose this, what isn’t my voice heard when it comes to planning and designing such initiatives?”).

Teachers’ questioning implicitly challenges the perceived necessity of such training, which, in addition to pre-existing attitudes toward diversity inclusive education, might undermine the initiative as a whole. Resistance can nonetheless offer an opportunity of reflection on the scopes and aims of CPD initiatives (Walter et al., 2023). Even individuals who are “on board” may still have questions or concerns about CPD initiatives (for example, “Do I have the necessary skills to embark on this?”, “What am I going to be exposed to?” “What am I supposed to learn?”). Some good practices help to promote resisting teachers’ compliance with the proposed activities. For instance, establishing a psychologically safe environment, where group members feel safe to share and contribute, without any fear of being judged, is of crucial importance (Edmonson & Lei, 2014).

Transformative learning

Given the sensitive nature of the topics involved, it is highly recommended to adopt a comprehensive approach when designing and delivering CPD activities aimed at fostering diversity within the educational environment. Two methods have been demonstrated to robustly mediate professional practice improvement (Cole et al., 2022):

• Critical reflection: refers to the practice of applying critical thinking to personal experiences, while at the same time taking some distance from them. When teachers engage in critical reflection, they ask themselves questions to extract meaning from the experienced events (Cole et al., 2022).
• Reflective practice: it arises from the recognition of a disparity between a new experience and the existing beliefs and knowledge one holds. This awareness prompts teachers to reframe their implicit assumptions about practice, in search of a new and more promising course of action, eventually bridging the gap between theory and practice (Russell, 2018).

How are critical reflection and reflective practices implemented in CPD? How can CPD make the best use of them? According to some authors, the learning potentials of critical reflection and reflective practices in CPD can be fully realised within a transformative learning experience framework. This framework promotes a profound structural shift in thinking, as opposed to a superficial additive learning approach, where most existing beliefs remain unchanged (Wall, 2018). What does this mean in practical terms? This will be addressed in the following section.

Cognitive dissonance as a trigger of behavioural change

When considering the cases of two of Alex’s teachers; one, in an attempt to compliment him, might exclaim “If someone had made me guess where you live, I wouldn’t have bet on that neighbourhood!” Another one tends to constantly monitor him with the corner of her eye while in class. Both teachers might perceive themselves as treating Alex and the other students equally. However, with their behaviours, they are acting on their implicit attitudes, covertly denying or misvaluing Alex’s background, or implicitly making assumptions about his trustworthiness and compliance to the norms. Behaviours like these qualify as microaggressions, acts that subtly communicate disrespect, degradation, and/or hostility that are directed against people in marginalised groups, either intentionally or unintentionally (Lilienfeld, 2017; Steketee et al., 2021). If questioned about their action, these teachers might say that they are genuinely complimenting him or devoting the same amount of attention to all pupils. This might nevertheless induce a conflict, a cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957), between their overt egalitarian attitudes and covert biassed intentions.

According to cognitive dissonance theory, the inconsistency between what people know or think and new pieces of information makes them experience a state of psychological tension. In the attempt at alleviating the emerging psychological discomfort, they aim to make their beliefs and new information align, by either modifying their existing beliefs or by assimilating the new information, so that the discrepancy can be reduced (McFalls & Cobb-Roberts, 2001). Remember we mentioned the concept of a transformative learning experience process early on? CPD activities that foster a sense of cognitive dissonance in the teachers, just like the one experienced by Alex’s teachers, facilitate transformative learning (Thompson & Zeuli, 1999). To make the transformative learning experience more likely to be effective, other elements should be incorporated:

• Creating a structured environment that allows teachers enough time, the appropriate contexts and support, to allow teachers to reflect on and reconcile the conflict they experience.
• Incorporating activities that both stimulate and resolve this cognitive dissonance directly within teachers’ daily teaching situations and practices, ensuring they are not isolated from their classroom work.
• Empowering teachers to cultivate a fresh set of teaching approaches that align with their newly acquired understanding. This will enable them to effectively implement their newfound knowledge in the classroom, thus developing a repertoire of practices that are in harmony with their revised perspectives.
• Engaging and supporting teachers in an ongoing, continuous cycle of improvement and growth, providing them with the necessary guidance.

When we refer back to Alex’s teachers’ example, becoming aware of the biases being held and that some behaviours can be perceived as microaggressions act as the starting point to enable a progressive behavioural change. This, in turn, stimulates Alex’s teachers to monitor their behaviour, so that potential microaggressive acts can be detected before being enacted, and thus be progressively avoided. In more general terms, practices that are implemented within the educational settings feedback and become a matter of further reflection and, in turn, nourish further reflection, so that they are constantly improved and made more effective. Through this circular process, teachers become more responsible to their own learning, and more accountable as professionals (Walter et al., 2023; Yost, 2006), and eventually develop a higher perceived self-efficacy, a concept you will learn more about in the following section.

 Teachers’ self-efficacy

The term “teachers’ self-efficacy” defines the complex set of beliefs teachers have about their capabilities to effectively handle the tasks, obligations, and challenges related to their profession (Lazarides & Warner, 2020). According to Tschannen-Moran and collaborators (1998), two cognitive processes contribute to the emergence and development of teachers’ self-efficacy. The first process involves examining the task and its context, identifying the challenges of teaching and weighing them against the resources at hand. The second process involves evaluating one’s own skills and acknowledging any areas where they fall short in relation to the task. Different sources of information contribute to these processes (Bandura, 1977):

• Mastery experiences: outcomes of direct personal action (for example, successes enforce self-efficacy, failures weaken it).
• Vicarious experiences: observation of others and comparison with one’s own experience. Useful when novel and challenging situations are faced, where personal accomplishments are still lacking or not yet mastered.
• Verbal persuasion: performance feedback from a supervisor or a colleague.
• Somatic/affective states: emotional or physiological reactions.

Interestingly, there is a reciprocal relationship between the information sources of self-efficacy, their interpretation by the individual, and the resulting self-efficacy itself (Bandura, 1977). This means that, if teachers believe that their performance is being successful, this belief will likely result in the enhancement of their self-efficacy perception and, in turn, contribute to their expectation of future success, thus establishing a sort of virtuous self-fulfilling prophecy (Ulbricht et al., 2022). The cyclical nature of teachers’ self-efficacy implies that, whenever a task is successfully completed, the positive outcome contributes to reinforce one’s self-efficacy beliefs and, in turn, good practice (Gutentag et al., 2018; Saglam et al., 2023). CPD can play a vital role in addressing the challenges of diversity while simultaneously enhancing teachers’ self-efficacy. By improving teachers’ self-beliefs and confidence, significant progress can be made in effectively managing diverse classrooms and overcoming the associated challenges (Lazarides & Warner, 2020). The methods used to achieve this goal will be the topic of the next section.

Useful Strategies for Effective CPD for Diversity Sensitivity for Teachers

Teaching requires continuous learning and adaptation to new methodologies, concepts, and topics (Desimone, 2009; Kyndt et al., 2016). To adapt to societal and educational changes toward diversity, instructors must increase their knowledge, question their beliefs, develop their skills, and reflect on their instructional practices (Brookfield, 2002). This necessitates the creation of professional learning environments for instructors that incorporate reflection, interaction, and collaboration as essential CPD strategies. These methods – the “How” and “What” components of the model presented in Section 1.1 – will be described in detail within this section.

The Role of Reflection

The Role of Interaction

As learners of all ages and backgrounds, teachers are also social learners (Wardford, 2011). They learn and develop through interacting with their fellow teachers, exchanging ideas, engaging in valuable discussions, and listening to different perspectives within their teacher community (Kyndt et al., 2016). Therefore, integrating elements of interaction in all forms of teacher professional development matters for their effective learning (Postholm, 2012).

Interaction plays an essential role in CPD for teachers in becoming more diversity sensitive. Interaction provides teachers with opportunities to engage with diverse backgrounds, allowing them to deepen their understanding of diversity, the intersectionality of differences, and ways to make classrooms more inclusive and safer learning environments for their students. Interaction enables instructors to engage in experiential learning in which they actively participate in discussions and simulations that promote understanding and empathy for diverse perspectives. By interacting with individuals from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and identities, instructors can acquire first-hand experiences and insights that heighten their sensitivity to diversity. This could be done by first learning about the teacher community’s diversity (Postholm, 2012).

The Role of Collaboration

Delivery Modes

CPD programs vary in their forms depending on the available resources, the needs of the learners, the context, and the learning culture in the schools. Based on their needs and available options, teachers may enrol in one or more formats to continue their learning and development on any subject including diversity sensitivity and inclusive educational practices. These modes of delivery can be listed under four main categories: short training programs, mentoring, team-based learning, and professional learning communities (PLC).

Short training programs. Short training programs include formats like seminars, webinars, one-shot presentations, and courses (Waitoller & Artiles, 2013). The content is designed and prepared by experts for the teachers. They are the most common forms of professional development activities for teachers as they are practical and easily organised. They provide structured and focused learning opportunities for CPD on diversity. They are ideal for introducing new ideas, concepts, or topics on diversity sensitivity. However, they are mostly short in duration and there is not much room for interaction and collaboration among teachers in such formats (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017).

Mentoring. Another mode of delivery is mentoring, in which teachers work with more experienced colleagues or academics from the field (Hudson, 2013; Kennedy, 2005). Through mentoring, experienced educators provide individualised support and feedback to less experienced teachers to improve their practices (Anderson & Shannon, 1988). Teachers have opportunities to make individual plans, practice what they learn, and reflect on it with their mentors. It allows critical thinking and reflecting on the knowledge, beliefs, attitude and practices of the teachers on diversity sensitivity and inclusive practices (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Santoro & Forghani-Arani, 2015).

Team-based learning. In team-based learning, some teachers from the same school work in small teams on new concepts, skills, and practices (Coolahan, 2002). These are usually organised by the professional development units of the schools and experts present the newly introduced content. Team-based learning makes use of collaborative learning experiences, by encouraging active participation, self- and co-reflection, and cooperation of teachers (Thompson & McKelvy, 2007).

Professional Learning Communities. Lastly, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are collaborative structures that are designed for and by teachers of the school community (Keung, 2009). They are often built around a real need or a challenge that teachers have been experiencing; therefore, allowing them to get together, devise a plan to meet their own needs, and collaborate on reaching and sharing knowledge (Hord, 2009). Through PLCs, teachers take collective responsibility for their own learning along with their colleagues’ learning, work on problems they bring from practice, and take on new approaches to transform themselves and the classroom culture they create for their students (Antinluoma et al., 2021; Ohi et al., 2019). PLCs can be formed by teachers within and outside the school community, making use of available resources, and inviting experts and other teachers who are willing to work on the same topic (Opfer & Pedder, 2011). As they are initiated by teachers and allow space for the agency, contribution, and needs of the participating teachers, PLCs represent a sustainable model for CPD (Borko, 2004; King & Newmann, 2000). We will deal more specifically with CPD sustainability in the next section.

How can we make continuous professional development sustainable?

Research shows that many CPD activities have a positive impact on teachers (Bottiani et al., 2018; Parkhouse et al., 2019). However, effectiveness is usually measured using self-reported data of teachers. In other words, asking teachers if they feel like they developed in a positive way after a CPD activity (Romijn et al., 2021). Though it is great that teachers feel CPD has an impact, it is also necessary to measure this impact with more objective measures, such as classroom observations or student development measures (like test scores). Ultimately, we want CPD to change teachers’ behaviour and practices to have an impact on students’ development and well-being. As discussed earlier, the relationship between what teachers think or feel and what they actually do is not that straightforward. Therefore, just investigating if teachers think they changed is not enough.

Unfortunately, regarding the topic of diversity sensitivity, there is less research on what CPD activities have a positive impact on students’ development and what activities are effective in the long run (Romijn et al., 2021). However, the consensus seems to be that short training, which has a rather individual and passive character, is not the most effective form for sustainable change. The impact of this training is likely to be very limited (one teacher, one classroom) and often fades over time, with teachers going back to their old habits. What is even worse, is that teachers and schools seem to invest most of their time and resources in short training CPD (Lumpe, 2007). Therefore, the school system needs a shift towards more sustainable forms of CPD. To achieve this sustainable change, we should ensure that CPD is embeddedwithin the wider context.

Embedded continuous professional development

Embedded means that CPD should not stand on its own in terms of time, people and context. If CPD is properly embedded, the impact is generally bigger and less likely to fade over time.

Time. CPD activities that have a higher intensity are more likely to be effective. The impact of a single workshop in one afternoon generally has a smaller impact than a multi-week training program. Thus, teachers should preferably engage in CPD activities that ask for a bigger time investment or should search for opportunities to intensify short CPD activities. For instance, after following a single workshop, one could schedule monthly moments to take the time to discuss the content of the workshops with colleagues, to reflect on how well newly implemented practices work, or to refresh the acquired knowledge.

People. CPD activities that target individual teachers, or the individual learning process are less likely to yield a big impact. Individual CPD can take many forms, from reading a book by yourself to reflecting on a video of your practice. Even if CPD is facilitated in groups, for instance when you complete training with fellow professionals from other schools, the focus of the activity is often still on the development of the individual teacher. Individual CPD activities can be very effective, especially when they are intensive and well-adjusted to the teachers’ context (like coaching-on-the-job). However, a change in one teacher will only affect a small group of students within the school. Once that teacher leaves their position at that particular school, the impact on these students is lost. Therefore, it is important that CPD activities are team-based. In other words, multiple members of the same school team should be engaged. These could be other teachers but also support staff. By sharing knowledge and good practices within a team, the impact of the CPD is likely to be more sustainable.

Context. There is no such thing as the perfect ‘one size fits all’ CPD activity. That is because the context in which teachers work are very different. If one training was very effective for one teacher, this does not mean that the exact same training will work equally well for another teacher. Properly embedded CPD considers who the teachers are, what their context looks like, and how the CPD outcome can be implemented in their classroom.

This calls for a needs assessment. Several studies show that when there is a mismatch between the CPD activity and what the teachers within their context need, CPD is more likely to fail (Spies et al., 2017). A needs assessment can take on several forms. Teachers could formulate their own learning goals or write down what problems they encounter. Also, other stakeholders in the school, like support staff, students or parents can provide useful information on what CPD is needed in the school. Besides such subjective measures of needs, information could also be gathered by more objective standards. For instance, by using observation tools or questionnaires to measure teachers’ diversity sensitivity, self-efficacy, or prejudice.

Important conditions to create embeddedness

Creating embedded CPD in schools is easier said than done. Only if the conditions are right, teachers can engage in embedded CPD. This comes down to four important considerations: the school’s resources, structure, culture and policies.

School resources. Teachers need sufficient resources to develop their school resources. The most important resource they need is time. In many countries, the school system is under pressure leaving teachers little time to engage in CPD activities. Teachers need time inside and outside of the classroom. CPD is not well embedded if the school cannot facilitate teachers with sufficient hours to learn new knowledge, prepare activities, discuss practices and perspectives with colleagues, observe each other, and reflect on your development. CPD is not properly embedded if the school curriculum is so full that it leaves teachers with no room to try out new training within the classroom.

Besides time, other important resources are materials and external expertise. Imagine a teacher who wishes to improve their skills in supporting neurodivergent learners. On a teacher forum they read about these special Pictionary boards that can help teachers to better communicate with their students. If the school cannot provide the necessary materials for this, the teacher is hindered in their professional development (Biasutti et al., 2019). The use of external expertise has a similar story. We cannot expect teachers to be knowledgeable and skilled for every form of diversity as soon as they finish their initial teacher training. To support their development, they might need external expertise. If the school does not have funds to hire expert coaches or to send teachers to specific training programs, CPD stagnates.

 School structure. As discussed earlier, CPD is preferably team-based on a regular basis. This is easier to achieve when there are structures within the school context that support regular evaluation, communication and collaboration within the team. Useful structures are for instance school wide study days in which the whole team takes the time to evaluate the schools’ performance and to decide on shared development goals. Another example is to assign buddies that can observe and feedback each other every now and then or to create smaller sub teams within the school that can meet up on a regular basis to reflect together on a specific topic. Or (in)formal boards of teachers, parents and students (either combined or in separate boards) with the explicit task to evaluate the schools’ quality every year. Furthermore, we should not forget that the staff in a school is more than a collection of teachers. It is important that support staff, such as special needs educators, care coordinators and those with managerial positions (like the school director) are included in these structures as well (Romijn et al., 2021).

School culture. Not just the formal structure, but also the more informal school culture is worth considering. As CPD should have a continuous character, teachers would benefit from a school culture that supports learning and development. Teachers should be supported by managers and colleagues to engage in CPD activities. Moreover, the school should be a safe environment in which teachers feel comfortable to reflect on themselves, to give feedback to others and to invent and try out new ways of working. A school culture where there is strong leadership but also a shared responsibility for development has a positive impact on the school quality (De Jong, 2022). This means that teachers try to motivate each other to develop continuously and that they collectively combat resistance to change. Moreover, it is about every teacher feeling like they can learn something from their colleagues, but also that they bring something to the table themselves. For instance, teachers with more experience are usually more skilled, while newly trained teachers tend to have more up to date pedagogical knowledge (Alkharusi et al., 2011).

 School policies. Finally, a school is not without limits and all teachers must navigate their work and development within certain boundaries. There are regulations and policies they need to abide by. These policies can be created by the school or school board, but also by local or even national entities. CPD activities are ineffective if they are not aligned with these policies and teachers lack empowerment to implement new ways of working (Brown et al, 2016; Daniel & Pray, 2017).

Imagine a teacher that notices their multilingual students struggle with their literacy skills. This teacher is looking for ways to support their students and they find an online seminar that gives the teacher new knowledge on how literacy skills develop in multilingual students. The teacher learns that encouraging them to make use of all their language knowledge (not just their knowledge of the majority language) is beneficial for these students. If the school has a policy to actively ban the use of minority languages in the classroom, the teacher will not be able to enact on their newly gained knowledge, hindering the teacher’s (and students’) development. Thus, CPD should take these boundaries into account if we want change to be sustainable. Again, including key persons (like school directors) is crucial here as they often have the necessary power to push boundaries.

 Creating optimal conditions bottom-up and top-down

As a final remark, the described conditions above are created by both top-down as well as bottom-up processes. For instance, school leaders should take the responsibility to provide sufficient resources and create a school structure and culture that supports CPD. Simultaneously, teachers play a major role in the school culture and can take agency in shaping the organisation structure as well. Moreover, they can search for creative ways to engage in CPD, even when resources are limited. This combination of top-down and bottom up even applies at policy level. Policies that heavily support the development of diversity sensitivity have a strong top-down impact on teachers’ CPD (DeJaeghere & Cao, 2009). CPD can be hindered when the policies themselves are not inclusive or (implicitly) create inequalities (Leeman & Van Koeven, 2019). In that case teachers should try to include key persons in the schools to find ways to push the boundaries and create a new reality from the bottom up.

Conclusion

Local contexts

You have been on this reading and reflection journey together with your colleagues in your school. Thank you for noticing the reality and needs of your students along with your professional development needs as teachers. We hope that the examples and questions have helped you relate the information with your experience and practices.

Your CPD journey only begins here. There is so much to learn about diversity in our schools. Your CPD journey with your community is going to be an enriching, ongoing process as long as you follow the essential strategies for teacher learning, pay attention to the contextual factors in your school and community, continuously reflect on your thinking and acting and be committed to become sensitive to diversity in educational settings.

    Here are some resources that might help you. Select one of these links to read and maybe share with your colleagues: If you want to do further reading on the topic, here are some resources that might help you. Feel free to look for more and share them with your colleagues:

OECD – Educating Teachers for Diversity: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/educating-teachers-for-diversity_9789264079731-en

UNESCO Online Course on Equitable and Inclusive Education: https://bangkok.unesco.org/content/unesco-launches-professional-development-online-course-equitable-and-inclusive-education

OECD – The Lives of Teachers in Diverse Classrooms:

https://one.oecd.org/document/EDU/WKP(2019)6/En/pdf

University of Antwerpen – Diversity Sensitive Teaching:

https://medialibrary.uantwerpen.be/files/2848/545b0db1-332a-4554-af2b-1eb574ba8f55.pdf?_gl=1*wwm1kv*_ga*MjA5NDM5MTYwMy4xNjg3NDQ1NTY0*_ga_WVC36ZPB1Y*MTY4NzcwMjgwOS4yLjAuMTY4NzcwMjgzMS4zOC4wLjA.&_ga=2.145221620.1188588363.1687702810-2094391603.1687445564

    ATU – Intersectionality Guide:

https://www.atu.ie/sites/default/files/2022-10/Intersectionality%20Guide.pdf

Literature

About the authors

name: Fetiye Erbil

Dr. Fetiye Erbil is a researcher and a lecturer at Bogazici University. She completed her PhD at the Learning Sciences Program of Bogazici University. Her research interests include social-emotional learning, teacher professional development, children’s rights and participation and educational policies.

name: Valeria Occelli

Valeria Occelli is a lecturer in psychology at Edge Hill University. Her work focuses on human sensory and cognitive processes, and how they are affected by individual variability in personality traits, beliefs, as well as neurodevelopmental conditions. She is interested in the promotion of inclusive practices in higher education and scientific research environments.

name: Bodine Romijn

Bodine Romijn is a researcher and lecturer at Utrecht University. Her work focuses on equality, diversity and inclusion in early childhood and primary education. She studies professionals’ intercultural competences and the role organisations play in supporting and facilitating their staff in implementing culturally sensitive and inclusive practices.