CPD for International School Teachers: What Counts and Where to Find It

Quick answer

CPD, continuing professional development, counts as any structured learning activity that produces evidence of what you learned and how it changed your practice. That includes online courses, live webinars, whole-staff training days, coaching, peer observation, conference attendance, and structured self-reflection tied to a real classroom change. What it doesn’t include: passive reading with no reflection attached, or a certificate for something you never actually applied.

Key facts

CIS (Council of International Schools) and other accreditation bodies look for evidence of systematic, whole-staff professional development, not just individual completion certificates.

The UK’s Education Endowment Foundation, in its Effective Professional Development report (2021), found that what makes PD work is a set of underlying mechanisms, such as goal-setting, feedback and modelling, rather than the format it takes. Activities like coaching and peer observation are effective when they deliver those mechanisms with genuine follow-through, and the report advises balancing several mechanisms rather than leaning on any one.

There’s no single global CPD accreditation standard. Recognition depends on your specific school, its accreditation body, and, for IB-specific roles, the IB’s own Category system on top of that.

What counts as CPD

Formal courses and workshops count if they produce a completion record. Coaching and peer observation count when they’re structured and reflective, because that’s how they deliver the mechanisms the EEF found actually change practice, chiefly feedback and modelling followed by a real attempt to act on them. Conference attendance counts, though the evidence bar is higher, pairing it with a written reflection strengthens it. Self-directed reading counts only when it’s structured with a specific takeaway and a change attempted afterward.

How CPD hours get tracked

There’s no single global standard. Your specific school and accreditation body (CIS, WASC, MSA) set the actual requirement, and IB-specific roles have their own category system on top of that. The most common failure point isn’t a lack of CPD, it’s a lack of tracking.

Where to find CPD that counts

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Safeguarding Terminology Explained!, free: https://eduspark.world/courses/safeguarding-terminology-explained

Five Key Inquiry Strategies, free: https://eduspark.world/courses/five-key-inquiry-strategies

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FAQ

Does conference attendance count as CPD on its own?

Attendance alone rarely satisfies an accreditor’s evidence bar. Pairing it with a short written reflection strengthens it considerably.

Does peer observation count as CPD even without a certificate?

Yes. What matters is not the certificate but whether it changes practice. The Education Endowment Foundation found that mechanisms like feedback and modelling are what make professional development effective, and structured peer observation and coaching are among the best ways to deliver them, as long as the teacher acts on what comes out of it.

Sources

Education Endowment Foundation, Effective Professional Development guidance report (2021): educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk

Council of International Schools, International Accreditation Standards and Indicators: cois.org

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