Creating Collaborative CPD: Learning Markets, Peer Pods, and Table Talks
For too long, CPD in schools has been dominated by the same tired formats: a lecture-style presentation, a packed agenda, and very little time to reflect, let alone apply what’s been learned. But as schools look for more meaningful ways to support teacher development, a quiet revolution is underway.
At Newham College, Claudia Boerescu led a shift toward collaborative, teacher-led CPD. Instead of delivering knowledge top-down, the focus moved to creating the right conditions for teachers to reflect, share, and learn together. The format was simple: learning markets, peer pods, and table talks. The impact was profound.
Imagine an open space where teachers move between stands, engaging with colleagues around themes like adaptive teaching, inclusion, or digital tools. There’s no slide deck. No one is “presenting.” Instead, the learning is peer-to-peer, curiosity-led, and highly relevant.
These learning markets gave staff the freedom to choose what interested them and encouraged a culture of professional agency. By removing the pressure of formal delivery, teachers opened up, sharing challenges as well as successes. And because each ‘market’ was linked to core teaching standards, there was still strategic coherence underneath the informality.
After engaging in the learning market, staff gathered in small groups, “peer pods”, to reflect on what they’d heard. Conversations were guided by simple prompts: What inspired you? What challenged your thinking? What will you try next?
These ideas were captured directly on paper tablecloths, visual, low-tech, and honest. The insights were then shared back via Padlet and used to inform further development. No formal write-up required. No tick-boxes. Just real thinking, made visible.
At the end of the year, the same idea returned in the form of roundtable talks, where staff who had led innovations during the year hosted informal CPD sessions to discuss their projects. It was a tea party with a purpose, and teachers left feeling valued, energised, and more connected to the culture of improvement.
Collaborative CPD like this doesn’t just feel good, it works. When teachers are given time and space to talk about their practice in a supportive setting, they develop deeper insights, stronger confidence, and a greater willingness to innovate. It builds community. It builds trust. And it builds momentum for improvement that top-down sessions rarely achieve.
But to make these moments count, they need to be captured, not formalised, but recognised. That’s where SchooliP comes in.
SchooliP allows schools and colleges to record, reflect on, and celebrate all types of professional development, not just the formal. Staff can log insights from peer pods or table talks as CPD evidence, link them to individual development goals, and reflect on their impact.
Leaders can use this to:
Track engagement in informal CPD formats
Spot patterns of innovation across departments
Celebrate and share grassroots good practice
Inform future CPD planning with genuine insight from the classroom
In short, SchooliP gives structure to what works, without making it rigid.
If you’re ready to move beyond the PowerPoint and into professional development that actually feels professional, it’s time to embrace collaborative CPD. And with SchooliP, every voice, idea, and table talk becomes part of your whole-school improvement journey.
