🎙️ Today's the day. Autonomy vs. Accountability: Ending the CPD Tug of War is live at 4pm. Dr Chris Baker frames the challenge. SJ Eastwood from North Cambridge Academy shares what it actually looks like to make this shift in a real school. If you're joining us tonight — see you there. 💙 If you haven't registered yet, there's still time. Can't make it? Sign up anyway and receive the recording. 🔗 lnkd.in/eJMGWRzN #CPD #TeacherDevelopment #ProfessionalLearning #SchoolLeadership

One week to go. Most schools feel the same tension with CPD. Tighten it too far and teachers end up following instructions rather than growing. Loosen it and professional development becomes disconnected, hard to track, and difficult to build on. The schools getting this right are not choosing a side. They are building a CPD model shaped around their own vision, their own frameworks, and their own definition of what good looks like in the classroom. That is exactly what we are exploring in our free online session, Autonomy vs. Accountability: Ending the CPD Tug of War. Dr Chris Baker is joined by SJ Eastwood, Assistant Principal at North Cambridge Academy (Meridian Trust), who will share how their school made this shift: what changed for staff and leadership, and what it looks like day to day. 📅 Tuesday 9 June, 4:00 to 5:00pm BST 💻 Free, online via Zoom Reserve your place: bit.ly/4fSEgUc

💥 We are delighted to announce that SJ Eastwood from North Cambridge Academy will be joining Dr Chris Baker on 9th June. SJ will be sharing how North Cambridge Academy built a CPD model entirely around their own vision of great teaching. Their own language. Their own frameworks. Their own definition of what good looks like in the classroom. The result: a model that holds the balance between autonomy and accountability — and staff who are actually excited about developing their practice, rather than treating CPD as a chore. That kind of specificity is rare. We think it will be worth your time. 🎟️ Reserve your place: eu1.hubs.ly/H0vv9dK0 #CPD #SchoolLeadership #TeacherDevelopment #ProfessionalLearning

520 pupils. Four campuses. Six specialist curriculum pathways. For Silverwood School, one of England's largest SEND schools, professional development at that scale meant endless diary negotiations, disrupted classrooms, and observations that felt more like inspection than support. @Teacherjosh51 rebuilt the model from scratch. Teacher choice sits at the centre: who observes you, what you want to work on, and when. A custom IRIS Connect Pathway embeds the school's codified framework so every member of staff moves through the same structured development cycle, whether they're on campus one or campus four. Video sharing replaced physical visits, which matters greatly in a SEND setting where an unfamiliar face can cause genuine dysregulation for pupils. The Challenge Partners Review 2026 noted it directly. And the principles work just as well in mainstream. Read the full case study: eu1.hubs.ly/H0vyXWx0

🛑 Every mainstream school must publish an Inclusion Strategy by 31st December🛑 The decisions about how to use your IMF allocation need to be made before summer. In 60 minutes, you'll have a clear picture of what the IMF covers, what the Inclusion Strategy must contain, and the decisions to take before the end of term. 📅 Join us on Wednesday 24th June 2026 online, for free. 🎤 Gary Aubin (Director, SENDMattersUK) on the funding and the strategy 🎤 Silverwood School on what good inclusion actually looks like in mainstream settings Live Q&A 👉 Reserve your place: eu1.hubs.ly/H0vx5N60 🔁 Tag your SENCO or SEND lead who needs to see this. #SEND #SchoolLeadership #Inclusion

Most schools implement a PD platform and ask staff to adapt to it. The Charles Dickens School (@tcdskent) in Kent did the opposite. Working with IRIS Connect, Deputy Headteacher Kristy Harrison built a bespoke coaching Pathway around the school's own priorities, language, and CPD model. Coaching prompts written in their words. WalkThrus aligned to each term's teaching focus. A shared structure that actually reflected how the school works. Want to know more? Read our new case study: irisconnect.com/uk/impact/ca…

What if PD that focuses on technique alone doesn't actually give teachers the tools they need to succeed in the classroom? @IRIS_Founder raised that question at CPD Exchange 2026, and explored what it really takes to bridge theory and practice. Watch now: youtube.com/watch?v=1_GdG6H_…

The CPD tug of war: push for consistency and you get compliance. Give too much freedom and you lose sight of progress. Dr Chris Baker on how schools are finding a way through: tickettailor.com/events/iris… #CPD #TeacherDevelopment #SchoolLeadership

That's a wrap on #CPDExchange2026. 🙌 Thought leadership from @IRIS_Founder , three school leader sessions, and our first ever CPD Design Lab. Everything was recorded. Comment below and we'll send them your way once ready. #ProfessionalLearning

Three groups at #CPDExchange2026 just built a complete CPD pathway in 90 minutes. AI-supported reflection built in. Content created in the room. Presenting them now. 📋 This is what happens when you give practitioners the tools. #CPDDesignLab

Something different this afternoon at #CPDExchange2026. Delegates voted on CPD challenges, split into groups, and are now building real working pathways from scratch using IRIS Connect tools. First ever CPD Design Lab. 🔨 #CPDDesignLab

Guy Carpenter at #CPDExchange2026: how @DudleyAcadTrust uses AI to support reflective practice across multiple schools. Not a gimmick. A genuine tool for helping teachers notice what they'd otherwise miss. #AIinEducation

Lou Elliott and Matt Smith at #CPDExchange2026: five years building a coaching culture at @DanecourtSchool . Moving from 'done to' to 'done with.' The honest account of what it actually takes. #TeacherDevelopment

The CPD Exchange 2026 is live. 🎉 Today in Manchester, school leaders and PD leads from across the IRIS Connect community are in the room to share what's actually working in teacher development. No theory disconnected from practice. Just honest conversations from people doing this work in real schools. We'll be sharing moments from the day right here. Stay tuned. 📍 #CPDExchange2026 #ProfessionalLearning #TeacherDevelopment

Lou Elliot and Matt Smith from Danecourt School are bringing one of the sharpest questions in professional learning to CPD Exchange on Friday. 🎤 How do you build real teacher agency without losing accountability? Their answer involves bespoke coaching pathways, and we think it's going to resonate. One day to go. See you there. 📷 📷

🎉 One week to go. Join Naomi Gillinson, Guy Carpenter, Lou Elliott, Matt Smith, Andrew Newell and fellow school and MAT leaders in Manchester next Friday for a day of collaborative discussion about overcoming PD hurdles 💙 We'd love to see you there. 🎫 Last tickets: eu1.hubs.ly/H0tr38L0

🏗️ There are two kinds of expertise. Routine expertise: efficient, reliable, triggered by habit. It's what makes a skilled professional fast. But when something unexpected happens, something they haven't been rehearsed for - they fall back on trial and error. Adaptive expertise: the ability to notice, interpret, and respond in the moment. To snap out of habit, read the situation, and make a decision on the fly. Teaching is one of the most complex environments humans work in. Thirty minds, all different, all learning at once. The unexpected isn't the exception - it's the whole job. And yet a lot of professional development is still designed to produce routine expertise. The right behaviours, rehearsed until they're habitual. Is that enough? 🔗 Hear Andy Newell's view: bit.ly/4c0Xoxg #TeacherDevelopment #AdaptiveExpertise #ProfessionalLearning #CPD

At last year's CPD Exchange, Tejinder Deeks' session on shifting to a personalised PD model is well worth your time. She explores what it really looks like to move away from one-size-fits-all CPD and focus on the individual needs of each teacher. 🎥 bit.ly/4m7HMLx And if you want to join us in person this year, The CPD Exchange 2026 is on 24th April in Manchester. 🎫 bit.ly/4v6mZfx

🎙️ Meet one of our CPD Exchange speakers: Guy Carpenter, Dudley Academies Trust. Guy's session, 'Seeing What Matters: AI-Supported Reflective Practice at Trust Scale', draws on real experience of embedding AI-assisted reflection across a whole trust. Lessons learned. Welcome surprises. And a vision for what comes next. If you're leading professional development at trust level, this is the kind of honest, practical account that's hard to find. 📅 24th April 2026 📍 voco, Manchester 🎫 Secure your place: bit.ly/4sR9EX4

💙 World Autism Awareness Day. For teachers working with autistic students every day, today is a moment to pause - and to find support that goes beyond awareness. Josh Hamblin, Assistant Head of Learning at Silverwood School, has written practical, evidence-informed guidance on foundational SEND practice - free to read for anyone. And if you're already an IRIS Connect customer, Josh has also built three dedicated groups on the platform covering autism provision and teaching strategies, ready for you to explore. 🔗Read the blog: eu1.hubs.ly/H0s_clp0 🔗 IRIS Connect customers — join the groups: eu1.hubs.ly/H0s_ccX0 To every teacher and support staff member working in SEND settings - thank you. The work you do matters enormously.