Trust-wide CPD Leaders' Forum

The Trust-wide CPD Leaders' Forum is a community of leaders who hold responsibility for staff professional development across Multi-Academy Trusts and families of schools in the UK and beyond. 

Our Mission is to cultivate, harvest and mobilise authentic knowledge of professional development for sustainable system-led improvement. 

The aims of the community are to: 

• Provide a hive-mind and moral support for colleagues doing similar jobs in different Trusts;

• To provide advice and support on new initiatives and strategies to improve the quality of professional development across a range of settings;

• To share resources to support colleagues in their endeavour to provide the best possible learning experiences for teachers/ colleagues in their care. 

We meet online on a monthly basis

The Trust-wide CPD Leaders' Forum was founded in October 2022 by Tracy Goodyear, Director of Teacher Development at The Mercian Trust. The group soon gained traction and popularity, and two of its earliest adopters, Sam Gibbs, Director of Curriculum and Development at Greater Manchester Education Trust and Dr Chris Baker, Director of Professional Development at Cabot Learning Federation, were appointed as Deputy Chairs for the group soon after. 

From very humble beginnings in 2022, this network has now grown notably in size and influence and now has more than 170 member Trusts from across the UK. The group's members serve more than 1 million children across the country by improving the quality of training and development of all who come into contact with children in schools.  

The Forum has attracted significant attention, and we have been proud to recently advise the government’s shadow education department on education policy development as they attempt to form a new government. In January 2024, the group launched a series of opportunities for colleagues to work collectively through Communities of Practice- offering colleagues free access to professional challenge and expertise.

Tracy, Chris and Sam have been proud to promote this group on the national stage, speaking at conferences for the Church of England Centre for Educational Leadership and at a national conference for The Confederation of School Trusts in March this 2024.  

In spite of the fact that the network could easily become a successful commercial endeavour, the group’s core values of professional generosity, professional curiosity and humility mean that the work is firmly grounded in ensuring the network provides high quality training, networking and development, at zero cost to members and therefore no cost to already squeezed and modest school and Trust budgets. 

This is a group that is proud to serve the greater good and we are so excited to see it continue to mature.