LOCAL education recruitment agency teams up with Gloucestershire Learning Alliance to provide professional development opportunities for local teachers.

In response to the Government's recent changes to teacher pay regulations, which replace time-based pay increases with performance-based pay which take effect next year, education recruitment specialists, Classpeople are ahead of the game, taking the initiative to ensure that supply teachers in the region don't get left out of essential Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

Recruitment of the very best teachers is crucial to schools, and yet if supply teachers - who vitally cover for absence and sick leave for permanent staff - don't have access to the latest professional training and development, they risk slipping down the pay-scales or, worse still, losing out on work opportunities completely.

Classpeople - who have been short-listed for best small business in the forthcoming Gloucestershire Business Awards - who see it as vital that supply teachers don't get left behind, have taken the initiative of linking up with Gloucestershire Learning Alliance (a multi-academy trust that brings together local Gloucestershire schools Bishop's Cleeve Primary Academy, Rowanfield Junior School and Springbank Primary Academy) to provide quality training for teachers, in addition to a subsidised loyalty points system - funded by Classpeople - to help teachers pay for their CPD.

Each CPD session provides teachers with skills necessary for them to develop their careers further. Workshop activities combine presentations and discussions with practical activities and best practice teaching observation sessions.

The first CPD session takes place this Tuesday10th September at Rowanfield Junior School with the course focusing on ensuring good outcomes for pupils. There will be two subsequent sessions this term that any teacher can sign up to as well as additional sessions in the following terms. It is Classpeople's aim to fully embed CPD into the tradition of supply teacher training and recruitment in the UK to ensure both teachers are given the opportunity to develop their skills and maximise their employability in light of the recent changes to their pay scales.

For more information about Classpeople and the GLA's Career Professional Development Sessions, visit Classpeople website: www.classpeople.co.uk