In any move, therefore, away from generic 'recipe for all occasions' CPD towards school-based CPD linking initiatives to the individual needs of each teacher at a school, a number of factors need to be
considered: The needs, wants and aspirations of the teachers that are to be achieved; There has to be a greater recognition of the fact that the key to educational reform is to be aware of and to use the teachers' emotions in a positive way towards successful implementation of the innovation; What we use to enable the children to grow and develop enables teachers to grow and develop as well; The climate of the school affects how teachers perceive CPD; Leaders and followers should be able to raise each other‘s' motivation; Although teachers should be encouraged to problem solve and make decisions based upon their emotions, they also need to be open to suggestions for coping with concerns; Such problem solving is enhanced when leaders and followers understand that different individuals act on different emotional backgrounds and that none of these backgrounds is inferior to any other.
Businesses and industry may successfully implement uniform approaches ('corporate strategy'), but reforms based on uniformity in the educational system often fail (Elmore and McLaughlinin, 1988), though this is rarely acknowledged as far as the introduction of government initiatives are concerned! What needs to be considered are follow-up sessions, based in school, taking on board the
individuality of the teachers so that the CPD facilitator can more specifically tailor the learning to the teachers.
In regards to the possible role of emotional responses in the provision of teachers' CPD, which therefore raises the emphasis on CPD designed for a particular school, we can see that there are three areas for consideration:
First, in recognising that most CPD programmes neglect the emotions of teaching, we should also be aware that problems can arise from exclusive emphasis on emotions when considering CPD
programmes, so getting the balance right between the two is crucial; in addition, to make the CPD more effective for the individual we also have to understand that they will have an emotional response to any given topic or initiative and that this response may well change over the teacher's professional life cycle (Huberman, 1995, p193-224); And, finally, at whatever stage the teacher is at, there is a need to ensure that like-minded people with similar concerns (and who are also trying to make similar changes) are there "to provide support, help [and] comparison for emotional and behavioural responses and other assistance " (Gatchel, in Parkinson and Colman, 1995 p86).
In order to manage change, the trainers need to be aware of the emotional implications of such areas (as outlined above) as they are helping the teachers. By basing this training in school, there are a number of advantages. First, teachers' development must allow for the raising of fears and concerns along the lines of those outlined in the section on emotional confidence and ICT, something few teachers would be comfortable doing in a large, anonymous, peer group.
Secondly, there is a feeling of control over what is happening as the CPD will be based upon unique knowledge of the participants. Findings from research by such as Elmore and McLaughlin (1988) show that, implementation of a new initiative must be shaped and integrated in a way that best suits
Third, the CPD facilitator and the school's CPD coordinator will have explored and shared their knowledge. Finally, a team of colleagues allows for criticism /doubts to be aired in a constructive atmosphere (Day and Leitch, 2001, p29).
There are, however, some areas requiring caution. First, although the school-based approach gives teachers a greater sense of relevancy, it can also give rise to anxiety about becoming an active participant in the process (Schon, 1995, p300/303). Secondly, new initiatives may be felt to threaten existing interest and identities - but without consideration of such possible threats, according to Louis and Miles (1990), the initiative may well be considered inconsequential and marginalized by the teacher as having no immediate impact on themselves and the implementation may fail. Third, although change programmes are more successful when the change is gradual (Fullan and
Hargreaves, 1992a), often there is not this luxury as initiatives are implemented at the same time as the training is taking place and fourthly, many schools with small enrolment numbers have
restrictions on the availability of collaborative and 'down time' which would allow teachers to discuss implementation of initiatives with their colleagues.
Although provision for in-school CPD is now only limited by how much each school is willing to
buy back into the LEA's (or other providers‘) advisory programme, there is not likely to be a whole
scale move to school-based CPDs for national initiatives. The numbers would be just too large and the time frame too unrealistic. What schools can do, then, is have their leaders listen to their teachers to discover what emotional background they have for the subject; use some time resource to work with them in such areas as Performance Management or their own CPD programme as a follow-up to the generic one – an CPD that is designed by the staff, for the staff - and move forward in small
steps. Leaders need to be aware that when dealing with teachers' emotions, simple good arguments may not be enough to win over the reluctant teacher, they must have the ability to sense what other kinds of appeals will persuade them and that can only be done through an understanding of the total teacher. Once we have reached that understanding, perhaps, then, teachers will be able to take on board, with greater confidence, not just the ICT initiatives which are in place now, but the others which are bound to follow
In the long run, the current situation of providing batch-CPD courses is likely to continue for as long as there is a perceived need to have standardized results published, for we are still looking at the
―most efficient, calculable, predictable and controllable process‖ (Ritzer, 1966) to meet those
government targets, and that can't be done if trainers do not consider creating school-based follow-up sessions. With so little current research on the role emotions can play in CPD provision, further studies to consider why teachers have such emotional responses to ICT and how CPD providers can best address these concerns is needed. Heads and ICT coordinators need to be made more aware of
the concept of ‗emotional intelligence‘ and how best reluctant members of staff can be lead along
the road of ICT competency and confidence.