Staff development day ideas for teachers
Eight ideas for a staff development day where teachers practise something, take it into class and come back to it a few weeks later. They work with whatever focus your school has already chosen.
By Saha Spaces · Updated
Eight ideas
Plan the day the way you'd plan a lesson
A hook, an activity, time to practise and a check for understanding. If the day asks teachers to run student-centred lessons, let it be one.
Put teachers in the student's seat
Have staff do the activity you want them to use, as learners, before anyone explains it. The debrief is where it lands: what helped, where it stalled and what they would change for their own class.
Try one discussion structure with a real question
Pick a structure that gets everyone talking, such as think-pair-share, and run it on a real question about your school. Teachers leave having used it once, which makes Monday easier.
Swap a slide deck for a problem
Give teams a problem from your own school, such as a group of students who switch off in the afternoon. Ask for questions first, then evidence, then one small thing to test.
Leave real design time
Keep at least an hour for teachers to plan how they will use it next week, sitting with the people who teach the same year group or subject.
End with a commitment and a date
Each teacher writes down one thing they will try, in which class and by when. Collect them. They become the agenda for your first check-in.
Book the follow-up before the day
Put a short check-in in Week 3 and another in Week 6 in the calendar now, before the term fills them.
Make the hours easy to log
Tell staff which Standards the day addressed and how long it ran, so they can log it on the day. Since August 2024 PD doesn't need to be NESA accredited to count toward the 100 hours.
The test: what happens in Week 5
A staff day is easy to rate on the afternoon. The better question is what teachers are doing differently five weeks later. If nobody follows up, the honest answer is usually not much.
Ideas 6 and 7 do most of the work here. A written commitment and two check-ins already in the calendar give the day somewhere to go.
Where Saha fits
Saha runs hands-on PD once per term, then stays with your teachers through the term. Up to 15 opt in to coaching, with classroom evidence at 30, 60 and 90 days. Now booking Term 1 2027.
Questions
What should a staff development day include?
One focus everyone shares, time for teachers to practise it as learners, time to plan how they will use it in their own classes, and a follow-up already in the calendar.
Does a staff development day count toward NESA PD hours?
Yes, when what teachers learn relates to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Since 16 August 2024 NESA no longer splits PD into Accredited and Elective. Administrative staff meetings and programming and planning time don't count.
How do you make a staff development day last?
Ask each teacher for one written commitment with a class and a date, then book short check-ins in Week 3 and Week 6 before the day. Coaching through the term goes further again.
Sources
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