ABSTRACT
John Sullivan’s statement encapsulates our personal and professional responsibilities as teachers, leaders and managers in schools. Our experience in carrying them out leads to a continuous cycle; that of planning our work within the overall purposes of the school, putting it into practice, reflecting on its impact and evaluating its contribution to the learning of our students. As a result, we return time and again to the key question, ‘What best informs me about how to teach and lead and manage to good purpose?’ Our personal and professional development continues as a result of our work as both teachers and learners. The question which this chapter wishes to pose is, ‘To what extent should I as a teacher, leader or manager in a faith school expect to be offered and to participate in continuing personal and professional development (CPPD), which is different or additional to that engaged in by my colleagues in non faith schools?’ Its purpose is to discuss the possibilities which CPPD opportunities might afford to all who work in faith schools and to argue that to ignore them could imperil the continuing existence of such schools in our increasingly secular and economically driven society.
