ABSTRACT
The role of LEAs in providing continuing professional development (CPD) has changed particularly since the introduction of Local Management of Schools (LMS). M. Fullan and S. Steigelbauer argue that staff development must view the personal and professional lives of teachers in holistic terms. According to them, CPD should become the sum total of formal and informal learning experiences accumulated across individual careers. They also believe that effective schools incorporate the attributes of successful CPD into everyday activities in order to encourage acceptance of the principle of continuous learning. Local Education Authorities, since the Education Reform Act of 1988, have had to alter their way of working significantly, whilst at the same time seeking to accommodate the kinds of principles outlined by Loucks-Horsley. There was an acceptance that schools were no longer a captive audience and that the LEA had ceased to have a monopoly as a CPD provider – competition had arrived.
