To say that meaningful technology integration is hard work is like saying that climbing Mt. Everest might leave you a little bit winded. Today’s school leaders have a Herculean number of obstacles to overcome transforming schools. As Benjamin Herold of Education Week comments:

It could perhaps be tempting to fall into a trap of repetitive teaching and learning; using tried and tested strategies that we know have helped students to be successful in the past. Whilst this has its positives, and often offers reassurance, the beauty of being in this profession is the organic nature that is teaching and learning. You’ve got to love how new topics, skills and emerging student needs can create opportunities to adapt or rethink the resources or strategies that we use.

The REAL David Cameron, as he’s known, is a presenter, trainer, consultant working in all areas throughout education and children's services. Well known and highly-regarded across the UK teaching community (“@realdcameron is amazing!” remarked leading author Jane Hewitt upon learning of this interview), we sat down with David to get his thoughts on the modern education scene.

This month’s editorial theme, Accelerating Creativity, really resonates with me. As the headteacher of a start-up school that was designated as a STEM school, we have rebranded it as a STEAM school. The Aureus team are passionate about the Arts being at the heart of our school; we are committed to nurturing the hearts and the minds of our community.

I took control of my CPD a few years ago by joining Twitter, attending, then presenting at #teachmeets. This led to me organising some grassroots events, starting to blog and co-founding #womened. Following the success of #womened I have supported the launch of #BAMEed, #LGBTed and #DisabilityEd. Each of these events develop my understanding and appreciation for the teaching community.

By improving both teaching and learning, effective teacher CPD is one of the greatest influences on student outcomes. Yet few schools evaluate its impact adequately, or even at all. However, unless you do so, it is difficult to know to what extent a CPD programme benefits a school or offers value for money. So how do you go about evaluating CPD? I would suggest the following basic framework:

After years of being frustrated that CPD events for schools very rarely featured how to use technology within the subject area covered, teacher Maggie Morrissey set up Technology To Teach. She and her colleague Wendy Gregory focus bringing primarily on delivering first-rate CPD on certain areas of the curriculum such as Maths and Science, but with a strong element of ICT incorporated throughout.

Tablet Academy CEO Steve Molyneux discusses his partnering with Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas to improve CPD for British teachers.

Kate McMillan, head of inclusion at Aldar Academies, discusses how Edukey has helped change how they work with SEN students.

Aldar Academies is a leading provider of private education in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates. With over 5000 students across 7 schools, maintaining a SEN student register of 16%, we were faced with the challenge of improving the consistency of recording student details, delivery of interventions and the style and format of our personalised learning and behaviour plans.

With a small budget, how can you provide evidence-based CPD that busy teachers will value? One solution would be to give your teachers personalised, anytime access to a huge range of evidence-based teaching techniques. Techniques that are easy to access and quick to learn.