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FAQs

Answers to common questions about our Teacher Development Fund.

Acronym glossary

CPDL: Continuing Professional Development and Learning
PRU: Pupil Referral Unit
SEND: Special Education Needs and Disability
STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths

Eligibility

No. The Teacher Development Fund is for primary settings only.

No. While we recognise the important contribution made by secondary schools with arts specialism the TDF only supports partnerships between arts/cultural organisations and primary schools.

Yes, as long as you are a maintained setting, free school or academy serving pupils aged 11 and under. Where a SEND school serves primary and secondary-aged pupils, a TDF project should focus only on teachers who work with primary age pupils.

No. However projects may focus on developing practice in the Early Years and Foundation Stage of primary schools i.e. in Nursery and Reception classes within primary and infant schools.

Yes, as long as you are a maintained setting, free school or academy serving pupils aged 11 and under.

Yes, MATs and Teaching Schools are eligible to apply to the TDF.

No, they don’t.

No. School improvement organisations may not be a lead applicant. However, they may be a partner in a TDF project.

No. The TDF supports partnerships between arts/cultural organisations and schools. Such organisations may be charities, community organisations, social enterprises and not-for-profit companies active in the arts and cultural field. Individuals, or organisations applying on behalf of individuals, are not able to apply.

There are circumstances where a for-profit organisation could be the lead applicant in a TDF proposal. That organisation would need to demonstrate that funding would be exclusively used for activities that support PHF’s charitable objectives and have public benefit. It is also important to note that, in a competitive fund such as the TDF, it could be more difficult to prioritise proposals from organisations which are for-profit.

No. The lead applicant must be a school or arts/cultural organisation. However, we recognise that some arts/cultural organisations are under the organisational umbrella of a university in which case they are eligible to apply. Universities may also be a project partner – for example involved in evaluation.

As a rule, we will usually manage only one funding relationship with an organisation at any one time. We would encourage you to check with the Grants Manager of your existing grant in the first instance.

Blended delivery

Capital expenditure on IT hardware and software should not exceed 10% of total costs. We are interested in approaches that are easily replicable and, although we recognise that some start up investment in IT may be required, the approaches developed should use low cost, accessible technologies.

We understand blended learning to mean the combining of face-to-face and online approaches. Our interest is in better understanding where within the CPDL process, online activities add best value. A widely cited and helpful definition of blended learning is “the thoughtful integration of… face-to-face learning experiences with online learning experiences.” (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004, p.96)

We expect that the partnership will have had some experience in online and/or blended teaching with an interest in developing this further. There is no requirement to have an IT expert or education technologist within the delivery team, however if it is felt that more specialist support is needed then it is permissible to include this within the project plan and budget. There is no cap on this although input would have to be proportional to the proposed online delivery.

We are only interested in how the blended approach can support CPDL for teachers. We expect that any classroom-based activities, which are a part of the CPDL process, will be face to face (anticipating that there will not be any Covid-19 related restrictions in place when delivery starts in September 2022).

Curriculum focus

Applications must be specific about the area of curriculum focus. PHF understands ‘curriculum’ as all the learning experiences schools offer to their pupils. Many of the TDF projects we fund focus on particular subject areas and we welcome applications supporting arts-based approaches in all subjects, from literacy, to humanities, to STEM. Some funded projects have a broader focus, for example critical thinking, speech language and communication skills or metacognition. The TDF does not prioritise, or have a preference for, any curriculum area or artform over another.

Delivery model

We are extremely unlikely to fund a ‘carousel’ model in which teachers focus on a sequence of several different artforms / curriculum areas for short periods of time each. The evaluation of the TDF pilot phase demonstrated that projects with a specific artform and curriculum focus saw teachers and their pupils making the most substantial progress. Some of the TDF projects we are funding do involve more than one artform / curriculum area but where this is the case there is a sustained focus on all areas for the whole two years.

Yes. Ensuring that teachers have adequate time to dedicate to the project and are not required to work additional hours is essential.

No. It is not possible to run a one-year project twice for different cohorts of teachers. The TDF supports two-year enquiry-based projects because there is strong evidence that duration is an important factor in effective teacher CPDL. However, our expectation is that in Year 2 there will be an additional focus on teachers sharing and embedding practice across schools and many projects choose to widen the circle of teacher participants at this point.

We expect applicants to offer a detailed list of the activities taking place in Year 1 so that we can fully understand the proposed CPDL model. For Year 2 we would like to understand your aspirations and to see an indicative list of activities. We recognise that this indicative list may change as a result of learning from Year 1.

The application form requires a high level of detail about your arts-based approach. Your application will be read by specialists in arts-based learning and the primary curriculum but in order to assess your application we will need a clear account of the rationale for your choice of approach and what this looks like on the ground. We can only make assessments based on the details we are given and cannot infer information which is not clearly stated.

Partnerships

No. Applicants need to name their partners and demonstrate that a solid partnership is in place to support the proposed TDF project.

Applications will need to demonstrate that a solid partnership is in place to support the proposed TDF project. Arts/cultural organisations and participating schools are not required to have worked together before but as part of the application process you will be asked about your experience of partnership working more broadly.

No, the Fund can only support groupings of 6–10 schools in each project.

Inequity and barriers to learning

The TDF will prioritise applications which support schools and teachers who work with pupils experiencing systemic inequity which results in disadvantage and barriers to learning. By ‘systemic inequity’ we mean inequity which is long-term and structural. There are a wide variety of circumstances which result in pupils facing barriers to learning. We recognise that inequity plays out in ways that connect and intersect across race, gender, class, disability and other characteristics and may also be linked to local and personal context. Examples of inequity could include, but are not limited to, socio-economic disadvantage, having special educational needs and disabilities, being in the care system, racial inequity or living in isolated rural communities.

No. The TDF aims to support schools and teachers who work with pupils experiencing disadvantage. However, we recognise that in any school, or class, the work will reach a wide range of pupils; some may experience one form of inequity or barrier to learning, some multiple forms and some none. In the application you will be asked to describe the type(s) of inequity experienced in the participating schools, how this presents barriers to learning and how your chosen approach will address these barriers. We will prioritise those applications which keep inequity clearly in view in all aspects of the proposed project.

Evaluation

Yes. Evidence from the TDF pilot programme stressed the importance of ongoing formative evaluation and a commitment to reflective practice for all participants and stakeholders. TDF projects are inquiry-based and take place over an extended period of time. TDF projects work with an over-arching, project-level inquiry question/s which the project seeks to address, and which is explored through the project’s ongoing reflection, evidence-gathering and learning activities.

No. Evidence from the TDF pilot programme stressed the importance of ongoing formative evaluation and a commitment to reflective practice for all participants and stakeholders. Many, but not all, TDF grantees choose to involve an external evaluation partner because they feel they would benefit from additional expertise in this area or because they would like an objective view. We expect that all projects will provide adequate resource for evaluation activities, including budget and expertise, and in the application form you will be asked about your evaluation plans. However, we have no preference about who should undertake this work.

Learning from our pilot programme demonstrated that trialling a completely new arts-based approach is not easily compatible with the TDF model of effective CPDL. The TDF prioritises applications for projects where there is an existing evidence base for the effectiveness of the chosen arts-based approach in supporting pupils, including pupils experiencing inequity, to access learning. However, the CPDL approach may be new to some or all participants. The inquiry aspect of a TDF project relates to teachers’ and artist practitioners’ understanding how that approach works in the context of their own practice and their own school setting.

Advice on using generative AI during the application process

We understand that some organisations may want to use a generative AI service within the application process. Whilst we understand how AI may be helpful in a research phase, we would advise caution about using generated text within the application form.

Strong applications must go beyond generic responses, relating the criteria of the fund to the specific context of a locality and to the strengths and needs of the partner organisations.

Successful applicants must demonstrate their unique suitability for TDF. Articulating this in your own words is likely to create a stronger application to the fund in what will be a competitive field.