No More Waiting for CPD: Practical, On-Demand Support with HOW2 at West London College

West London College (WLC) is a large, multi-site organisation delivering a wide range of education and training across West London, with campuses in Hammersmith, Ealing, Southall, and Park Royal. Like many colleges working to improve, WLC wasn’t facing a single, clear-cut issue. It was navigating dozens of interconnected challenges.

Every subject, every teacher, and every setting brought different priorities. In some areas, support was needed with behaviour management. In others, the focus was on questioning techniques or embedding cognitive science strategies.

What quickly became clear to the quality team at WLC was that a traditional, one-size-fits-all CPD approach wouldn’t be enough. After receiving a ​‘Requires Improvement’ judgement from Ofsted in 2023, it was evident that improvement couldn’t rely on occasional training or isolated interventions. CPD had to be consistent, immediate, and accessible — not just for full-time staff, but across subjects, campuses, and subcontracted provision.

The college needed a new kind of professional development — one that could offer immediate, tailored support, build consistency in teaching practice, and reach every part of its provision.

To meet those needs, WLC introduced a 360-degree CPD model that gave every educator — whether in-house or subcontracted — access to high-quality, ongoing support. This included:

• Face-to-face specialist training
  
  

• Bite-sized digital resources for on-the-go learning
  
  

• Lunchtime drop-ins and peer-led CPD
  
  

• Teacher-led action research groups (Teacher Triangles)
  
  

• A real-time feedback loop, where support was provided when it was needed, not weeks later

At the heart of this model was the HOW2 Platform — not as an add-on, but as the tool that brought the whole model to life.

The platform provided staff with clear, visual, evidence-informed teaching strategies that could be accessed and applied immediately. There were no delays, no top-down directives — just practical, classroom-ready support that teachers could use straight away.

With the HOW2 Platform at its centre, every educator — regardless of contract type or location — had access to the same high-quality, evidence-informed techniques and tools.

Subcontractors were fully included in CPD events, aligned with the wider teaching and learning strategy, and incorporated into quality assurance processes from the outset. Everyone was working from the same framework, and that whole-college approach made a visible difference.

When Ofsted returned for the final inspection, the HOW2 Platform featured prominently in the college’s teaching and learning presentation, and inspectors were impressed.

But inspectors didn’t just hear about the techniques discussed during the strategy presentations — they saw them in action.

Those same techniques were observed in lessons, particularly in GCSE English and maths, where inspectors were closely tracking the progress learners had made between levels. The Ofsted report specifically highlighted the techniques WLC had chosen to focus on through HOW2: attention to prior learning, memory and recall, and formative assessment — all of which were visible in practice and praised in the final report.

One technique stood out in particular: Cooperative Answers — a collaborative strategy where learners work in groups of three to prepare a response, and the teacher randomly selects one student to present it to the class. Inspectors described the teaching and learning as ​“exceptional” when this technique was used.

Staff at the college reported that the HOW2 techniques went far beyond supporting them with their pedagogy. They described how the strategies contributed to creating classrooms where learners felt safe, supported, and genuinely engaged in the learning process.

Teachers noted that small, incremental changes — especially around questioning, group work, and retrieval — led to clear improvements in student confidence, participation, and inclusion.

This feedback, gathered directly from staff, has been recognised by the college as one of the most powerful indicators of impact in its CPD journey.

At West London College, the shift wasn’t just about improving individual techniques — it was about creating a culture where professional learning was collaborative, continuous, and driven by staff.

The HOW2 Platform supported that cultural shift in practical, everyday ways. Its Notes feature — designed to help educators capture and share their learning — gave staff a space to document what had worked in their classrooms and how they’d adapted specific strategies. It helped turn CPD into an active, ongoing conversation — one that moved beyond formal sessions and into corridors, staffrooms, and the rhythm of college life.

That sense of shared learning was further strengthened through Teacher Triangles: small, peer-led groups focused on research-informed practice. Every two weeks, teams came together to share insights, trial new approaches, and support one another’s development.

HOW2 provided the common language and toolkit underpinning those discussions, giving staff a structured, evidence-based way to reflect, experiment, and grow together.

The results of this shift have been visible in both staff and student feedback. More than 95% of students — across all areas of provision, including subcontracted and employer-facing delivery — now say that teaching is good or better.

Staff are eager to keep the momentum going. In the college’s most recent CPD review, continuing with HOW2 emerged as a clear priority for future development.

Because at West London College, professional learning isn’t about compliance — it’s about ownership. And that ownership is what continues to drive progress across the college.