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.