New whitepaper: Avoiding false economies in PD
News|3rd July 2026
Co-Founder & Head of Product — Steplab
Chief Commercial Officer — Steplab
School leaders face difficult decisions about how to invest limited time, budget and capacity in professional development. This whitepaper explores common false economies in PD and offers a practical framework for choosing sustainable, mechanism-rich approaches that improve teaching over time.
Professional development (PD) should improve teaching, but with limited time, budgets and capacity, school leaders are often forced to make difficult decisions about how to invest in it.
In this new discussion paper, Josh Goodrich and Faye Craster explore the common "false economies" in PD - decisions that appear efficient in the short term but can undermine long-term improvement.
Drawing on research and practical experience, they examine the challenges schools face, explain how to choose the right professional development process for your context, and outline a sustainable pathway towards more mechanism-rich, collaborative PD.
Download the full discussion paper below.
Enjoyed the paper?
Book a demo to see how Steplab can help you put these ideas into practice - from building shared knowledge and running group PD to embedding drop-ins, coaching and impact tracking.
