18 Free Online CPD for Teachers

Are you a teacher looking to expand your knowledge without breaking the bank? If yes. Here are free online CPD for teachers curated in this blog post. You can enroll in these online CPD courses without breaking the bank or pausing your teaching job.

Firstly, CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development, and it is any learning activity that helps an individual develop their knowledge and skills and promotes their professional practice. This activity can be attending seminars, conferences, and workshops that relate to the person’s profession or taking online courses.

In the case of this article, free online CPD for teachers, are free online courses designed for teachers to develop and enhance their teaching skills by equipping them with updated teaching techniques and methods they can use in the classroom and teach different kinds of students.

As a teacher, it is important that you keep enhancing your skills, explore the latest teaching methods and strategies, and acquire professional teaching knowledge.

This is what makes the teaching profession a daunting task because you have to keep updating, upgrading, and getting better, and more professional. There’s no end to it but it is for the betterment of society, community, and the world.

Becoming a professional teacher requires a lot of time and dedication as you will be learning a whole range of skills, teaching techniques, and even subjects to apply in classroom teaching. It might cause a bit of stress to attend these professional teaching classes and still handle your own classes.

Thanks to online learning that problem has been eliminated, you need not attend a face-to-face class to learn professional courses for your teaching career. Instead, with a PC or a tablet and an internet connection you can enroll in an online CPD course for teachers and equip yourself with the right skills.

In this article, we have curated a list of free online CPD for teachers with further details on each of the courses and teachers can enroll. In your journey of becoming a professional teacher, you can download and read some free online books for teachers and even go on to enroll in special education courses for teachers or apply for a free master’s degree for teachers.

Of all the advantages of online education, the ones I personally prefer are flexibility and cheap/free courses. Online education allows you to learn anywhere, at your own pace and there are plenty of courses online that are for free and actually offer on-demand skills.

It’s really amazing, you don’t get to stress or spend money in getting a skill of your choice or skill required by the current business model.

Free online CPD for teachers is one of them and you don’t have to pay anything, aside from your time and commitment, to earn these professional teaching skills.

What are CPD Courses?

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses are courses specifically designed to train or develop individuals to become professionals in their current field of study, for example, teachers.

Are CPD Courses Free?

There are a lot of CPD courses you can find online for free, allowing you to harness the power of the internet and the benefits of online learning. In this article, we will be listing some of the free online CPD courses for teachers.

Do Employers Recognize CPD?

Not sure if employers will recognize a CPD?

Well, the answer is Yes. Yes, employers do recognize CPD certificates obtained from an accredited CPD service. With a CPD attached to your CV or Resume you’re automatically ahead of the competition who don’t have one in any organization.

You could either be offered a much higher role or position in the organization or if you were already employed there, you could get a promotion.

How Many Hours of CPD Do Teachers Need?

Teachers must complete at least 30 hours of CPD per year.

How Do Teachers Earn CPD Points?

Teachers earn credit units when they participate in CPD programs that emanate from the PRB for the development of the professions. The programs include; seminars, workshops, tours and visits, non-degree training lectures and scientific meetings, modules, technical lectures, and subject matter meetings.

These CPD programs may take any learning or participation, like online learning, professional work experience, self-directing learning, formal learning, informal learning, and non-formal learning.

Now, with these questions cleared and much clarity given we will now go on to the main subject matter; free online CPD for teachers.

Free Online CPD for Teachers

Here are 13 free online CPD for teachers, and main courses, and their details and links to enroll for the classes to earn points and become a recognized CPD holder.

  • Emotional Intelligence at Work
  • Teaching Students who have suffered from Complex Trauma
  • The Online Educator: People and Pedagogy
  • Accessibility of e-Learning
  • Foundations of Teaching for Learning: Developing Relationships
  • Professional Relationships with Young People
  • Inside Digital Higher Education: Self-Assessment Guide for Educators
  • Teaching Computing Courses
  • Free Online Bullying Awareness Course with Certificate
  • Free Online Counselling Course with Certificate
  • Teaching Maths Courses
  • Enhance Teaching and Learning with Bing Chat
  • Understanding Specific Learning Difficulties

1. Emotional Intelligence at Work

You prepare and leave for work (school) as a teacher where you meet other employees (teachers & other staff) and your emotions at work are certainly different from home.

In this free online CPD for teachers, you will explore the meaning of emotional intelligence, its importance, and how to develop your emotional intelligence skills. With an understanding of emotional intelligence, you will see how it improves workplace performance and builds better relationships in and out of the classroom with your students and other staff.

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2. Teaching Students who have suffered from Complex Trauma

Traumas are a real thing and affect the physical, emotional, and social development of children and adolescents. To reduce harm, teachers need to respond appropriately using trauma-informed practices and policies.

Through this free online CPD for teachers, you will understand what complex trauma is, its effect on students’ performance, and how to apply trauma-informed practices and policies to reduce the risk to students. The course takes 2 weeks to complete and there is a free certificate afterward.

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3. The Online Educator: People and Pedagogy

Online learning is becoming increasingly useful and almost every school (secondary and post-secondary) is utilizing the innovation to carry out learning practices. As a teacher, you have to enhance your online teaching experience, be capable of designing engaging courses to meet the needs of every diverse learner and shape your digital identity.

How do you achieve all of these?

Easy-peasy. Enroll in this free online CPD for teachers and gain skills and understanding of online teaching and enhance yourself professionally. The course takes 4 weeks to complete with a study pace of 4 hours weekly plus there a free certificate for you at the end of the course.

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4. Accessibility of e-Learning

As a teacher, you have to understand the needs of a diverse population of students and this free online CPD for TAs explores the challenges faced by disabled students who may use computers in different ways when partaking in online learning.

This online course will equip teachers with the technology and techniques used by disabled students, the adjustments to teaching techniques, and design decisions that affect the accessibility of online learning tools.

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5. Foundations of Teaching for Learning: Developing Relationships

The course, Foundations of Teaching for Learning: Developing Relationships, is one of the free online CPD for teachers delivered online via Coursera.

The course is designed for those already teaching or aspiring to be teachers in any subject and context and instills high-quality teaching skills, professionalism, and assessment in them to become professional teachers.

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6. Professional Relationships with Young People

Teachers educate younger people and because of this responsibility, teachers must learn how to create just the right kind of professional relationship with their students. If you are a teacher or on your journey to become one, this free online CPD for teachers, Professional Relationships with Young People, will teach you what a good professional relationship is, and some ways to develop them, equip you with the skills to recognize the qualities and attitudes which support the development of professional and helping relationships, and identify the importance of developing positive professional relationships with young people.

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7. Inside Digital Higher Education: Self-Assessment Guide for Educators

Digital education or online education is taking traditional education by storm. There is now a huge change, and more to come, in the education sector thanks to numerous digital innovations. As a teacher, you must learn and understand this new teaching environment, that is the virtual/digital teaching environment.

This course will prepare you to harness the potential of digital teaching and learning at your institution. It will also help you hone your teaching practices in digital education. With the skills and knowledge gained from the course, you will find it easier to teach or even learn online and it will be fun, exciting, and just as engaging.

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8. Teaching Computing Courses

Do you want to introduce computing courses to your students but don’t know yourself? Or you do know but don’t know how to teach it to younger students? Here are courses that will equip you with the right skill set to introduce computing courses to students.

Having computer skills these days is essential and if you introduce them to your students, they will forever be grateful that you did.

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9. Free Online Bullying Awareness Course with a Certificate

This course is one of the free online CPDs for teachers with certificates provided by the UK Government. Teachers who take this course will identify signs of bullying among students and how to put a stop to it using the right action.

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10. Free Online Counselling Course with Certificate

As a teacher, it is important, in fact, necessary that you have top-notch counseling skills and if you don’t then it is time to upgrade and get that skill. Fortunately, you can get skilled through an online course without spending a dime. The free online counseling course with a certificate is an online course taught by expert counselors that will train and equip you with counseling skills that you can use in and out of the workplace.

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11. Teaching Maths Courses

Brush up on your math teaching skills as a teacher through this online course, Teaching Maths Courses. You will enroll in self-paced online classes that will equip you with relevant skills to become a top maths teacher including how to plan better lessons.

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12. Enhance Teaching and Learning with Bing Chat

Bing Chat is an AI by Microsoft and it is one of the most popular and powerful AI out there. AI is now being integrated into nearly everything from building websites to writing content but it can also be used in education and as an educator, it is your job to explore its advantages and disadvantages.

In this course, you will explore the use of Bing Chat in education by learning basic concepts, modes, and features. With the effective use of AI, it can greatly improve how you teach in the classroom.

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13. Understanding Specific Learning Difficulties

Learning difficulties exist and there are different kinds but the problem lies in identifying which kind your student has not worry, this course will equip you with the knowledge to be able to identify or increase your knowledge of specific learning difficulties among students and the appropriate way to assist them.

The course is one of the free online CPD for teachers but it is only free for those who are currently living in England. The course is 100% online and self-paced with a duration of 8 weeks but you will have access to the course content until you complete it. The CPD hours/points for this course are 135.

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These are the free online CPD for teachers and you may enroll in as much as you want, it’s not like you have anything to lose, they are free, and also, the more classes you join and complete the more knowledge and skills you possess and becoming more professional among colleagues.

Teaching assistants aren’t left out, we have prepared some free online CPD for teaching assistants to enroll in and gain professional knowledge.

Free Online CPD for Teaching Assistants

The following are the top 5 free online CPD for teaching assistants:

  • Supporting Successful Learning in Primary School
  • Supporting Successful Learning in Secondary School
  • Teaching Assistants: Support in Action
  • Positive Behavior Management for Teaching Assistants
  • Introduction to Behavior Management

1. Supporting Successful Learning in Primary School

Are you a primary school teacher or looking to become one? Here is a course that will help you gain the confidence you need to teach and support primary school students. At the end of the course, you will be better equipped to improve the support you provide in the education of children.

This free online CPD for teaching assistants is offered by the University of Reading and delivered online by FutureLearn, requiring only 4 weeks and 3 hours of weekly study.

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2. Supporting Successful Learning in Secondary School

This is almost like the course above but this time you’ll be learning and teaching how to support secondary school students. This is the course for you if you are a teacher who wants to start teaching secondary school.

Enrolling in the course will develop your understanding of learning and teaching and build your confidence as a secondary school teacher. The same university and online learning platform as the one above also offer it.

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3. Teaching Assistants: Support in Action

This free online CPD for teaching assistants is offered by the Open University and delivered via its online learning platform, OpenLearn. The online course is designed to build you into a highly skilled teaching assistant who can work effectively with children and adolescents.

This is a level 1 introductory course that takes 4 hours of study to complete. After completing the course, you will gain skills to provide effective support and contribute to productive teamwork as a teaching assistant.

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4. Positive Behavior Management for Teaching Assistants

This online CPD-certified course will help teaching assistants learn how to understand why disruptive behavior issues occur and delve into the academic research around positive behavior management. The course is not entirely free but it is cheap at the cost of 8.99 euros. It takes 1.5 hours to complete the video lesson.

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5. Introduction to Behavior Management

Here is another online CPD training course for teaching assistants. It is entirely free and introduces learners to the behavior of learning and how it can be achieved. The course is a 20-minute video lesson that you can complete at your own pace.

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Conclusion

Free online CPD training for teachers can equip teachers with the latest teaching skills that could earn them promotion plus higher pay in their workplace. The skills gained through these courses can also be applied in other areas aside from school and students, therefore, there is a lot of benefit that comes with enrolling in the online CPD training as a teacher. So, enroll today and start getting skilled.

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