International professional development opportunities are exciting ways to learn with and from colleagues abroad. They help participants reflect on and develop their own classroom practice. The menu on the left signposts key activities you may wish to explore.

You should consider the following questions in relation to these opportunities:

• How could it contribute to your own professional development?
• How could it contribute to enhancing learning and teaching?
• How could it contribute to whole school development?

There may be some aspects that make the opportunity attractive to you or the school. There may even be some which could be a barrier for you or the school, for example funding, term time or holidays, language(s) required. You and the school would need to weigh these up and consider them against the personal professional development gains, potential gains for learning and the gains for the whole school to help decide if it is an opportunity to pursue further.

Each of the opportunities require a degree of planning ahead as there are set deadlines for applications which could be several months before the activity takes place.