INSET Days and Teacher CPD in England

INSET days are the training days when teachers in England are at school but pupils are not. In maintained schools, the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) says a full-time teacher must be available for 195 days a year: 190 days on which they may be required to teach and perform other duties, and 5 days on which they may only be required to perform other duties. Those five days are what schools and parents usually call INSET or teacher training days. This guide covers England only and is based on the 2025 STPCD, with a note on changes to INSET flexibility announced for 2026.

What the rules say about the five days

The STPCD 2025 (dated 16 July 2025 and valid from 1 September 2025) sets out the working-time rules in paragraph 51.2. A teacher employed full-time must be available for work for 195 days, of which 190 are days on which the teacher may be required to teach pupils and perform other duties, and 5 are days on which the teacher may only be required to perform other duties. The document states that those 195 days must be specified by the employer or, if the employer so directs, by the headteacher.

It is worth knowing that the document itself does not use the word INSET. The term is simply the everyday name for the five non-teaching days. The STPCD also sets 1,265 hours of directed time for a full-time teacher (paragraph 51.5), which is a separate limit from the number of days. Headteachers, deputies and assistant headteachers are excluded from the specified working hours provisions in paragraphs 51.2 to 51.12.

On the pupil side, the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999 require at least 380 sessions to be held at a maintained school each school year, with each school day divided into two sessions. Two sessions a day means 190 days. The legislation.gov.uk copy of these regulations is marked as the original version as made.

Quick reference

Who sets INSET dates?

For maintained schools, the STPCD places the decision with the employer or, where the employer directs, the headteacher. In practice, local councils publish term and holiday dates for the schools they are responsible for, and GOV.UK tells parents to look up term and holiday dates on their local council's website. If you are a parent, check the school's own website or calendar for its INSET dates.

Do academies follow the same rules?

Not directly. The STPCD 2025 states that it relates to teachers employed by a local authority or by the governing body of a foundation, voluntary aided or foundation special school. Academy trusts are the employers of their own staff. The DfE's staffing and employment guidance for schools says the STPCD has contractual effect on many teachers' contracts, but that for staff appointed by academy trusts it may not be reflected in their contracts, and that the future bearing of its provisions can depend on how they were incorporated into contracts. GOV.UK describes academies and free schools as having more freedom to change how they run things.

The DfE says the pay award applies to maintained schools currently, but that most academies also choose to follow the statutory pay arrangements in practice. It also says that through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act the government will require academies to have regard to the STPCD, expected to be implemented by September 2027. This is a change in direction, so academy staff should check their contract and trust policy for the position that applies to them now.

What INSET is for

The STPCD does not prescribe the content of the five days, so schools decide. The professional duties in the document give useful context. Teachers other than headteachers must participate in arrangements for their own further training and professional development (paragraph 50.14), and headteachers must promote the participation of staff in relevant continuing professional development (paragraph 46.14). The DfE's Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 also expects all staff to receive safeguarding and child protection training at induction, with regular updates at least annually. Schools can use INSET time for this, and our guide to annual safeguarding training for school staff explains what is expected.

The STPCD guidance adds that participation in CPD outside directed time is voluntary and cannot be directed, and that relevant bodies decide which CPD activities teachers may be paid for.

The Standard for teachers' professional development

The DfE's Standard for teachers' professional development, published on GOV.UK on 12 July 2016 and marked as applying to England, describes effective practice. It has five elements:

• Professional development should have a focus on improving and evaluating pupil outcomes.
• It should be underpinned by robust evidence and expertise.
• It should include collaboration and expert challenge.
• Programmes should be sustained over time.
• All of this is underpinned by, and requires, that professional development is prioritised by school leadership.

The accompanying implementation guidance says the standard should be used by everyone working in and with schools, including school leaders, teachers and providers. In practice, it is a helpful test when planning an INSET day: is this one-off session connected to a longer programme, and does it link to pupil outcomes?

What is changing in 2026?

The Department for Education has said it is making changes to the STPCD that include increasing flexibility on INSET days so that schools can structure training in the way which works best for staff and pupils. A ministerial written statement of 1 July 2026 said the same, and confirmed the 1,265 directed hours limit is not being changed. The DfE said the new document would be published in mid-October 2026 for schools to implement. At the time of writing (15 October 2026), the latest edition on GOV.UK is still the 2025 one. When the 2026 edition appears, check paragraph 51 to see exactly how the INSET wording has changed before relying on the 190 and 5 day split described above.

Frequently asked questions

How many INSET days are there in a school year?

The STPCD 2025 provides for 5 days on which full-time teachers in maintained schools may only be required to perform duties other than teaching.

Are INSET days paid?

They are among the 195 days a full-time teacher must be available for work under the STPCD, so they form part of the normal working year. Your contract and school pay policy set out the detail.

Are academies required to have five INSET days?

The STPCD does not apply directly to academies; their obligations depend on teachers' contracts and trust policy. Check your contract.

Can a teacher be required to attend CPD in the evening?

The STPCD guidance says participation in CPD outside directed time is voluntary and cannot be directed.

Does the Standard for teachers' professional development have legal force?

It is a DfE standard describing effective practice, not a legal requirement in itself.

Planning your own development

INSET covers whole-school priorities. Teachers and support staff can build on that with their own learning, and the Learnsignal CPD hub is a starting point for finding professional development resources.

This article gives general information only and is not legal, employment or regulatory advice. Pay and conditions rules change each year, so check the current STPCD on GOV.UK and your own contract.