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The flexible CPD pathway is defined by its openness and adaptability. Openness refers to the recognition of each lecturer’s unique goals, needs, and ambitions. Flexibility reflects the freedom to choose CPD activities based on individual preferences and context. Rather than following a fixed, predetermined plan, lecturers engage with professional development on an ad hoc basis — selecting or shaping opportunities as they arise. This approach allows for spontaneous, short-term learning tailored to immediate needs, without requiring a long-term trajectory or explicit career ambitions in teaching. Examples of ad hoc learning questions are:

• How can I make an educational video?
• What do my colleagues think about AI in their teaching?
• How can I make my lectures more engaging for students?
• How can I improve my teaching, according to my colleagues?

Multiple short-term learning questions can be relevant at the same time, and can result in participating in a variety of CPD activities on several topics. CPD activities in Pathway 1 are mostly hands-on, practical, and inspirational. They can involve informal and formal learning, within and outside ºÚÁϸ£ÀûÍø. Examples include ALT's learning communities, the Professional Development Exchange Hub (Netherlands-wide), and (Europe-wide).

The lecturer keeps track of their CPD activities, time investment, and learnings. In their annual review, the lecturer reflects on the learnings from CPD activities and, possibly, formulates next steps for the upcoming year. in which teaching tasks and development dimensions are visualized can be helpful to determine if CPD activities are aligned, and if there are possibilities to strengthen the professional development of the lecturer.

In this pathway, a lecturer formulates a midterm or longer-term teaching development ambition (connected to personal and/or team ambitions). This ambition guides the selection of CPD activities.

The lecturer formulates an ambition and this can be done together with the direct manager at the department, and/or teaching team, or coach. This helps align the ambitions with the educational needs and interests of the lecturer, or with the new tasks within the department. The personal ambition is translated into a learning question (which is broader than the questions posed in pathway 1). Examples can be:

• How can we make assessment in CBL projects in department X more valid and reliable?
• How can we, as a teaching team, motivate students to take ownership of their learning process?
• How can I make my teaching more inclusive?
• How can we incorporate learning analytics in our education?

The choices a lecturer makes for CPD activities are linked to the specific learning question and the way a lecturer would like to learn (for instance -- formally or informally, together with peers or individually, etc.). The lecturer can be supported by a coach, who is aware of the personal ambition of the lecturer and the CPD offerings inside and outside ºÚÁϸ£ÀûÍø. 

Examples of CPD activities are attending workshops, lectures, peer-to-peer learning, participating in learning communities, doing a pilot of their own practice, attending conferences, publishing about their learnings, etc. The lecturers keep track of their CPD activities, time investment, and learnings related to their ambition. 

In their annual review, the lecturer reflects on the learnings from CPD activities related to their ambition and learning questions, and formulates next steps for the upcoming year. in which teaching tasks and development dimensions are visualized can be helpful in making choices in the annual review. In this way, the CPD is aligned with ambitions in the department.

Pathway 3 is based on the lecturer's ambition, oriented to follow a predetermined program. Although there are some similarities with Pathway 2, the main difference is that teachers work together in a Community of Practice (CoP) to reflect and interact with peers.

A discussion of the teacher's career ambition serves as the starting point, followed by the creation of a development plan, and participation in the CPD group and chosen offer. The subsequent learnings are then documented, and a closing reflection on the undertaking is done in a structured manner.