Professional Development (PD) or laterly Professional Learning Development (PLD), the same things, I will refer to PD for this post. We, being schools/boards, and the Ministry of Education, have put a lot of resourcing into this aspect of school improvement over many years. So the question needs to be asked, what does effective PD look like and have we been getting 'bang for our buck'?
An example from 30 years ago, my experience. Each teacher was able to choose 2 courses for the year and run it by the Principal who would say yes or no. I chose Kiwi Golf and a spelling course from memory. I had a wonderful day at Kiwi Golf and picked up a few ideas how to improve my swing. What impact did that year's PD have on my teaching and learning practice, and just as importantly, what impact did it have schoolwide? As you can probably infer ... not very much, if anything at all!
So here is what effective PD looks like ...
Uru Mānuka hosted a cluster-wide PD day at the Showgate Lounge (Riccarton Racecourse) today ... 7 schools, including our wonderful High School, approx 190 staff ... including our valuable support staff! Our focus was on reading comprehension and oral language, and was facilitated by Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey. We took everyone to the 'movies'! Not piecemeal PD like I have descibed above. For true meaningful, indepth professional learning to be effective and have an impact on our teaching and learning practice, it MUST be schoolwide and involve as many staff as possible.
Now you may well ask, can you guarantee that Friday's PD is going to have a meaningful impact on our teaching and learning practice across Uru Mānuka and Hornby Primary. I can confidently say this ...
1. there is a far greater chance that this approach will have a positive impact on our teaching and learning practice
2. it is up to leadership to ensure we plan for deliberate and intentional acts that will impact teaching and learning practice
A great day of connecting and collaborating ... New Entrant through to Year 13 teachers, support staff and principals. An authentic example of Learn Create Share that I have no doubt is going to have a positive impact on learners throughout Uru Mānuka and develop our teaching and learning practice in the important areas of reading comprehension and oral language, and as a consequence, will lead to accelerated student progress and achievement.
Going back to my original question about what effective PD looks like, and have we been getting value for our investment. I am a great believer in the power of the collective, our challenges are too difficult to overcome individually, but if we harness the power and expertise of the collective, we increase our chances of finding solutions to our shared challenges. And, I have no doubt that today's investment has been wisely spent and will lead to improved teacher practice and student learning outcomes over time.
A special thank you to Louise and Sheena for a wonderful day of learning, your presentations 'hit the mark' and I know we will be seeing lots of your activities and strategies implemented across Uru Mānuka classrooms from Monday onwards! 🙏
For a thorough summary of the day, refer to Uru Mānuka's prolific blogger Mr Robin Sutton 😀.
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