5 ways to make professional learning in schools more effective
Andy Goodeve
Driving Educational Excellence in Schools and Colleges: Empowering Leaders & Teachers Through Effective Implementation & Training
What is professional learning?
Professional learning is any type of continuing education to improve their skills ranging from courses, webinars and workshops, to independent research, peer learning or even just conversing with others.
Why is professional learning important?
Having access to continuous learning opportunities and professional development means colleagues are more likely to improve. In the case of teachers, it is commonly known that a third of teachers leave the profession within three years, and half of the teachers leave within five years. This is a situation that needs to be changed to ensure the quality of schools and colleges remains high.
Experience is key when it comes to delivering quality classroom teaching. Teachers spend their whole careers refining their skills in response to the challenges they are faced in the classroom, but new teachers need time and input to build their own skillset.
Professional learning is key to helping both new and experienced teachers develop and refine the skills to effectively and confidently teach in the classroom. It encourages teachers to be actively involved in and accountable for shaping their own learning.
A lack of investment in professional learning opportunities can be discouraging. It communicates that the organisation, whether a school, college or other educational settings, doesn’t value improving staff.?This in turn puts more stress on staff having to develop their skills in isolation to ‘survive’.
How to make professional learning effective and engaging?
There are lots of challenges to creating effective professional learning opportunities, including funding, time and the engagement of staff. While these may seem initial ‘barriers’, these are short term obstacles to thinking about long term success. The following suggestions are 5 ways to make professional learning more effective:
Staff are educated professionals and need to be interested and feel engaged. Staff learn in different ways and respond differently to different delivery styles. It is important that time and thought is put into delivery.
The learning activities need to be relevant to the needs of the staff and the organisation. Try to make it more bespoke and give staff a choice about what or how they learn. Give different options, possibly through a menu, for workshops or courses that they can take.?
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Once completed, ask for feedback at the end of the session. This evaluates the sessions and helps in planning future activities. Ask the staff to be open and honest, and value the feedback:?what worked, what didn’t, what they would change and what they’d like to learn more about next time.?
Quality time has been spent on delivering a relevant inspiring professional learning session but ensure time, support and reflection are also planned for staff to implement their strategies.
If teachers don’t feel they have the required time and support they need to effectively implement the strategies into their classroom, before moving on to the next strategy, they’re not going to invest?— which means wasted time, effort and money.
Effective learning opportunities don’t just take place in a single CPD session at the end of the school day. For many, especially teachers, often struggle to fit teacher professional learning opportunities around their teaching commitments. Providing quality time is key. What is the most effective way to use professional learning time to gain the best outcomes? Possibly using peer coaching, workshops with other staff from other schools, rather than just traditional after school sessions.?
A professional learning portfolio allows an individual to gain an overview of their own career development. Clearly identifying the strengths, areas for development and planning their future development. The portfolio provides the basis for professional coaching conversations, with colleagues, to plan individual learning goals on a short-term or long term basis, and gives clear benchmarks for achieving success. These are easily tracked on a monthly, termly or yearly basis to see how staff are progressing. Use the portfolio to self reflect against role expectations/standards.?
Make sure feedback recorded is effective and has actionable steps to help staff improve. If staff don’t know where they can do better, they’re not given the opportunity to act.
Ensure that staff have access to a range of support materials; courses, certification classes or even emotional support as they try new techniques, that can be added to their portfolio.
Final thoughts on professional learning
Today’s educational settings are hectic and opportunities for professional learning often fall by the wayside. It is important that professional learning is embraced and valued within an organisation’s culture. Everyone in your organisation has the opportunity to flourish and succeed when accessible, engaging and supportive professional learning opportunities are provided.5 ways to make school professional learning more effective