Información general sobre el cerebro

Summary: Professional Learning and Development

Both teachers and middle leaders viewed professional learning and development as an essential aspect within schools to improve practice, knowledge and capability, and to continually challenge the learning within the classroom. They believed professional development stopped teachers from being complacent and stagnating within their teaching and allowed them to be professionally challenged, to move forward, to grow and develop. Middle leaders had found professional learning and development provided opportunities to connect professionally, externally and internally. However, they felt it was important for professional development content to be relevant and specific to teacher needs, to ensure it is not viewed as pointless or irrelevant. Teachers and middle leaders also perceived that a lack of professional learning and development impacted on teacher and student growth.

Several major factors influenced professional learning and development decisions, such as funding constraints, individual wants/needs, course availability and teachers being ‘volunteered’ by managers. This view was conveyed from both middle leaders and teachers’ perspectives. However, several teachers argued that timing of an application impacted on approval for professional development given. A school’s appraisal process was also linked closely to effective professional development decisions being made. Both teachers and middle leaders suggested professional learning and development decisions were driven by Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

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However, teachers felt assumptions were being made on the best fit for teachers and highlighted there was a need for professional learning and development to be more inspiring.

Summary: The Role of a Middle Leader in Developing Staff

Middle leaders recognised the core focus of their role is to support and lead their teaching staff. Teachers placed a high value on leadership and middle leaders as a support with curriculum and career progression. Professional development of staff was viewed by both teachers and middle leaders as a means of identifying the gaps in knowledge and understanding of teachers, and supporting staff in order to seek opportunities for professional development. However, both teachers and middle leaders acknowledged a number of constraints when facing accessing relevant professional development, such as relevance to teacher and faculty, quality of the course being delivered, budget, and relief requirements. Despite this, teachers felt professional development decisions were based on faculty, curriculum and a school- wide focus, rather than on teacher need. Emails are used by middle leaders to communicate and distribute professional development opportunities available and teachers believed this was a quick and straightforward way to view professional development opportunities of interest. Teachers identified several professional development opportunities practised and managed within their schools such as: whole- of-school, department, personal, external, and role-based. A challenge for middle leaders was that they did not always feel confident in making decisions on professional development. Therefore, middle leaders deemed it more important to establish a vision or focus, manage resources and facilities for the faculty, to encourage staff to actively participate in internal and external professional development, and to make decisions on professional development for the faculty, not for individual teachers.

Summary: Challenges for Middle Leaders in Developing Staff

Both middle leaders and teachers perceived the lack of time as a challenge in developing staff. Teachers saw the time as impacting highly on the classroom,

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students and personally when needing to attend professional development courses. They viewed their personal and classroom time of higher value than attending professional development. Middle leaders were struggling with not enough time to develop relationships with staff individually to understand their professional development needs and aspirations. Middle leaders suggested the support of a Senior Leader in making professional development decisions for staff on a regular basis. However, teachers believed middle leaders needed to find more time to listen and evaluate the professional development needs of their staff. Teachers also believed that middle leaders needed to be provided with more coaching and professional development opportunities. On the other hand, teachers placed a high importance value on personal and professional interest when making professional development decisions. Teachers wanted to have more individual choice, tailored professional development sessions and sharing of practice to increase the relevance and engagement of professional development and learning. Accessibility of professional development opportunities for staff is an issue for middle leaders. They often spend a lot of time searching for professional development for their staff and this becomes a burden and therefore is often not a priority. Teachers suggested having a central data base that was easily accessed would be of benefit for both teachers and middle leaders. This initiative would reduce the time needed to find the most appropriate course and teachers would also have access without relying on information from the middle leader. A major challenge for middle leaders was the vagueness of responsibility and accountability for professional development of staff. Decisions were expected to be made based on budget, benefits, results, improvement in practice and relevance, not on teacher need. Teachers suggested having professional development become part of a middle leaders’ job description to increase the value and accountability of teacher development and learning.

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