More strategic approach to P.D. required

Professional development programmes for teachers need to be carefully scrutinised and schools need to strategise where they are spending money in these areas, leading NZ educational organisation CORE Education says.

Based in Christchurch with a team of professional development facilitators throughout NZ, CORE Education was responding to two recently released Education Review Office reports criticising the way some schools were managing their professional development programmes.

One-off, skills-based experiences, and workshops that follow a ‘formulaic approach’ simply don’t have lasting value, CORE’s director of development Nick Billowes says.

“There are an array of development issues that schools must address constantly,” Mr Billowes says.

“Schools are complex organisations with widely differing professional learning and development needs within their staff and also between one another.

“It’s crucial that schools take a look at their learning and teaching environments with quality data and analysis pointing out the changes needed in their schools in terms of professional learning and development programmes,” Mr Billowes says.

Quality facilitation and support are also important to ensure that the impact of the professional development is both significant and long term.

CORE was pleased to see the issues highlighted in the ERO reports. ERO’s call for schools to undertake quality self-review as part of developing their professional learning and development programmes is especially important, as it surfaces at a time when the government is cutting back on its investment in professional development.

“The ERO reports demonstrate a clear link between quality professional learning and the achievement of students, and there is plenty of evidence about to support what sorts of professional learning and development activities are most effective,” Mr Billowes says.