The Importance of Continuing Professional Development as an Educator

Kevin Dajee November 29, 2018 1 Comment

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) enables educators to keep up-to-date with knowledge in their field as well as with the newest pedagogical approaches.

CPD offers newly qualified teachers an opportunity to explore a variety of new methods and techniques (in addition to the standard theories and techniques outlined on a teacher training course) from experienced practitioners to add to their tools going into the profession whilst also providing and encouraging longer serving teachers to stay in touch with the most recent developments in the profession and to continue to challenge their own teaching practice. Therefore, on the surface, it may seem obvious as to why educators should engage in regular CPD, but I wanted to reflect upon this experience much deeper. With a year of CPD behind me and in taking an introspective approach in analysing my experiences, seven key aspects emerged as important.

I have in recent years had such an enriched experience of CPD by attending sessions and delivering my own workshops. It’s been a fun ride and a journey which will continue, from finally catching up with Martin Griffin and engaging with his session on Mindset and looking at the VESPA intervention model, chatting to Mark Burns on Teaching Backwards, developing and discussing feedback strategies with Pete Sanderson, realising my own moral teaching compass with Ewan McIntosh, further developing my coaching and leadership skills at an 18 month ASCL Leadership Development course and delivering my own workshops and talks on Effective questioning in the classroom and how to best utilise technology such as Kahoot! as an effective assessment tool, and delivering a session on the use of Sticky Notes in Collaborative Learning; there has always been a lot to think about and to implement and a lot to be excited about going into a new academic year invigorated and ready to try out new things and to share what I had found with my colleagues and students!

As the summer ended I began to reflect on all that I have attended and how I will implement elements into my practice, seven thoughts about the importance of CPD came to mind which I initially scribbled on sticky notes on the train ride home from my last event of the academic year event:

1) Choice is Important

Part of why I enjoy teaching is being able to choose the CPD that I can attend and that I deliver. There is a greater sense of investment when we individually make choices that allow us to shape our own individual teaching practice. Choice is important, every teacher should not be seen to be exactly the same, part of the joy is sharing your individual skills with each other, learning from the feedback of students, refining your practice, developing confidence and building an awesome playlist that will engage your audience- your students! Jimi Hendrix did just that, he learned from others, he played with others, a blues lick and a guitar riff here and there, and some unique methods of delivery (much of it experimental) and he developed his own sound. It’s what makes Hendrix uniquely different from Clapton and vice versa, both are masters of the guitar but have each developed their own unique style of playing; ultimately, they made choices as to what they wanted to learn, try out, practice and add to their work! Unless it is a national or college wide initiative, attendance should be voluntary and that individual teachers should be allowed to choose a CPD course they think will help inform and enthuse their professional development and add to their teaching repertoire.

 

2) Cost effective in-House CPD

The most cost-efficient way to help teachers refresh their knowledge and pedagogical practice is to encourage exchange of information and ideas between the teachers in their own school, and I very much enjoy sharing my latest experimental techniques with colleagues in meetings and TeachMeets. The best resource to access often are the individuals you work alongside and you and your colleagues are well placed to develop CPD opportunities that are directly applicable to the institution that you work in and to the students that you teach.

 

3) Teaching is Evidence and Practice-based: You must experiment with techniques!

One of the things I find most enjoyable is meeting colleagues from other schools and attending and delivering my own workshops. By showcasing and sharing the experimental techniques, talents, research-based and experience-based practice, teachers will remain in touch with different modes of delivery as well as advances in their field of expertise which can only help to raise overall the standards of the education system and the teaching profession to a higher level.

 

4) There is a wealth of Online Resources to discover

Teachers should take advantage of online materials and resources such as online courses, webinars, social media interactions and opportunities to collaborate, all of which are easily accessible and cost-efficient methods of developing and sharing teaching practice. There has never been a better time to share resources and to connect and network with educators across the globe. Using social media as part of my ongoing CPD especially Twitter has allowed me to learn from other inspiring educators and to globally share my ideas and practices.

 

5) Demonstrate Professional Growth and a willingness to Learn and develop competence and confidence

Continuing professional development is important because it ensures that as educators we all continue to grow and develop competency in our profession. It is an ongoing process and continues throughout an educator’s career. Modelled behaviour is important and students look up to a confident educator that is always willing to learn and develop (sometimes through challenging circumstances), and that demonstrates professional growth. I have often with enthusiasm and excitement outlined to my class some of the recent CPD that I have attended and have outlined to the class new techniques and technologies that I will be experimenting with and will be trying out and I look for feedback from my students who are equally intrigued and interested to try thing out. Students certainly develop a more positive approach to learning when they see a confident enthusiastic teacher who is willing to learn and that takes an evidence and practice based approach in their practice. It’s a great way to enrich your practice without adding too greatly to your workload and the impact and reflections of any CPD should form part of any work review so that you can reflect upon the level of professional growth that has occurred.

 

6) Provides opportunities to develop and sharpen skills through Deliberate Practice

With some guidance from an enthusiastic curriculum leader, I chose some specific teaching and questioning techniques gained from reading and attendance at CPD events, and most importantly applied the concept of Deliberate Practice. Within a term I saw some positive results in my own practice which translated to positive outcomes for students. By the end of the academic year I felt that I had mastered the technique and could start to think about what I could develop next.

Psychologist, Ericsson (1993) has been a pioneer in researching deliberate practice. Deliberate practice refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. Regular practice might include mindless repetitions and simply repeating behaviours, but deliberate practice on the other hand requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance. One of Ericsson’s core findings is that how expert one becomes at a skill has more to do with how one practices than with merely performing a skill a large number of times. An expert breaks down the skills that are required to be expert and focuses on improving those skill chunks during practice or day-to-day activities, often paired with immediate coaching feedback. Another important feature of deliberate practice lies in continually practising a skill at more challenging levels with the intention of mastering it (Mayer, 2008). As a teacher I did just that and was able to develop and sharpen certain skills well enough to feel comfortable enough to say that I had mastered that specific skill to the point whereby I was able to deliver CPD sessions of my own. Deliberate practice allowed me to focus on the development of applying my CPD and its impact.

7) It benefits everyone!

Good quality CPD benefits everyone. A workshop facilitator develops their confidence in sharing teaching practice with others. Workshop attendees are enthused with new ideas to try out in class, will have new ideas as part of collaborative planning in a department and may even be willing to deliver their own workshops. Students ultimately benefit from the cycle of good effective CPD and the standards of the profession are raised as a result. The impact of such CPD is demonstrated in the behaviours and attitudes of educators and students which eventually transfers to successful outcomes for all parties involved in the learning process. Engagement in CPD helps to promote key employability skills and encourages each generation of  both teachers and students to develop a lifelong learning approach within their careers.

 

Engaging in good quality CPD ensures we are ready to adapt to the ever growing changes within the education system and that also allows those in the profession to meet the increased demands; make it part of your teaching philosophy! As we move into each new season, a new opportunity presents itself for us to do something new, to try something bold, something beautiful; something that ultimately assists you and that enriches the experience of your students!

 

References

Ericsson, K. A; Ralf Th. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Romer. The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance. Psychological Review 1993, Vol. 100. No. 3, 363-406

Mayer, R. E. (2008). Learning and Instruction.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.