Like many schools we are increasingly preferring in school, whole staff PD to off site, one-off sessions. We’re seeing that sending 2-3 people to a course then expecting them to come back and be able to spread key messages is a big ask. No matter how passionate about a course or topic, you need to be very persuasive to be able to share the in-service knowledge with colleagues who weren’t there and to “make it stick” in the school. Compare that to being able to have all your staff hear the same message, from the same speaker, at the same time, in the comfort of your own home! (or staffroom at least).
This year I have tried to steer away from courses (having been inadvertedly helped by the cutting of advisory services – there just isn’t so much on offer these days) unless they are fully or partly subsidized, scheduled at a date/time that suits the school programme, and ties into one of our school goals for the year. Instead I am making greater use of in school PD. We have two outside consultants working with us this year – one Literacy, focusing on writing, and one leadership/ pastoral – and I am seeing increased buy-in and commitment from staff. Anything that is agreed on in one of our Literacy sessions becomes embedded as a school-wide belief/ practice pretty quickly which is great. This is much easier than the aforementioned 2-3 teachers coming back from a course and trying fruitlessly to spread the same message.
Another advantage – to use the Writing consultant as an example – is that having one person in your school on a regular basis ensures that the feedback and advice given is school specific and relates to our needs. It means teachers can get the one-on-one specific support they require, and as a leadership team we have an independent voice viewing things at the school and being able to have input. As a principal I really value the informal chats I get with our consultant – she works in a number of schools so can share what is happening over the other side of our school gate, which we can sometimes lose sight of in a busy week.
There is also a really good PR spin-off to the school community – seeing consultants in the classrooms and school sends a positive message about the andragogical learning that goes on in our school and powerfully communicates that we are focused on improving learning outcomes. As an example our community knows well that we are focused on writing practices in 2011; this is because we talk about it a lot but also because the parents see evidence of it in our classrooms and in the learning conversation starters that teachers are now employing. Compare this to the griping about “teachers are always out of classrooms or away on courses” and there is a much better return by working in school on PD initiatives.
Finally I have come to see that the PD budget is actually better spent having someone coming in and working with the staff. Having 3 staff going away to a course is almost $900 in reliever costs. Add in the potential petrol and course costs, it is easy to spend over $1500 in a day for little return or impact. That $1500 can alternatively go a long way in terms of having someone regularly in our school working with our staff in our classrooms at our point of need. I was reviewing the accounts with a BOT member recently on this point – we were talking about the opportunity cost of different decisions that we make in day-to-day operations – staff PD being one of them.
Admittedly some things are lost in this approach. Teachers need to get out of school occasionally to see what else is happening in education. You can’t get that broader mindset if you only ever work in one school or have all your PD being provided in your own school yard. The opportunity to network with other colleagues during in-services is really important and building those types of connections is vital. Going to something like Learning@School, ULearn or Teachers Matter is huge too in terms of personal and professional growth. I know that such conferences can really challenge your thinking and stretch your tent pegs. Those types of events, and the quality of speakers that they attract, can’t be replicated so easily in a school environment.
Having seen the benefits of refocusing on in-school PD as opposed to external providers, I think it is the main way for us to go now as a staff. We are committed to writing as a focus for the next two years but after that, who knows? It will depend on what the data tells us we need to work on. Whatever it is we will be focused on it in school rather than through external courses or providers.
