Managing Professional Development in Schools

Sonia Blandford

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781134642359
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The importance of professional development for teachers cannot be overstated. In recent years there has been much debate on how to raise standards in schools and it is now recognised by theorists, policy-makers and practitioners that the professional development of teachers is an important factor in this context. For professional development co-ordinators and senior management, knowledge and understanding of the nature of professional development roles and human resource management theories will provide a framework for practice. This book includes chapters on: *managing professional development in a human resources context *government policy *initial teacher training *the school development plan *appraisal *middle management *leadership skills. It will be of interest to co-ordinators of professional development in schools and across local education authorities, and to anyone who is part of a school's senior management team.

The School as a Learning Organisation

This section introduces the principles that inform the management of professional development within schools as learning organisations.

Chapter 1 introduces the management of professional development in schools, focusing on the school as a learning organisation, and defines the emerging principles. Also introduced here is the role of the school professional development co-ordinator.

Chapter 2 examines human resource management theories and defines total quality management as the underlying principle for the management of professional development within a learning organisation.

Chapter 3 traces the origins of the Investor in People standard, a government initiative that promotes professional development in organisations. A case study of a secondary school is presented as a means of determining the place of IIP within the context of schools as learning organisations.

1 Managing Professional Development in Schools

DOI: 10.4324/9780203021606-1

Introduction

The expertise and experience of its academic and administrative staff are a school’s most valuable resource, and for all teachers learning and development are central to professional practice. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, whole-school in-service education and training for teachers were considered by the government to be a suitable means by which to implement professional development for teachers and, more specifically, change. Since 1985, five days per academic year (so-called ‘Baker days’) have been allocated in all schools for staff development. After almost a decade, the government began to voice its recognition that the impact on practice of such training provision had been limited (TTA 1994) and that this was due, in part, to ineffective management by schools of the professional development of their teachers.

The government has addressed this issue by introducing a range of initiatives designed to improve the management of professional development. The challenge facing schools, and to a lesser extent the government, is how to manage these new initiatives alongside existing developmental activities. The first step in addressing this challenge is to establish just what opportunities are available for teachers.

The range of available professional development initiatives that will be discussed in this book is outlined in Table 1.1.

The management of teachers’ professional development encompasses many issues in addition to knowing what is available. The culture of the learning organisation and the diversity of adult learning styles are core issues to be addressed in this book, as also are the nature and function of professional development. These themes are discussed within the framework of whole-school development planning, starting with professional development.

Professional Development

Professional development performs four major functions within a school. It serves to

1. enhance individual performance;
2. rectify ineffective practice;
3. establish the groundwork for the implementation of policy;
4. facilitate change.

As such, professional development includes personal development, team development and school development. In addition to developing individual skills, professional development has a wider importance in promoting shared values and equality of opportunity.

If professional development is to be effective, resources (human and financial) must be allocated and directed to meet individual and school targets. Appraisal and inspection should also be seen as integral to the planning of professional development.

The effective management of professional development depends on individual enthusiasm, not compulsion, and on individuals prepared to take action in addressing their own professional needs. In a learning organisation staff will recognise for themselves the importance of keeping up-to-date, maintaining good practice and networking with others. Structures and systems have to be in place for the review and development of each member of the learning organisation. Effective communication is essential if all staff are to benefit from developmental opportunities.

In practice, the responsibility for developing staff is shared. The school as a whole has a responsibility to develop policies and provide resources for staff development. Professional development is not to be seen as something tagged-on to the other day-to-day functions of teachers: rather, it should be central to the process of strategic development planning which provides staff with in-house opportunities and guidance on new initiatives. Professional development should be considered integral to the management of innovation, change and reform.

A school which is a learning organisation will be able to make continuous improvements whilst adapting to change in the external environment. This is of particular importance in view of the requirements of the government’s new initiatives and changed funding arrangements, and their impact on the practice of professional development in schools. Those involved in the management of schools need to be aware of the internal and external parameters within which they work: confusion in these respects will lead to frustration and conflict.

The Purpose of Professional Development

The purpose of professional development can be summarised as the acquisition or extension of the knowledge, understanding, skills and abilities that will enable individual teachers and the schools–learning organisations in which they work to

• develop and adapt their range of practice;
• reflect on their experience, research and practice in order to meet pupil needs, collectively and individually;
• contribute to the professional life of the school, and as a practitioner interact with the school community and external agencies;
• keep in touch with current educational thinking in order to maintain and develop good practice;
• give critical consideration to educational policy, in particular how to raise standards;
• widen their understanding of society, in particular of information and communication technology (ICT).

An educational institution’s approach to professional development will depend on whether it views employees as a resource or a cost–commodity, its view of adults as lifelong learners, its educational goals and preferred methods for achieving them. These issues are discussed in more detail in Chapter 2. Ultimately, in each school, the aim of professional development is to improve practice in the classroom.

Management Teams

In their early professional years individual teachers, assisted and guided by the management teams responsible for their employment and the support of their development, should seek to develop abilities in respect of

• recognising the diverse talents and capabilities of their individual pupils;
• identifying and providing for the special learning needs, strengths and weaknesses of all pupils;
• evaluating, assessing and reporting on their pupils’ learning and adjusting their expectations as teachers accordingly;
• providing for the social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of their pupils;
• their own professional knowledge, skills, strategies, techniques, beliefs and values, and personal characteristics such as awareness, imagination and enterprise;
• their working relationships with their teaching and support colleagues, the parents of their pupils, the governors of the school, and members of external agencies;
• their administrative, pastoral and legal responsibilities.

Types of Professional Development

Teachers and support staff will normally associate professional development with In-service Education for Teachers (INSET), defined as ‘planned activities practised both within and outside schools primarily to develop the professional knowledge, skills, attitudes and performance of professional staff in schools’ (Hall and Oldroyd 1990c). INSET has been a ‘catch-all’ term encompassing diverse continuing professional development and training opportunities. In practice, the only experience of INSET for the majority of teachers is of the compulsory training days managed by either LEA advisory teams or senior managers in schools. This should change soon, as the government now requires all schools to have a professional development policy that affords a range of opportunities and modes of participation.

The management of professional development will involve consideration of different types of professional development activity (Bolam 1993), including:

Practitioner development	School-based development, self-development, induction, mentoring, observation, job-shadowing and team teaching
Professional education	Award bearing courses managed and taught at higher education institutions (HEIs), focusing on the relationship between educational theory and practice, and leading to higher education accreditation and professional qualifications
Professional training	Conferences, courses and workshops that emphasise practical information and skills, managed and delivered by LEAs, schools’ external consultants or trainers from HEIs. Such courses may lead to academic awards or accreditation towards national standards
Professional support	Provided by colleagues and managers in fulfilment of contractual conditions of service; e.g. recruitment and selection procedures (including job descriptions), promotion, career development, appraisal, mentoring, team building, redeployment and equality of opportunity.

How each of the above is implemented will depend on the knowledge, skills and abilities of individuals, teams, managers and advisors. Part III offers practical advice on professional development activities for teachers in a learning organisation. The quality of such activities will depend, in turn, on the extent to which a school approximates a learning community with a positive developmental culture.

Policy

The effective school will have a professional development policy which is generated by a team representing the views of staff at all levels. To begin with, the analysis of institutional strategies for development and individual appraisal targets provides the information that will determine the content and direction of the policy. That there is tension between the individual and institutional requirements of staff development is well known, so that when planning a professional development programme it is important to try to find a balance between the needs of the institution and the aspirations of all who work within it. These two elements generally overlap, though initially differences in prioritie...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Dedication
• Foreword by John Welton
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Part I The School as a Learning Organisation
• 1 Managing Professional Development in Schools
• 2 TQM and the Management of Professional Development
• 3 Investors in People
• Part II The National Context
• 4 Government Policy
• 5 Initial Teacher Training
• 6 Practitioners
• 7 Leadership
• Part III Whole-School Development
• 8 The School Development Plan
• 9 Appraisal
• 10 Middle Management
• 11 Managing Professional Development as a Resource
• 12 The Way Forward Performance Management in Schools
• Appendix: learning styles questionnaire
• Bibliography
• Index