Submitted by
Jenny Johnson
on 13 February, 2009 - 10:35
Lifelong learning and continuous professional development in my opinion are much
the same thing. I doubt if many people would say that learning throughout one’s
life is not a good aim to have. However, as far as CPD (Continuing Professional
Development) goes, I have always been disheartened to see how some teachers are
happy to go on much as they always have done, doing a reasonable job but not
developing to any great extent. Meanwhile, others strive to push their
boundaries and actively create challenges for themselves, learning from their
experiences and adding to their skills and their self knowledge, often in their
own time.
Many of us are somewhere in the middle. We want to develop professionally, and
while we are mindful of maintaining a healthy work-life balance, we are prepared
to find the time we need within our working lives to learn, develop and thereby
improve our practice.
I recently did some research for a conference presentation via an email
questionnaire to experienced teachers, to find out about their CPD. Most of the
34 teachers who responded had been teaching for ten years or more, in private
language schools, universities and colleges. One question asked if they
considered their CPD opportunities to be good, adequate, inadequate or
non-existent; more than half of them said they considered their CPD to be good
or adequate. Another question asked what activities they had been involved in to
keep up their CPD. I also asked those who considered their CPD to be inadequate
what activities would be ideal for them.
These were the areas which emerged:
Experts
There is a lot to be learnt through taking advantage of all the experienced and
expert practitioners in the field of ELT, by attending sessions they may give at
conferences or, if teachers are lucky, talks that are available in their
vicinity. Reading readily-available articles and books written by ‘experts’ and
participating in online events or blogs with invited professionals is an
alternative if ‘experts’ are not available in the flesh somewhere near you.
F2F workshops
Similar to the above, but not necessarily with known ELT professionals. Often
teachers get a lot more out of smaller, more intimate workshops where there is
the opportunity to discuss and debate ideas and opinions and take away ideas for
classroom activities and to reflect on.
Online communities
These may include an interactive virtual conference such as the annual IATEFL
online conferences sponsored by the British Council, or the blogs on the
TeachingEnglish website, or other forums and discussion boards set up to
encourage participation around ELT topics by teachers from all over the world.
Talking informally
Joining other teachers in the staffroom discussing their next lesson or the
materials they are using is one of the easiest and most effective ways of
developing, especially if you borrow the ideas and try them out in your own
classes.
Individual reading
Another easy way to learn that can include internet materials and journals as
well as actual books, which can be expensive and difficult to obtain in some
parts of the world. We can read anywhere in any short piece of snatched free
time.
Reading groups
While reading is done individually, what is learnt can be formalised in
discussion in a reading group. Set a text to read and come together with
colleagues a few weeks later to discuss its content. So much can be learnt
through sharing of impressions and discussing issues the reading material
raises.
Programmed action research
You may be lucky enough to have a head of department or principal who wants
research results which shed light on what is going on in his or her institution,
and is prepared to provide time for teachers to provide the evidence. This is
one interpretation of programmed action research, though there are lots of
others, and teachers cannot help but learn from the experience and the results.
Individual action research
Similar to the above, but teacher-directed and not ‘imposed’. Often very small
scale, nevertheless so much can be learnt from studying your students or
yourself in the classroom, and there is a huge range of aspects of teaching
which you can put under an action research microscope.
Giving sessions
This can range from a small in-school meeting where teaching ideas are shared
right through to a session at a large international conference. All conference
speakers started small and all teachers have something to say. This is a
particularly effective way to develop due to the planning and research which
takes place before the session as well as the discussion and feedback which it
provokes.
Writing
Similar to the above, writing ranges from short articles right through to books.
Keeping a diary and reflecting on your teaching is a good way to start and there
are plenty of models out there to learn from, while the preparation and research
necessary teaches you as much as the writing and rewriting itself.
Doing a formal course
This is often the first thing people think of when they think about professional
development. But it is often the most prohibitive due to time and expense, and
often courses do not provide exactly what is needed. If you are lucky enough to
be able to follow a course, however, make the most of the time you have laid
aside for thinking and learning, because doing a course is a great way to
develop.
Membership of professional bodies
This can provide opportunities and facilitation of many of the areas above, and
although subscriptions can appear expensive, there is often so much offered by a
professional body that it justifies the expense. Prepare to be active though, as
so often you will get more out of it the more you put in yourself.
Other ways
The teachers I surveyed also talked about the following things they had done
that they found helped their professional development:
As you see there are plenty of ways to keep up your continuous professional
development in ELT. If a number of these activities are combined into a planned,
interlinked programme, with monitoring and evaluation, even if only by the
teacher him or herself, there can be real, satisfying results for teachers
wishing to keep up and improve their professional development.