To improve inclusive practices in schools, officials need to strengthen their approaches and systems towards the professional development of teachers to initiate demonstrable change. As part of its 2017-2021 partnership VVOB will support FSDOE with this endeavour.
A first step in this process is reflecting on and improving of the understanding of Continuing Professional Development. In March and April, officials of both Curriculum and Inclusive Education sections, jointly engaged in learning on CPD and PLCs as well as the SACE CPTD Management System.
Effective Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
The main objective of the first part of the workshop was to equip participants with better understanding about Effective Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Participants learned more about effective CPD practices and reflected on their current practices. They realised that:
- poor alignment and communication of development initiatives often confuse teachers and principals.
- professional development activities ought to take participants from a point of awareness all the way to mastery of new skills.
- a supportive environment is essential for implementation.
- school leadership plays a key role in setting up such an environment for learning.
Professional Learning Communities (PLC) another CPD method
One effective CPD practice is bringing teachers together to learn with and from each other. These groups are called Professional Learning Communities (PLC). PLCs are currently being established in many provinces, but many role players have different understandings of what PLCs are which leads to confusion. Participants engaged with the concept of PLCs and realised that PLCs are in essence a method for professional development, not a structure per se. Participants then reflected on how this insight can impact their daily work.
SACE CPTD Management System
The focus then shifted to the SACE CPTD Management System. Many officials had so far not been exposed to this system which is basically at the one hand trying to create an encouraging environment for teachers to engage in CPD and the other hand trying to protect teachers by ensuring the quality of the providers and programmes. Officials learned about the sign up and accumulation of points. The system also implies that officials should actively follow up on whether the programmes they are training teachers in are endorsed by SACE.
What is next?
This was the first workshop of a series of support moments. The trajectory aims to bring officials from different sections (a.o. Inclusive Education and Curriculum) together to streamline and enrich the support they give to teachers. As from May participants will start working with concrete case studies (their own) and see how they can support change.
More pictures can be found here:
23-24/3 Bloemfontein, 28-29/3 Bethlehem, 11-12/4 Bloemfontein
