Key Principles to (Actually) Improving Teachers’ Professional Growth
Want to maximize teacher professional growth? Quality pedagogy and training structures are not enough to guarantee the development you are looking for. In fact, sometimes the efforts of educational leaders to support teacher professional growth actually results in frustration, disgruntlement, stress, and low morale among staff. So why aren’t best practices in professional development working?
When teachers’ mindsets are not open or receptive to learning, then the content and delivery of the training is meaningless. So, how do you inspire a mindset that leads to teacher professional growth?
Fostering a Culture of Trust: Much of the success, or lack thereof, of Professional Development (PD) isn’t based on the training itself, but on the relationships and culture that has been established between school leadership and faculty beforehand. If the goal is for teachers to grow, then they need to be willing to stretch themselves out of their comfort zones. It is difficult to do this if there is a fear of failure or fear of being criticized or penalized.
Hear every voice: As with fostering a culture of trust, hearing every voice is something that needs to happen regularly in order for teachers to feel safe in speaking their thoughts in a PD. Hearing a voice begins with acknowledging what someone has said and the value that the person is speaking from. It doesn’t necessarily mean changing course with every comment or criticism but, when people feel comfortable sharing their unique perspective, it can result in leaders recognizing better alternatives that weren’t thought of previously. Other times, reflecting genuine interest in the person’s perspective and supporting their needs as best possible is enough.
Establish early buy-in: While the value of the PD should be crystal clear in the mind of the educational leader before PD planning begins, don’t assume that faculty understand the value without it being communicated to them. Consider if you have communicated this value in a way that is clearly understood by your faculty and that resonates with them. Consider, how does this impact the current conditions of our teachers’ experiences? How will this better their experience? Will this make their responsibilities easier or more difficult? How will it support student success? When answering these questions, use the answers to introduce the initiative. By launching an initiative with a clear purpose that teachers readily see value in, you will be increasing their openness to the idea and prime their readiness to engage with the learning.
Teams can generate a ton of laughter and positive energy with just a couple of rounds of Chaos in the Classroom as a team builder.
Team building: Teachers have so little time to connect with one another. Use a part of PDs as a time to help teachers connect in meaningful ways. Choose activities that connect teachers, give them authentic opportunities to get to know one another better, celebrate themselves, and have some fun. Kicking off a learning experience with fun and lively engagement activates the brain’s dopamine system, stimulating motivation and long-term memory - definitely worth spending time on to kick off the learning!
Meaningful engagement: Follow the same guidelines for PD as we ask teachers to follow with their students. Spend no more than ⅓ of the PD presenting information and give at least ⅔ of the time for teachers to explore the concepts and apply them to their own classrooms. Allow teachers to work in flexible groups of their choosing.
By giving attention to these key principles you will improve teacher professional growth regardless of the topic of your PD. Interested in learning more about how to become effective in these cornerstones of creating a collective mindset that is prime for professional growth and development? Sign up below to receive email notifications for the upcoming series that will take a deep dive into how to integrate these principles into your leadership.
I will be following up with posts on this topic leading up to the 2024-2025 school year - stay tuned and fill out the form below to get notified when we post!
