Reimagining professional development for teachers

Professional development for teachers is on the rise

In July 2019 and July 2020, research company TeacherTapp asked teachers the same question: during the last 12 months, did you participate in any professional development activities? Responses for in-person training, attendance of conferences, reading professional literature, etc., remained broadly similar across the two years. But, perhaps unsurprisingly, participation in online courses or seminars more than doubled from 41% of respondents in 2019 to 83% of respondents in 2020. 
 
Since much day-to-day work moved online out of necessity, it’s sometimes tempting to dismiss these big switches as a temporary phenomenon borne out of necessity. But online professional development offers new opportunities to rethink the teacher training model. Rather than being a temporary shift, could this actually be setting a longer-term precedent?  
 
Here, Lewis Hall and Hayley Holuj from the UAE Ministry of Education’s English as a Medium of Instruction department share an example of online professional development that arose from lockdown, but may become a regular feature of the UAE’s in-service teacher training.

UAE Focus: Teacher Training During the Pandemic Using Our ‘One Best Thing’ Webinars

The ‘3i’ model of professional development in the teaching profession is well established: 

The first, refers to the ‘initial’ training which under-graduates experience in the pedagogy, psychology and philosophy of teaching. It is usually carried out in a university, college or online setting and develops skills which teachers will need when they begin their careers.

1. The first, refers to the ‘initial’ training which under-graduates experience in the pedagogy, psychology and philosophy of teaching. It is usually carried out in a university, college or online setting and develops skills which teachers will need when they begin their careers.
2. The second, refers to the ‘Induction’ and prepares the beginning teacher for the school in which they will be working. This course takes place immediately before they begin teaching in a school and for the few months following their start.  
3. The third, refers to ‘INSET’, or ‘In-service Education for Teachers’. Today, it is more often referred to as ‘Professional Development’, and purposely looks at the professional development for teachers.

Why is Continuing Professional Development Important?

Professional Development (PD), or ‘Continuing Professional Development’ (CPD) as it is sometimes known, guides and develops teachers through the lifetime of their career. It is through good quality PD3 professional development for teachers that early career teachers gain both competence and confidence. It is also how more experienced teachers keep in tune with new developments and improve their teaching. Through attending school-based or centre-based PD, teachers at all experience stages deepen their knowledge of their subject and how best to convey this knowledge to students.  
 
The most effective professional development for teachers provides opportunities for them to talk about their practice in their lessons and to showcase examples. It is similar to the process used with students in good teaching where the students are invited to talk about what they have learnt and to outline the processes they used and to explain why/how they found them helpful. This same critical thinking approach used in PD helps to develop teachers’ own analytical and evaluative processes and skills. It encourages them to think in the metacognition domain by, for example, asking of themselves a self-reflective question such as: ‘If that teaching approach I used to teach equivalence of fractions didn’t work for everyone, what and how could I adapt it next time to make it a better learning experience for all my students?’ 

The sharing of good practice amongst UAE teachers took on an exciting and creative form quite recently through the context of the present Covid-19 pandemic which has forced the closure of most schools across the globe. This act led directly and immediately to the exponential rise of distance iLearning. The Ministry of Education (MoE) embraced this concept instantaneously and enthusiastically and within only a few weeks of school closures, they had engineered arrangements which ensured teaching and learning for all levels across the UAE. The platform chosen for the Distance Learning Initiative in the UAE public schools is Microsoft Teams. 

More has been discussed and written about distance learning and continuing professional development for teachers in the past few months than in the previous twenty years. Understandably, its introduction and administration have not been trouble-free, issues being principally technical or pedagogical in nature. The MoE fast-tracked online professional development for teachers to help address issues and promote high quality learning and teaching in virtual lessons. One such initiative, devised by the English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Department to support teachers’ PD, focused on the sharing of good practice in distance learning (already known to be a key element of high-quality PD), but provided online through a webinar. It was called ‘One Best Thing’, and really highlighted the importance of professional development.

One Best Thing

The One Best Thing initiative was used to disseminate practical tips, tools and strategies that some teachers across the country were using in their lessons and which they found to be one of the major benefits of professional development. The presentations in the webinar ranged from features that teachers found useful in Microsoft Teams or other websites or apps, to strategies they found successful in encouraging students to undertake research and solve problems offline.  
 
All teachers were invited to submit their ideas beforehand. Those who were selected were provided with a slot in the webinar in which to present for the benefit of all other teachers across the country. The webinar was aired on four consecutive Thursdays in the early stages of the Distance Learning Initiative. The last day of the working week was chosen deliberately with the aim of sending all teachers off on their weekend with a positive vibe having just been presented with a range of good ideas by their peers.  
 
Each week around seven teachers were selected and given a three-minute slot to present their concept. The response from the country’s teaching force was very positive, with around 2000 viewing the production each week. Their appreciation for One Best Thing is reflected in feedback received from participants: 

•  ‘An excellent idea where educators share their experiences with new online tools and other apps’. 
• ‘It’s a great way to continue with Professional Development by seeing fellow practitioners share their positive experiences’. 
• ‘This is the most positive way of training teachers through distance learning’. 
• ‘The practice shown through One Best Thing gave me good ideas for improving my own virtual lessons’. 
   

The aspects of peer collaboration, that of teachers learning from other teachers, evident through the One Best Thing Initiative is supported by research. This form of professional development for teachers reported to be amongst the highest indicators of effectiveness in teachers’ development. It allows teachers to learn from their colleagues, transfer that knowledge to their practice and be reflective about what they have learnt (Sparks 2002). 
 
Additionally, Papay et al (2015) found that teachers learning from other teachers is at least as valuable as formal on-the-job training or the gains from experience in developing teaching skills. 
 
Given the likelihood that distance learning will continue in some form in the next academic year, possibly as part of a blended model of education, the development gained by teachers through the One Best Thing initiative and other online PD can only serve them and their students well.