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Continuous Professional Development in teaching need of the hour

How teaching can be improved, as can learning, through Continuous Professional Development.

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Imagine an engagement with a doctor, lawyer or a chartered accountant. If you knew that this professional you are trusting with some important information, assets or decisions – is not well-informed or is not up-to-date with the changes happening in her profession – how comfortable would you be, entrusting your health or your money with her? We can assume, quite uncomfortable.

In most professions, Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is linked to the right-to-practice or renewal of the license-to-practice. CPD ensures that professionals are up-to-date with the latest changes and updates in their profession through short-term courses which are often mandatory. However, this is not a prevalent practise in the case of teachers. To understand the importance of CPD, we only have to  imagine going to a doctor, a lawyer or a chartered accountant, who has not kept up to date with the changes in techniques, laws, rules and regulations in the profession. 

Now, do the same exercise entrusting the future of your child to a teacher who has not been given a planned and systematic continuing education for a while. How uncomfortable does that make you feel?

World over, many countries have defined some form and structure of CPD for teachers, with different policy options at national, regional, local and even at individual school levels. The most common policy option is a minimum requirement of hours or days in a given period. In many countries, CPD is mandatory. 

In India, the NCFTE (National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education) which was published in 2009-10 by the NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) has described an approach for Teacher CPD. Various organisations have been tasked with implementing CPD for teachers, including Institutes of Advanced Studies in Education (IASEs), University Departments of Education, and the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), in close collaboration with SCERTs. Academic Staff Colleges (ASE) routinely conduct ‘refresher’ sessions for teacher.

The SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan) has even defined that each teacher is to receive 20 days of training every year. And while there is some activity happening in this field, it is far from satisfactory and a lot needs to be done, and soon. And while governmental initiatives will take their own time to deliberate and debate the best ways to get this done, we have to do our bit in contributing to Teacher CPD.

Industry Participation
For a while now, industry has been complaining about the quality of graduates and their ‘unemployability’ when they come out of university. Many companies have built their own training centres which make fresh graduates go through ‘practical’ training before they are ‘ready to work.’ This is a waste of time for the industry, teachers, and students. If industry were to contribute to Teacher CPD in a way that helped teachers make the classroom relevant to the skills and knowledge that the market seeks, we could save time and money. And while this may seem pertinent only to higher education, schools can also benefit significantly by such participation from the industry. Teachers already know ‘how to teach.’ With industry participation in teacher education, it will add relevance, application, and convergence in ‘what to teach.’

Parent Support
While the government will do its bit and industry may choose to pick up the cudgel for Teacher CPD, the strongest, and perhaps the most influential voice has to come from the parents. While parents may not seem to be the natural choice as contributors to a good CPD programme, they are best placed to ensure that teachers do undergo formal and structured CPD. Schools have to notice the interest that parents have, in the professional development of teachers, which will not happen unless parents keep asking questions about what a school is doing to implement CPD in the school. 

Having made the case to implement Teacher CPD through the industry and through parents, a simple push will not cause CPD to happen. There are other enablers that must be in place, along with the push.

Those enablers are:

  • Teachers should be given enough time to get through their CPD requirements.
  • A systematic and a structured annual plan has to be in place for Teacher CPD. 
  • Teachers should be consulted on what they need and CPD content should be developed in collaboration with teachers. 
  • Appropriate resources should be made available to teachers to complete CPD requirements.
  • Periodic feedback should be collected to understand the effectiveness and the relevance of the CPD material, as it relates to problems of practise.
  • Finally, teachers themselves should not look at CPD as an interference, but as a means for them to develop themselves as professionals.

The Curriculum Framework for Quality Teacher Education (NCTE) states that:

Teachers are the torch-bearers in creating social cohesion, national integration and a learning society. They not only disseminate knowledge but also create and generate new knowledge. They are responsible for acculturating role of education. No nation can even marginally slacken its efforts in giving necessary professional inputs to its teachers and along with that due status to their stature and profession.

We do not need any more reason to do our part in supporting teachers achieve their best.

(The author is an education and technology consultant and founder of eVeltio. He works with schools and teachers to help improve performance and develop creative classrooms.)

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