Overview of Professional Learning and Development
In the context of education, the term Professional Learning and Development (PLD) refers to a wide variety of different activities such as special training, education and advanced professional skill development which can support professional growth. The aim of PLD is to improve the efficiency, competency and effectiveness of professionals, better utilization of strengths and bridging the weaknesses. PLD’s are essentially long term and sustainable development strategies that can influence better quality of professional learning and capacity building (Stewart 2014). This involves the educators/ trainers / teachers engaging the professional students in a stimulative way to support critical thinking, development of professional knowledge, and ensure that the practice is up to date and critically evaluated. Self evaluation practice is also an important part of PLD that helps the professional students to analyse their own strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities for further improvement. Models of PLD therefore should focus on the development of a challenging environment that supports the development of critical thinking, professional knowledge, professional skills, and conceptual understanding (Baldwin 2016). PLD is also an interactive approach that involves reflective practices and promotes learning from others in a collaborative manner. Furthermore, educational policies, professional standards and professional requirements inform the development of PLD. PLD can involve a cyclical process that includes planning of the course, engaging the students, analysing the impact of PLD, identifying the evidences of impact and engaging in professional dialogue (Cordingley 2015). The types of learning supported by PLD includes collaborative learning, learning through enquiries, learning that increases professional knowledge and conceptual understanding, and learning through research of best practices.
For educators PLD encompasses a wide variety of concepts, topics and strategies that supports the development of professional skills, knowledge and competencies. During my study as a professional teacher in a 1 year intensive course from the School Of Education, Australia, I was able to understand the concepts and perspectives of PLD, and how it fosters professional and personal development (Knobel and Kalman 2016). These concepts and perspectives are discussed below along with my reflection on those practices.
Accreditation from a professional university in professional teaching is very important as it brings together various professional skill developments, and enrolling in such a course helped me to develop my competencies and skills as a professional educator. Several important perspectives were identified. These perspectives are critically discussed next along with reflection on how it influenced my professional learning and development (Stewart 2014).
Perspectives of Professional Learning and Development
Studies show that the experiences and the knowledge of the teacher are of vital importance towards the promotion of learning and development in the students. When teachers and educators are experienced, they can use the strategies of instruction and education in a more efficient manner and support better performance among the students. Several authors have suggested that efficient teachers can make differences among all students, including the students who come from a disadvantaged background. These ideas were widely supported since the 1980’s, where it was widely believed by scholars and educators that good schools can help in the development of a positive learning environment for every student. Moreover, effective teaching methods and good schooling strategies can improve access to quality teaching for students and thus have high expectations on them. Similarly, ineffective teaching can severely disadvantage the learning and developmental process of the child, compared to students taught by competent teachers. I believe that developing professional knowledge and skills among teachers to use effective teaching strategies can help to support a more effective education, and hence PLD can support better learning strategies. Due to this perspective is very important (Hultquist 2016; Nisbet and Shucksmith 2017).
The content of the curriculum is a component of PLD that helps to foster a more in depth understanding of teaching strategies. Also, good content can help to improve the engagement of the students in the learning process. The richness of the content can thus be related to the effectiveness of the education and better understanding of the concepts. Studies show that PLD is mainly focussed on developing the content for the teachers which includes pedagogical knowledge, teaching skills and content foe the teachers. Also, a significant focus is given to programs that develop the knowledge of the content and how students can be supported to learn and understand their subject matter in a better way (Kirilova and Vlasova 2016). Teachers can utilise the PLD knowledge is a more effective manner when the content have direct relation to the curriculum taught to the students. Other studies have shown that PLD can help in better learning by the students, deepen the understanding of the teachers on the subject matter, and understand how to deliver the knowledge in an effective manner. In my opinion, developing the content of the PLD to include the subject matter being taught by the students can make the teachers more prepared for the classroom. However, a downside of this strategy would be the diversification of the PLD content, that would be influenced by the various subject matters across different domains of knowledge, and thus make the PLD content more streamlined to specific courses and curriculum. This implies that the perspective of having the right content to be of significant importance (Kirilova and Vlasova 2016).
The Significance of Experienced and Efficient Teachers
PLD also paves the path for future career growth, and sustenance of good teaching methods. Improving the skills and competencies can ensure a better career scope, and better professional skills, which can help to acquire better employment opportunities, enhance the scope of responsibilities and maximise the potential of the teachers. Moreover, through the improvement of teacher’s abilities, the performance of the education process can also significantly improve. Thus PLD provides a dual advantage for both personal growths as well as in the providence of better services to the society. Building the capacity of the teachers to impart better education to students can also help the students to perform better academically. In my opinion, the PLD course has helped me to deepen my knowledge and develop my professional competencies and skills to diversify my role as an educator, and thus given be a broader scope for my career and future growth. Since future development is a product of the development of skills with time, the perspective of future development is implied, and hence is not of significant importance to be given much focus (Stewart 2014; Cordingley 2015).
The Social Learning Theory (SLT) gives a theoretical perspective that integrates both the social and cognitive aspects of learning. The theory supports the development of knowledge through observation, in which observed behaviours and construction of new behaviours (without imitating others) helps in observational learning. In this perspective of PLD, the social, contextual and environmental factors that influence the process of learning are considered to identify strategies for effecting learning and development. This can help to improve the level of self efficacy of the teachers and help them to understand the social and contextual settings under which education is delivered. Such understanding can help the teachers to tailor the teaching strategies to fit specific social and environmental factors and how such factors affect the cognition of the students (Thomas and Simpson 2014). I believe that the social learning theory have helped me understand the differential needs of students from different social and ethnic backgrounds, and how their backgrounds can affect their learning process. Using this understanding, I was able to develop an understanding on the best practices to teach children from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This is important since such perspective helps to promote learning in a socially diverse context (Akers 2017).
Several studies have suggested that complex learning that is based on real life experiences, competence based education, project-based education and case study method can help in the improvement of real life task performance. Such a learning environment promotes the development of skills that enable the teachers to utilise their knowledge and capabilities in the classroom in a more effective way, and also integrate theoretical knowledge with practical utilization in a better manner. Complex learning also helps to develop coordination between individual skills and thus help in the transformation of specific knowledge into a continuum, helping in the integration of the various skills and knowledge developed into a single platform of understanding. This is an important perspective, as it helps to understand the relationship between environment and learning (Smith et al. 2017; Wu 2018).
Importance of Curriculum
One significant trend in PLD is a move towards enhancing the knowledge and understanding of challenging content for professional students. Such strategy have developed the values of accountability and responsibility towards the PLD programs, and equips the teachers in a more effective way to teach the difficult and challenging parts of the curriculum. In professional studies, challenging curriculum can be an integral part, as it involves a higher level of comprehension and understanding of the subject matter, and helps the teachers to be more prepared to answer student’s queries, doubts and confusions. Such contents can thus improve the skills and knowledge of the teachers and thereby improve the student outcomes. Strategies such as enquiry based learning can support redesigning of the curriculum and teaching strategies to involve the students in lesson studies (Thomas and Simpson 2014). I believe that the challenging content that was taught in my PLD course helped me to gain a deeper insight into my subject matter, deliver the knowledge to the students in a more efficient manner, and helped me answer student’s queries, doubts and concerns about the subject matter in a more effective way. Moreover, it improved my comprehension and analytical skills which promoted my personal development. This is however not a very important perspective, since a rich content can also have a complex structure, and hence, focusing on one of those perspectives is good enough (Smith et al. 2017).
Studies have shown that both critical reflection and personal reflection are vital in the development of core competencies and skills. These practices can help in the development of a deeper understanding of the subject matter, and how it is relevant to the non academic world. Through critical reflection, it is also possible to analyse research papers to identify best teaching practices, and how to implement them. It also helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various academic works, identify any research gaps. Personal reflective practice ensures efficient self analysis, and identifies scope for further development and growth, and hence supporting PLD (Rowles 2018). Through reflective practice, it is possible to analyse importance concepts, evaluate personal experience and develop theories that can be applied for teaching. Such practice not only helps in personal development, but also improves self awareness, a sense of community and improves confidence on self capacity. In the PLD course, I was able to use self reflection and critical reflection strategies to make journal entries, personal skill assessment, use tools like Johor Window and Force Field analysis to analyse my own strengths and weaknesses, and develop strategies for self improvement (Cox 2016). This is also an ital perspective, as it helps to connect critical and personal reflection to learning, and helps to understand hoe professional skills can be enhanced.
Career Growth through PLD
Before enrolling into the PLD course, I had a brief and incomplete understanding of the various concepts and theories that are involved in the development of professional skills and competencies. My initial belief was that PLD was aimed to improve teaching skills through teaching the different strategies to teach children. This assumption implied that the PLD would have a more of theoretical approach in the development of the concepts and principles of teaching and how to develop as a teacher. However, through the PLD course, I was able to understand the importance of developing skills and competencies to understand student behaviour, cognitive levels and incorporate best practice methods which are necessary for the development of teaching skills (Gould and Taylor 2017). The importance of having an in-depth knowledge of the subject matter was not unknown to me, since I used to teach children before. However, the extent of the knowledge that needed to be developed was not very clear me, which I was able to develop in my PLD course. Moreover, I did not know that PLD was also focussed on personal development, as well as professional development, which helped in future career growth (Knott and Scragg 2016). The inter-relationship between personal and professional growth was better understood after going through the PLD curriculum. One of the important skills that I could develop through the PLD course was a practice of self reflection and critical evaluation that helped me identify my own strengths and weaknesses, and develop a personal development plan (Redmond 2017). I was able to identify aspects of my performance and skills and segregate them using the Johari Window. In this strategy, I was able to know the factors that are hidden, unknown, open or in the blind spot, thereby helping to address the blind spots of my knowledge, and help in self discovery. Similarly, I was able to understand the interplay between teaching instruments, teaching strategies, environment, student’s capacity and the community in the achievement of effective education (Berland 2017). Such understanding has further helped in my professional learning and development (Stewart 2017).
Before enrolling in the PLD course, the only strategy I applied to develop my competency as a teacher was reading books. Although this helped be deepen my knowledge in the subject matter, it did not provide me any strategy on how to effectively deliver them. As a result, I had to learn from the strategies of other teachers. This was however not a very feasible solution, and thus limited my learning. Undergoing the PLD course, I was able to learn the different how to develop my competency as a teacher and deliver the lessons more effectively and also ensure my personal development. Learning different perspectives of PLD was pivotal in reinforcing my comprehension on the strategies to support effective learning and professional capacity building. Effective learning and teaching strategies taught in the PLD course, helped me understand good strategies to learn and teach, and utilise my knowledge in a more effective way (Sorensen and Brooks 2017). The importance of content of the subject was also highlighted, helping me to understand how a well developed, informative content and foster effective learning. I understood the importance of challenging content for professional learning and development as it requires higher understanding of the subject matter and better comprehension. Similarly, through the PLD course I was able to understand the inter relation between learning and environment, and how a complex learning environment for teachers can help in their development (Wang et al. 2018). During the curse I had to frequently use critical perspectives to discuss and analyse ideas, and use self reflective practices to analyse own ideas, strengths and weaknesses. Such understanding played a key role in the development of my capacity as a teacher, and take varied responsibilities in teaching people (Stewart 2017).
Social Learning Theory for PLD
Conclusion:
Professional Learning and Development is one of the most important paths in the journey of a professional. This path not only helps in the development of professional competency and capacity, but also helps in personal development. In the field of Education, Professional learning and development helps teachers to understand effective learning strategies that can help to improve professional skills and knowledge. Certain perspectives of PLD are very important to be considered, such as effective learning and teaching strategies, content, social learning theory, complex learning environment and critical & personal reflection. However, perspectives such as challenging content for teachers and future development can be given less focus, but nonetheless have some importance. I was able to learn various learning methods, and processes to improve learning and therefore ensure professional and personal development. I believe that the PLD course helped be develop my capacity as a teacher.
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