Professional
development (PD) refers to any organizations’ arranged paths for employees to improve
their skills to adapt to changes. According to ERIC database, “professional
development for teachers” has more specification than the general definition of
PD:
"PD for teachers refers to “activity to
enhance professional career growth”. Such activities may include individual
development, continuing education, and in-service education, as well as
curriculum writing, peer collaboration, study groups, and peer coaching or
mentoring."
PD is important to
most organizations for human resources (HR) are one of their most valuable
assets, and PD can help them cultivate and improve the quality of their HR.
For educational institution, PD is more significant because HR in educational institution is the key to maintain or improve its education quality. In other words, PD is one important factor that is related to the survival of an educational institution. Identifying an education institution’s current PB can help it see clearly how to modify existed policies to provide their employees better incentive and resources to change.
For educational institution, PD is more significant because HR in educational institution is the key to maintain or improve its education quality. In other words, PD is one important factor that is related to the survival of an educational institution. Identifying an education institution’s current PB can help it see clearly how to modify existed policies to provide their employees better incentive and resources to change.
Sparks and
Loucks-Horsley (1989) suggest five models of educational institutions’ professional
development: Individually Guided Development, Observation and Assessment, Involvement
in a Development or Improvement Process, Training and Inquiry. As for teachers’
PD of My previous workplace, NOG, it seems to be a combination of Individually
Guided Development and Training.
Individually Guided Development:
This model is based more on
constructivism. In schools that fit in the model, teachers design their own
learning activities. An assumption that underlies this model is that
self-directed development empowers teachers to address their own problems and
by so doing.
Though what happen
in NOG to some extent matches the above described phenomenon, it is not the
result of carefully planned PD based on constructivism, but the result of
lacking well-designed curricula and learning material.
NOG’s main
business is intensive language training, which last no longer than 20 days for
a session. Generally speaking, students’ language ability can not improve
obviously in 20 days with whatever facilitation. However, such intensive
training courses are exceptionally welcomed in mainland China, for people’s
little understanding or language learning regulation and natural impatience.
NOG is more a corporation seeking profits than an educational institution, so
such courses are set up for making profits. The evaluation of teachers’
capability is students’ direct assessment. If the teacher can satisfy students’
need and make them happy, NOG normally will not intervene how teachers’ teaching
activities are organized.
Training:
The model includes development of the theory and rationale behind the
new behaviors to be learned, demonstration or modeling, practice in training
settings, and guided practice or peer coaching in the classroom with supportive
feedback from a colleague.
This is another
model that NOG partially matches. As the constant development of NOG, it lowered
its recruitment standard to bring in more teachers. Some teachers have serious
problems, which can be reflected in their students’ assessment data. In order
to maintain a relative high customer satisfaction degree, NOG started teacher
training program in 2006, which are held two sessions a year. One session can
last for about 3 months. The training mainly takes the form of peer
demonstration, and classroom practice with feedback.
Strategy for PD of
NOG
Economic
incentives are set to encourage teachers to perform better in teaching
practice. The bonus for each teacher is positively proportional to their scores
in students’ assessment. Besides that, opportunities for being included in
management staff are also provide to well-performed teachers.
Reference:
Hi Neo!
ReplyDeleteI found many representative teachers come from NOG. Some may like teaching via acting or story telling, and some are creative in English language learning. Do these phenomenons are most due to the culture and PD of NOG?
How do you think a culture of an organization can affect the staffs' performance in PD?
Nebula
When most teachers tell stories or jokes, they actually do not teach anything relevant to English. The fact behind the various activity in class is most teachers' lack of pedagogy and inadequately good English.
DeleteSorry, I really hate the so called culture in NOG.
New teachers actually are copying the senior teachers, believing it is the only way to get students' recognition.
Actually you do not like such phenomenon in NOG. So why so many young teachers will follow this method from the senior teacher?
DeleteI mean most students may feel very happy in class when hear many funny stories and jokes, but get few things about language learning after class. So how do you think the NOG in balancing the teaching and recreation? Do these problems can be classified due to the insufficiency of PD?
As we know, most students come to NOG just in order to learn some methods to get a high score in different English tests instead of hoping to improve their English sincerely. It leads to a result that most students can do good job in exam but their English's still so poor. So~ I wanna know how is ur organization balance this phenomenon, I mean, it focus more on 'helping students get a high score' or 'improve students' English'? Which is ur organization's performance measurement criteria?
ReplyDeleteMost students are naive and stupid. Their desire actually can not be reached in short time. Teachers in NOG satisfy their needs unscrupulously, even it may go against learning regulation.
DeletePS: I do not think students can get high score by merely "good methods of cracking exams".