The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Professional development mandated in legislation

Question: Do I have to reconfigure my entire next year’s calendar to incorporate professional development (PD) as mandated in the framework legislation?

Answer: You shouldn’t have to make wholesale changes to the PD time scheduled.

The intention of section C5 of the framework agreement (see “Section C5” below) is to ensure that teachers have access to PD that supports school jurisdiction, school and personal PD. In many jurisdictions, the bulk of PD time is spent on divisionwide goals and the remainder on school-based goals, which means that teachers resort to using their own time for goals related to their teacher professional growth plans. Your personal professional growth plan (PPGP) should include goals that specifically address your needs. Having time within the school calendar is critical to ensuring that your PPGP is credible.

What should happen is that a portion of the time already scheduled for division or school-based PD will be reallocated to personal PD activities. For example, instead of four divisionwide PD days, only three are offered and the other day is reserved for teachers to devote to personal professional activities. Or, in the case of a school with two early dismissal days a month for school-based PD, several of those days, over the course of the year, could be reallocated to personal PD.

Section C5

To implement elements of Inspiring Education, teachers must engage in ongoing professional development that considers School Jurisdiction, school, and personal professional goals. Commencing in the 2013–14 school year, each School Jurisdiction will ensure that time is dedicated from within the currently allotted non-instructional days or those times during the school year such as early dismissal days when students are not in attendance, to enable classroom teachers to:

a. collaborate with their colleagues in a professional learning community setting to benefit student learning and mitigate teacher workload, and

b. address the goals of their Personal Professional Growth Plan.

Questions for consideration in this column are welcome. Please address them to Gordon Thomas at Barnett House (gordon.thomas@ata.ab.ca).