Many professions are required to attend professional development training throughout their careers with the intent to carry out their learning in their roles. Education is no exception. Educators are expected to attend professional developments and implement their learning. However, as an educator who has attended professional developments, I know there is a gap in my implementation from the training to the classroom. Furthermore, as a professional development trainer, I have seen this same implementation gap in the participants I have presented to. Thus bringing to light my problem of practice “What supports do participants appreciate after a professional development session to help with implementation?”
My initial reaction was to survey teachers from my school site who recently attended a workshop I presented to see where they were in their implementation process. As I began to write the questions for this survey I realized it wasn’t the right path. I didn’t only want to know about their implementation of the workshop I presented, but professional developments in general. After reading the case study by Fritsch et al.(2007) and learning how their research included “observations and interviews with people, in their natural (residents), foreign (visitors) and familiar (workers) environments,” I realized I could do the same. In addition to teachers at my site, I wanted to interview principals, elementary teachers, secondary teachers, counselors and curriculum specialists throughout the district to get their perspective as the scene in which their implementation occurs is different. I created a generic survey that could be given to anyone who has attended professional development. Included were four questions:
After you attend a professional development, what things help you implement what you’ve learned?
What are some barriers you have experienced that keep you from being able to implement what you have learned?
What do trainers/presenters do that make implementation more likely?
Is there anything else you would like to share with me about the implementation of professional development?
Due to the hectic schedules of all involved it was best to email the questions and they could answer when it was convenient for them. I included a portion at the end of the survey where contact information could be shared for follow up.
Through the responses of the survey, I was able to gain a better understanding of professional development implementation from principals, elementary, middle and high school teachers. It seems to me that each of these stakeholders has an interest in implementing the lessons learned from professional developments but a common theme is having time to plan and practice. Time was not a surprise as I know how much time is spent in and out of the school day on education by myself and the educators I know and see on a regular basis. Another finding in my survey was that many of the educators surveyed said check-ins, follow through, and accountability would be helpful in the implementation process. This was a surprise to me because it was always my impression that educators don’t want to be told how to do their job or have their performance critiqued. My greatest insight through my empathy research is that in conjunction with follow up, there are many techniques that presenters can do during professional development that will help with implementation. Some of the most common mentioned were modeling, providing participants time to plan and practice during the workshop and providing handouts for future reference. This information will help me as I further explore my problem of practice.
References
Fritsch, J., Judice, A., Soini, K., & Tretten, P. (2007). Storytelling and repetitive narratives for design empathy: Case Suomenlinna. Nordic Design Research (Nordes), 2.
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