Continuous Professional Development Issues and Challenges for India

1
Continuous Professional Development Issues and
Challenges for India

• Dr. Amol Padwad
• National President, ELTAI
• J. M. Patel College, Bhandara

2
The Opening Statement

• The teacher is seen as the (sole) key agent in
  successfully bringing about change in education,
  but changing the teacher teacher development
  is usually the most neglected area in change
  policies and plans.

3
Professionalism Changing Views

• 1975
• Professionalism implies those strategies and
  rhetorics employed by members of an occupation in
  seeking to improve status, salary and
  conditions.
• Hoyle, 1975 315

4
Professionalism Changing Views

• 1996
• Professionalism is about the quality of
  practice.
• Sockett, 1996 23
• 2001
• Professionalism is a term used to describe
  enhancement of the quality of service.
• Hoyle, 2001 146

5
Professionalism Changing Views

• 2001
• Professionalism consists of the attitudes and
  behaviour one possesses towards ones profession.
  It is an attitudinal and behavioural orientation
  
• Boyt et al, 2001 322

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So What has Changed?

• New views not replacements, but additions
• Greater focus on individuals role and
  responsibility
• Externally articulated and imposed perception,
  but scope for individual interpretation and
  revision
• Movement from accountability to autonomy

7
What is implied in CPD?

• Lifelong learning
• Continuous ongoing process
• Fusing the personal and the professional
  development
• Personalised for individuals
• Voluntarism
• Autonomy and accountability

8
CPD in India Top View

• Equated with in-service training/ education
• Not seen as a process but as a series of events
• Restricted to acquiring certain skills/
  knowledge, especially ICT
• Objectives, content and delivery externally
  planned and imposed
• Stress on being formal and uniform
• Little scope for individual diversity

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CPD in India Bottom View

• Highly diverse, individual, personal views of
  development
• Interest in increasing language competence,
  enhancing status, moving towards expert or
  academic roles
• No significant premium on new pedagogic
  knowledge, tools or technology

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Issues for CPD in India

• No clear and common understanding about CPD
• Lack of official sanction/ recognition
• Lack of systemic support
• Shortage of human and material resources
• Low teacher motivation for CPD

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Tasks at Hand

• Think of CPD in its own right, beyond INSET
• Arrive at a workable common notion of CPD
• Evolve framework and policies to promote CPD
• Develop mechanisms and support systems backed by
  official approval
• Balance between demands of individual diversity
  and systemic uniformity

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Tasks at Hand

• Balance between teacher needs/ wants and systemic
  requirements
• Combine bottom-up voluntarism and top-down
  support
• Balance between general mandates and individual
  freedom

13
Other Expectations

• Recognise and support individual and
  institutional CPD initiatives
• Help individuals to evolve personal
  understanding, agenda and action plan for CPD
• Collaborate with TAs, NGOs and corporate world

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Possible CPD Initiatives

• Promoting school-based, town-based or other kinds
  of PD communities
• Introducing and consolidating mentoring system
  (school-based or otherwise)
• Supporting the establishment of PD resource
  centres
• Widening access to available on-line resources
  and websites

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Possible CPD Initiatives

• Promoting networks of PD experts, mentors
  trainers, policy- and decisions-makers,
  educational leaders, etc
• Creating a database of practices, people,
  material and resources in CPD and mechanisms for
  sharing of these
• Setting up mechanisms of support, incentives and
  recognition for CPD efforts by teachers,
  institutions and other agencies

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An Example - The ETC Experiment

• English Teachers Clubs as small, voluntary,
  informal self-help groups
• Set up, owned and managed by teachers
• Collective planning, decision-making, sharing of
  responsibilities
• Better able to respond to specific individual
  needs
• Members meet periodically to share, study, speak
  English, help each other, organise activities for
  themselves

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The ETCs Advantages

• ETCs are found to
• Develop sense of agency, autonomy
• Promote innovation and experimentation
• Enhance skills and knowledge, impact and job
  satisfaction
• Provide forum for exchange and sharing
• Build and consolidate networking among teachers

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The ETCs - Challenges

• The impact of ETCs is restricted by
• Lack of recognition, formal or informal
• Lack of support from authorities
• Constraints of time, money and resources
• Long-term sustainability

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The ETCs Potential CPD Model?

• Bottom-up initiatives (like ETCs) with top-down
  support from education authorities has a great
  potential
• Can combine diversity, personalisation and
  voluntarism at the bottom with uniformity,
  systemic requirements and standardisation at the
  top

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Two Fundamental Questions

• 1. How to motivate teachers to undertake a
  lifelong journey of development?
• 2. How can the system help teachers embark on
  their individual journeys without imposing a
  common travel plan or destination?

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• Thank you for your patience !
• amolpadwad_at_gmail.com

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References

• Boyt, T. E, Lusch, R. F., Naylor, G. 2001. The
  role of professionalism in determining job
  satisfaction in professional services a study of
  market researchers. Journal of Service Research,
  3(4), 321-330.
• Hoyle, E. 1975. Professionality, professionalism
  and control in teaching. In V. Houghton et al,
  eds. Management in Education the Management of
  Organisations and Individuals. London WLE OUP
• ------, 2001. Teaching prestige, status and
  esteem, Educational Management and
  Administration, 29 (2), 139-152.
• Sockett, H. T. 1996. Teachers for the 21st
  century redefining professionalism. NASSP
  Bulletin, May, 22-29.