Staff Professional Development

Professional Development (PD) can take many forms such as a quick discussion with colleagues to participating in professional learning at school or with an external provider.

Throughout Term 1, teachers have primarily engaged in enhancing their knowledge of VCE subjects in regards to curriculum knowledge and examination feedback. Initially this term, Educational Support (ES) staff are engaging in PD that supports them in their roles.

On Friday 4th March we had a whole school professional learning day where we furthered our knowledge of what an instruction model is (a framework in which to base lessons or student learning) and we looked at a variety of other schools’ models, to investigate which structures and parts we preferred. There were workshops run by teachers looking at high impact teaching strategies such as worked examples, metacognition and questioning and parts of the E5 model (DET instructional model).

The ES staff participated in Science activities such as using the Van der Graaf generator and reacting bicarbonate of soda and vinegar together. Over the last few years they have participated in activities in different areas of the school such as home economics, ceramics and music. “It is such a great way to see other areas of the school that we wouldn’t normally see,” commented a member of the office staff.

This term we are beginning peer observation in classes, where teachers visit other teachers’ classes, to provide feedback on an area that the teacher would like to improve. My class has already participated in this and it benefits them by improving the teaching and learning and seeing their teachers continually learning. As a side note, my students are quite interested in the feedback I received which I will share with them shortly.

Bronwyn Cambridge

Learning Specialist: Feedback.