Professional development is needed for teachers

April 29, 2017 Educator's Corner Opinion

Recognizing that school teachers have important roles in providing quality education to our children, teachers need to strengthen their capacity and reinforce own personal capacity and ability to teach. This will serve as a vehicle for improvement. Since excellent teachers produce excellent learners, professional development is needed to improve the skill of a teacher.
Likewise, in order to truly change practices, professional development should not occur over time but must preferably be done continuously.
Most get professional development through workshop-based professional development, school visits, coaching, research, peer observation, online professional development courses, attending graduate studies, attaining master’s or doctoral degree, scholarship programs, attending seminars and trainings.
However, one of our department’s thrust is to empower teachers, our agency restructured a less spending for effective professional development without spending more than necessary. It is also doable and cost efficient capacity building which is flexible and a differentiated approach where we can address learners’ differences. Today we have the School Learning Action Cell (LAC Session), a school based professional development program.
It can be done in groups. Coaches or mentors who are found to be highly effective in helping teachers implement a new skill, school head, supervisors, master teachers, other professionals, and with teachers, themselves, engage in collaborative learning sessions to continue improve their practices and solve shared challenges. It is the most practical professional development because teachers can learn relearn and unlearn.
Ultimately, this development in education really change the way teachers teach and leads to more student learning. It is not something completely out of the realm of possibility. Indeed, we encourage every teacher to endlessly strengthen their skill and ignite their passion to teach to be able to make good in teaching because every Filipino child deserves a quality education. MARY SASSY COQUIA, Pinget Elementary School