Today is our first meeting of the year with school professional development representatives from all West Vancouver schools. This group of volunteer teachers meet on a regular basis to share their successes and challenges and help to evolve our very impressive model. This group is chaired by the West Vancouver Teachers Association (WVTA), Professional Development Co-Chairs, Karen Harmatuk and Sue Elliot.
Here is a one page overview of the Professional Development model in West Vancouver (scroll on the right to see the entire document):
Our Professional Development Model, or the “Collaborative Model” as it is often described, helps guide all of our work in the district. Our core values genuinely guide the work:
•1. Our primary learning focus is on improving student learning
•2. We work collaboratively on district, school and team goals because teaching is too difficult to do alone
•3. Our work is supported by current research
The model is built around our students and improving student learning. It also makes it very clear the best learning is collaborative. I was reminded of the power of collaboration this past week as “Learning Teams” from Pauline Johnson, West Bay, Cypress Park, Irwin Park and Ridgeview spent a morning together looking at digital literacy.
Our professional learning model in West Vancouver is really quite simple, but important to always come back to as a guide. As district, school, or individual professional development grows, it is important to ensure these three strands are continually supported.
Every year we look at “how we can strengthen the collaborative model.” The model is messy – but, so is good learning. With all the talk about personalized learning for students, that is really at the heart of what we are trying to do with the adults learning in our district. It doesn’t mean that every staff member has an individual, unique plan, but rather they have a personalized plan that blends together district, school and individual needs.
For all of our educators, it starts with our professional growth program. The description from 15 years ago, and the purpose of teacher growth plans, is still very relevant today:
The purpose of the Professional Growth Program is to support the professional growth of teachers for the continuous development of instructional practices in order to enhance student learning in West Vancouver.
Like all the work we do either as individuals, collaborative learning teams, schools, or as a district, at its core is the improvement of our students’ learning.
cultureofyes.ca 
A conflict I have noted in the past, despite some very good District Professional Development Committees, is the contractual issue over who it is that “owns” teacher professional development. A second issue is the buy in from staff on District days, if they do not feel a personal connection to the District goals and the programmes which are created for the District day to support those goals. At the school level, I have seen a great deal of difference in the way the school based committees operate – some with principal involvement, others without. Some that leave the decision for planning and organizing the day to principals, and some that have (in elementary school) a primary or intermediate dominated focus.
As a base idea and philosophy, your model looks to be very good. Does it work well in practice?
The West Van collaborative PD model is an iterative one – we constantly work to keep the ‘end in mind’ central to our work – our core values. The ‘model’ as outlined above, has been years in the making. The leadership of PD Reps at the school level is core to this work. Ideally, they establish a school-based PD Planning Committee with diverse representation, including an administrator. The purpose of this team is to work with staff to design school-based days where collaborative learning teams work on their goal(s) as they relate to curriculum, assessment or instruction.
Professional learning needs are brought to our PD meetings, and to a district committee that works together to address professional learning issues that arise. Members of our District Leadership Team are at our PD meetings, thus allowing for teacher leaders to have direct input into conversations regarding PD needs.
A strength of this model is that we have a joint admin / PD Rep meeting each year, with focused conversations that allow us to clarify areas requiring fine-tuning.
It is important to understand that our Model is research-based. The collaborative learning model began with teachers asking for more time to collaborate – work together. A review of current practices and of the NSDC – now Learning Forward, standards and work with the Staff Development Council of BC – now Learning Forward BC, provided a rich place to begin the development of our model. A P-M-I survey in the beginning years allowed for all to have input. We have had many conversations over the years regarding the terms PD, professional learning, and staff development.
It is the rich conversations that keep us moving forward.
[…] it will help to create a framework for our work as professionals. I have written previously (here) about our wonderful model in West Vancouver, balancing the importance of individual, school […]