Imagine working in a school where teacher development is highly valued. It’s so important that it’s considered the most essential ingredient for providing great educational services.
What would happen in such a school? How would teachers be treated and what professional development opportunities would they be offered?
Let’s explore tried and tested strategies that would make this vision a reality.
1. Having Mentorship Programs for Teachers
In some schools, teachers have mentors. A mentor, in our context, is an experienced teacher who provides professional guidance and support to a less experienced one. If this happens through a mentorship program, the mentor and the mentee work together over a period of time.
The mentee is not the only one to benefit from a mentorship program. A study from 2021 found that both mentor teachers and mentees experience mutual professional development through teacher mentorship.
We all know how stressful teaching can be, especially at the beginning of our career. Who wouldn’t want a dedicated experienced colleague who can help us in our job?
If you run a school, consider giving your teachers such support.
2. Organising Training Days and Informal Teacher Development Sessions
I used to work in a school where teachers were encouraged to run and attend 15-minute professional development sessions called “Lunch and Learn.”
It worked like this. In the last 15 minutes of our lunch break, we would gather in a classroom to learn from a colleague who had put together a mini professional development workshop. The sessions were short, practical, and fun. If you had an idea for one, you would talk to one of the academic managers and they would help you put it together. It cost nothing.
I attended several (but never ran one myself). Here are a few I remember.
- Understanding Russian Students (run by a Russian teacher of English).
- Adapting Coursebook Materials
- How to Use Twitter to Network (In 2016, it was still called Twitter)
- How to Help Students Activate New Vocabulary
Once a month, teachers were also invited to more formal teacher development sessions run by the senior teachers. It was a great way to keep our job interesting and fun.
All these workshops provided plenty of opportunities for learning and teacher leadership.
Everyone in the school benefitted from them.
3. Implementing Counselling for Teachers
Who can teachers get support from if they feel stressed about their job? Sure, they can talk about it with their mentor (if they have one) and get some work-life balance tips. But counselling is not the same as mentoring.
In 1983, David King wrote in an ELT Journal article that counselling requires the ability to understand ourselves first. Acquiring this self-knowledge, King explains, “is a long and often painful business, and requires the guidance of those trained in psychotherapy and the support of a group of similarly intentioned people over a period of time.”
Counselling skills can be learned though, and teachers would appreciate it if their school had a professional counselling program that helps them manage stress and avoid teacher burnout. Such a program can be integrated as part of the school’s teacher development framework.
Implementing it may be financially demanding, but likely to be worth investing in.
4. Valuing Teachers’ Preferences, Experience, and Skills
In my experience working in private English language schools, teachers are rarely asked what, who, or how they would like to teach. They’re often expected to teach kids, adults, business classes, exam classes, beginners, intermediate students, advanced students, and so on.
In some schools, this wouldn’t happen.
We all have preferences. We’re naturally better suited to teach a particular age group, level, or language area. I have colleagues who feel very uncomfortable teaching adults and others who would get a stomach ache every time they’re asked to teach kids.
Teaching everything and everyone, in my experience, is not what many teachers want, so it may be better to foster teacher development by helping them specialise.
5. Hosting Citywide Events for Teacher Development
Imagine living in a city where there are a dozen private English language schools. Imagine if once a year, all the teachers from these schools gathered for a full day to attend a series of workshops run by the teachers themselves.
This is not just a figment of imagination. This is what I experienced when I was working in Auckland, New Zealand. We learned from each other, had the chance to network, and often ended up at the local pub.
If you’re a school owner, hosting such an event in your city is, among other things, a great way to build a reputation.
What Else?
These are only some ideas. Do you think they’re realistic and achievable? What are some others? What’s missing, in your opinion?
About the author:
Fabio Cerpelloni is a non-native English teacher and a writer. His credentials include a Cambridge CELTA and a Delta, and he is currently working on his MA thesis in Language Education.
Beyond the classroom, Fabio is a freelance writer, author, blogger, and podcaster. Currently based in Cogliate, Italy, Fabio is also the author of the book 'Any Language You Want,' which is heading towards a second edition.
