Teacher professional development survey

Teachers were asked to nominate their preferred learning environment, whether it was online, face-to-face or blended. Teachers nominated high quality PD irrespective of learning environments:

• Quality of content
• Strong basis of research or educational expertise
• Excellent presentation
• Take home resources and strategies.

Learning environment preferences included:

• Teachers from rural and remote regions prefer face-to-face or blended PD. Providers can cater to these modes of delivery by offering them in geographically remote areas.
• Provisionally accredited teachers prefer online delivery. Provisionally accredited teachers are generally less experienced and/or younger teachers.
• Teachers prefer face-to-face PD. Regardless of geographic location, sector, accreditation status, teaching experience or setting (early childhood/primary/secondary) teachers preferred face-to-face PD over blended or online delivery.
• The preference for online learning increased for teachers with temporary employment status. The preference for online learning increased with teachers in the ‘other’ category for sector (early childhood, casual, unemployed and university teachers), with temporary employment status.
• The chance to network and build relationships was the least important feature of face-to-face learning. Schools and providers need to develop courses which ensure that networking becomes more important to participants.

Teachers were asked how they had initiated their PD over the last 18 months, and  factors that prevented them from engaging in PD during that period.

Enablers

• Most PD was initiated through schools. Systemic school teachers more often initiated school-based PD than other categories; the use of professional associations increased with teaching experience; and early childhood teachers made more use of community-based activities than other groups.
• Experienced teachers were more engaged with professional associations. A key challenge for relevant professional associations is how they can encourage teachers in their first five years of teaching to become more involved.

Barriers

There are several barriers to initiating PD:

• Conflict with work schedules
• Cost
• Lack of accessibility/no nearby location
• No relevant PD
• Responsibilities outside of school.

The conflict of work schedules with PD increased with teaching experience.

• Rural/remote teachers experienced the highest degrees of inaccessibility to PD. Additional to this is that the preferred learning environment (when factored against geographic location) of remote teachers was for blended PD; however rural teachers, like those from regional and metropolitan centres, preferred face-to-face. Remote/rural/regional schools need to cater for teachers to ensure their needs are being met. Accessibility of PD increases with proximity to a metropolitan centre.
• Casual teachers were more reliant on finding PD independently. Processes and strategies need to be put in place so that schools play a more central part in helping PD needs of casual teachers.
• Least experienced teachers were more likely to perceive a lack of support from supervisors. School leaders need to create and foster an environment that makes less experienced teachers feel supported in the pursuit of their professional development needs/requirements.

Teachers were asked how they identified and planned for their PD, with additional questions specifically targeting accredited teachers to determine if there were other factors that influenced their PD.

• Teachers plan for PD that interests them. Planning typically takes place on a term-by-term basis, or as opportunities arise. Primary teachers were least likely to plan their PD needs through networks and/or professional associations, while secondary teachers were most likely to plan this way.
• The more experience a teacher has, the more likely they are to engage in forward planning. Evidence shows pre-2004 teachers (by and large more experienced teachers) will plan their PD needs in advance. Less experienced teachers need more encouragement to plan their accreditation and engage in PD planning.
• Many teachers don’t look at whole school strategic perspectives when identifying PD needs. This will be of concern to school executive teams who will need to integrate PD into the school plan. Teachers were also less likely to use feedback from their Performance Development Plan to plan their PD.
• Teachers decide on their PD needs by using reflective and responsive practices. These practices include: reflecting on classroom experiences; examining issues that affect their current practice and role; using student performance and achievement data.
• Accredited primary and secondary teachers planned PD in broadly similar ways. However, there were significant differences in key areas: primary teachers used the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) more, focused more frequently on addressing particular descriptors from the APST than their secondary counterparts, and worked more with colleagues to identify PD needs.
• Secondary teachers are more reluctant to engage with the APST when planning and identifying PD needs. Secondary schools will need to overcome this in order to more effectively target the diverse PD needs of this large group of teachers.
• Choice of PD is linked closely to an accredited career stage across all groups of teachers. A much lower percentage of teachers chose NESA registered PD that is above their career stage, considering the small percentage of teachers who have accreditation at the Highly Accomplished or Lead levels.

Teachers were asked about their experiences when putting ideas and strategies from PD into practice. They were asked questions which focused on factors which determined whether they found it challenging or exciting to apply what they had learned from their PD:

• Teachers were excited about applying PD in their classrooms. There were three main reasons why teachers were excited to apply their learnings in the classroom. It:
  • benefited students
  • encouraged teachers to reflect on their practice and try new ideas
  • was inspiring
• Most teachers found it exciting rather than challenging to apply PD to their practice. However, teachers from government schools find it more challenging to implement PD.Teachers indicated that they were very willing and able to change or alter their practice as a result of attending PD.
• Schools need to establish meaningful mentor relationships. 53% of teachers stated they had never/rarely worked with a mentor. Also, very few teachers worked with a mentor to identify future PD needs. Mentoring can develop a collaborative relationships between early career teachers and established teachers.
• Less than 18% of respondents found applying PD into practice challenging. These respondents identified the following challenges:
  • it requires more time to redesign practice than is available
  • difficulty of transferring knowledge back into a school environment
  • ideas/strategies that don’t match the teaching context.
  • distance from a metropolitan center.
• Teachers with less experience faced more difficulties when implementing PD than their experienced colleague. However, teachers with 30+ years’ experience did find a significant amount of risk when trying new things.
• Many teachers stated that they worked in environments where positive change was possible. Teachers were supported in reviewing and improving practice. A key challenge for schools will be to create an environment that accepts and encourages change  in student outcomes.
• There are highly effective influences on the impact of PD on teaching practice. These influences were:
  • Supportive leadership
  • High personal motivation
  • Working with colleagues
  • Formal opportunities for collaboration.
• Emphasising accountability and measurement in teacher PD reduces its effectiveness. A key challenge for schools will be to negate the perceived threat of external validation so that teachers feel confident and secure when applying PD in their classrooms. However, least experienced teachers found this type of school environment more effective than their more experienced colleagues.

Teachers were asked about the most relevant methods and the most needed and desired content for their future PD needs:

• Teachers identified areas of future PD needs across all sectors:
  • Understanding and improving student learning
  • Differentiated teaching and learning strategies
  • Pedagogical strategies and techniques
  • Student learning and development
• The areas of least interest were:
  • Supervising pre-service teachers
  • Teaching in a multicultural setting
  • School management and administration
• Collaboratively learning is highly valued by teachers. Schools should ensure that this important method of learning is used in PD activities at the school, faculty and cross-faculty level. More than 90% of teachers felt that working collaboratively with peers and participating in school-based and/or school-led activities were relevant or highly relevant methods for participating in future PD.
• Membership of professional networks ranks highly as a method of undertaking PD. Collaborating with consultants and/or external partners/providers also ranked very highly as methods of accessing future PD. In particular, pre-2004 teachers found it relevant to undertake PD through membership with professional networks and associations.
• Temporary teachers found formal methods of study the most relevant (undergraduate/postgraduate study). There is also a direct relationship between temporary employment and the relevance of self-directed online learning as a method of PD.
• Teachers in their first 10 years of learning clearly identified PD needs in managing discipline. Other PD needs identified were difficult behaviour, classroom management, and teaching students with special learning needs to support teachers who are new to the profession.
• Mid-to-late career teachers indicated a need for PD directed at leadership and management. Providers and schools will need to provide courses that address the clearly identified PD needs of these teachers.
• Early childhood teachers indicated a need for developing effective partnerships. This included partnerships with parents and the community, while for primary teachers it was differentiating teaching and learning strategies.
• Government school teachers indicated a higher need for PD in specific areas:
  • Student well-being
  • ICT skills
  • Classroom management
  • Aboriginal education.

However, Government school teachers required lower future needs in pastoral care. Teachers from Independent schools indicated a high need for managing and leading staff; systemic Catholic schools indicated a need for PD directed at differentiating teaching and learning.