Quality and Professional Development

I believe that the issue of quality education is of equal importance anywhere around the world. I was not able to get a response from my contacts, however I found the subject too interesting and I decided to find other contacts that would be willing to offer some information. I had a very interesting discussion with my colleague that has worked in state schools in Romania as well as in other private and international schools in Bucharest. She told me that teachers in state schools have had a very difficult time getting proper training, proper training meaning meaningful training that will support what teachers do in class with students. Proper training in her opinion means getting useful ideas that can be put into practice with students. There are some yearly conferences that teachers are encouraged to participate in, however they seem to be very theory based and not what teachers seem to really need. The fact that teachers are poorly compensated, have up to 30 students in each class and have a very strict curriculums does not offer much room for creativity.

 

The school I currently work in is an IB school and is part of the CEESA organization. There is a strong bond and connection between the IB schools and schools that are part of CEESA and there are many training opportunities available each year, beginning with the annual CEESA conference where there are many institutes and sessions available for teachers. Apart from this our school strongly believes in our professional development and we often get the opportunity for in house training from specialists in the field of education, training session organized by our coordinators or by our own staff that feels they can share their passion and competence in a certain area. It is wonderful to go to different sessions in areas such as math, EAL, special educational needs, etc run by our own colleagues. There are many training opportunities available worldwide and I think it is wonderful to get together with teachers worldwide at conferences and exchange ideas and best practice. I am very excited about how many more opportunities there are for educators in the field of early childhood. Other than training opportunities I believe that reflection is an essential part of professional development. At my school we are encouraged to be an active part of our own growth as educators and we each develop our own professional goals for each school year that can be in an area we really feel we need support or in an area the school is growing in for that year. It is an interesting process that should always begin within ourselves and reflection should always be an essential part of it.

As I continue to teach and educate young children one of my goals is to always see myself as a learner and to continue to be excited and curious about learning more about education and exchanging ideas with my fellow early childhood colleagues.

http://occ.ibo.org/ibis/occ/guest/home.cfm

http://www.ceesa.org/