Towards a Better Future

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Chapter Ten: Professional Development in Teaching allocate a different number of credits to modules of different duration (i.e. quantity). The pages of Cosán have little to say on this matter, but the matter itself is a cornerstone for the entire framework and a priority task for attention during the 2016-19 development phase envisaged in Cosán. Provision of accredited modules could take place through a range of routes, perhaps sometimes through joint providers. Providers could include higher education institutions, Education Centres, ETBs, professional associations like IPPN and NAPD, subject associations and so on. In the accrediting of such modules, it is important that close attention be given to things like the focus and relevance of each module. For instance, each module should be able to show its promise for enhancing the kinds of capacities needed to lead high-quality teaching and learning initiative in the classroom, or in the school more widely. (c) Time provision for professional development There are recurring references in Cosán to facilitating teachers in pursuing professional development, to collaboration between teachers, and to providing new opportunities for teachers to engage in professional development. These references do not broach the issue of allocated time for professional development. Yet, making available the opportunities envisaged in Cosán unavoidably raises the question of time, and in more ways than one. For instance, is professional development to be regarded as an ‘add-on’ to the teacher’s existing working week? Could some portion of ‘Croke Park hours’ (or a duly-negotiated replacement for them) be earmarked for professional development activities? How much time per week or per month would be needed to satisfy minimum requirements of professional development? How do other countries deal with the provision of time for professional development for teachers? In relation to the first question, unless professional development is seen as integral to the teacher’s professional identity and capability, devoting time to it is likely to be regarded as an optional ‘add-on’. Secondly, ‘Croke Park hours' are a good example of such an ‘addon’, though in this case not an optional one. Although deftly used by many schools, the fact remains that the ‘Croke Park hours’ are widely resented by teachers as an imposition, associated very directly with government austerity measures. International experience shows that time for professional development is best provided for as part of a negotiated settlement on which teachers have freely voted. As already mentioned in other chapters of this review,the post-McCrone settlement in Scotland is instructive in this regard, though not necessarily a model to copy. In Ireland’s case, it has been difficult to find time for any of the non-classroom responsibilities of teaching within the packed weekly schedules of schools. The reference in Circular 0024/2016 (DES, 2016a) to making some non-teaching time available to post-primary teachers (p.16), albeit not explicitly for professional development purposes, might be a propitious straw in the wind. The provision in the circular for four-and-a-half days for subject-specific CPD (p.18) is a significant measure, but there are two important caveats that need to be made in relation to it. Firstly, this measure is designed more to serve the needs of the system than the needs of the teacher, or indeed of the school. Of course, benefits may accrue to the latter two from well-designed CPD initiatives whose main function is to support — 161 —
Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System national curricular reforms; but not if conceived in ‘delivery’ formats that fail to engage teachers and school leavers in sustained, constructive ways. Secondly, the four-and-a-half days in question mean a loss of teaching time. Even if cover is provided, what students are receiving is something other than, and normally less than, what their entitlement should be. This underlines the necessity for a more strategic provision, as suggested below. The provision of time for professional development would be more appropriately viewed as one element in a larger package of measures addressing a range of issues that have caused disquiet in recent years, or even for decades (curriculum, assessment, different pay scales for the same work, removal of promotion posts etc.) Chapter 11 of this review provides some illuminating comparative data on how time in school is spent in the different jurisdictions covered by OECD surveys. For instance, a study of that data (Ch. 11, Fig.3) shows that the quantity of teaching time in lower secondary school in Ireland is higher than the OECD average. The point is also made in that chapter that the proportion of statutory working time spent in teaching in Ireland is by far the highest of the OECD countries. To conclude, the larger question of a package of measures that properly reflects the changed nature of teaching in the 21st century needs to be properly acknowledged and tackled. Unless this happens, professional development for Ireland’s teachers is likely to be attenuated, as distinct from progressive, in the years ahead. Nor is it likely to receive the central importance it receives in practices like nursing, pharmacy or medicine. (d) The role of Education Centres The Education Centres have a central role to play in a national framework for professional development for teachers. They are referred to in Cosán mainly as workshop locations for gathering feedback in consultations with teachers (pp.5, 12), though there is a reference to them as ‘learning hubs’ in the Appendix to the draft of the Cosán document published in May 2015 (p.23). The strategic and active role of the Education Centres needs to be fully acknowledged and promoted. This includes not only their role as venues for providing courses under the auspices of PDST or any of the national support services. Equally significant is their leadership and developmental role, for instance, in designing and providing participatory seminars or programmes that cultivate professional learning communities among teachers. The Education Centres are key players in planning and implementing the modular, credit-bearing system mentioned under headings (a) and (b) above. (e) The role of Professional Associations Professional associations like IPPN and NAPD are primarily seen as support and advocacy bodies for their own members. Of course, they are that, but their members are themselves the leaders of professional practice in the schools. The wealth of insight and expertise accumulated by members as practitioners of educational leadership is an invaluable resource for professional development of — 162 —
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Towards a Better Future

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