Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is, or should be a constant factor in the life of every educator. Most countries around the world recognise this and expect a certain level of commitment from teachers, usually in the form of a requirement to keep a PD Portfolio containing evidence and reflections on professional development activity undertaken. Many countries require teachers to undertake a defined number of hours each year, and record this in their portfolios. South Africa does this too - recently introducing changes and new recording requirements as well as an expectation that registered teachers undertake activity which carries a pre-defined number of 'points'. And unfortunately, however well intentioned these changes may be, this is where they have got it very badly wrong...
Instead of treating teachers as professionals and imbuing the CPD scheme with a level of commensurate trust, SACE, the body which has been charged with overseeing CPD for educators has mandated that all PD activities which are to carry points have to be vetted and certified by them (although to be fair to them, this has been legislated for- they just have to carry out the work). And not only the courses, but the people delivering these courses as well. The mechanism for certifying PD activities is tortuous and over-burdensome and discourages many organisations which offer training and development activities from submitting their offerings, which might otherwise be very valuable for educator CPD. If you don't believe this, try looking at the form necessary to submit a PD activity. The 'one size fits all approach' gone mad...Just as standardised testing doesn't improve student achievement, neither will standardised CPD enhance teacher professionalism.
Many such organisations vary their courses according to the needs of the individual or institution. SACE won't allow this.
Many such organisations use a wide range of employed and freelance trainers with particular areas of expertise. SACE won't allow this (all trainers have to be certified for the exact courses they will deliver. No substitutions or changes allowed).
Many organisations see value in using local teachers and other experts to co-deliver courses and PD activities. SACE won't allow this either.
This is not to say that these courses don't add value to educator CPD - they do, but they just won't come with the points tally which teachers need to satisfy the 3-year requirements. And so teachers probably won't undertake these activities, choosing instead the 'official' activities which come with the points attached.
Valuable courses from organisations like Apple, Google, Microsoft and many others probably won't qualify. MOOCs won't either. Or much of education post graduate study. Or valuable crowd-sourced activity such as oversees conference attendance, webinars and teach meets. And the submission process is closed now anyway, so no new providers can submit their courses. What a joke. It is no wonder with a regime like this that South Africa has some of the most poorly prepared and trained teachers in the world...they just don't stand a chance! When events such as ISTE, Microsoft Global Education Forum, Apple Leadership Tour or even conferences such as eLearning Africa and Education Week might not qualify for CPD points, what credibility does this add to the national CPD management programme?
And try telling Apple Distinguished Educators, Google Certified Trainers, Microsoft Expert Educators, and the University staff delivering MOOCs that they need to go through a certification process with SACE in order to be able to deliver a strictly defined number of courses they have already been trained to deliver and awarded competence for, and they'd probably feel insulted. I have worked in education and training for over thirty years in schools, in teacher education and as a consultant advising large tech companies and governments. I have post graduate qualifications in teaching, Psychology, education management and leadership, use of ICT in learning and teaching, and business. I deliver training for these organisations world-wide, including in South Africa. I am qualified to teach in South Africa in fact. This record and experience speaks very well for itself without the need for a SACE seal of approval. My own company, Tablet Academy is one of the world's leading consultancy and training organisations, training thousands of teachers each year on the use of technologies in the classroom. We are one of the biggest iPad training organisations in Europe. We certainly won't be submitting our courses to SACE for their stamp of approval, that's for sure. They have already been 'certified' by thousands of educators, governments and education technology organisations across the world who have used or benefited from these activities and from our highly qualified and experienced trainers and consultants.
Transforming South African education needs urgent attention in two crucial areas. These are assessment and teacher training (including CPD). Assessment, I will leave for another day, but teacher training, I can speak on with some authority, and I say that the Government and SACE have got this very wrong indeed. The teaching profession needs to feel valued and trusted. This CPD regime leaves them little more than compliant hoop-jumpers. I sincerely hope I'm wrong about this but from the available information, I'm forced to conclude I am not...
CPD is a lifelong journey through learning for self improvement and for educators, contributes towards better learning and teaching in schools. Teachers need to be free to choose appropriate CPD activities for their individual needs as a part of an ongoing professional development review process. This might be subject-specific, general, or for leadership.
But the choice of activity and the weight it carries should not be dictated by a process which is so top-down, rigid, inflexible and controlling. Lets trust our teachers to make professional choices.
