Professional Development AT CA

The role of the Faculty and Staff is to pursue growth by: 

• Sharing responsibility for their development

• Fully engaging with internal professional development sessions

• Developing, with their supervisors and department heads, a plan for professional growth

• Pursuing opportunities for growth that will increase effectiveness in their role

• Reflecting on and sharing their learning with colleagues (faculty primarily; staff as appropriate)

The role of the Leadership is to nurture professional growth by: 

• Providing meaningful and timely internal professional development sessions to support CA strategic plans and operational goals

• Aligning faculty and staff learning, as appropriate to their roles and responsibilities, to move CA purposefully in a common direction

• Providing ongoing professional development towards meeting school-wide goals and to support faculty and staff in their roles and responsibilities

• Providing useful feedback for improvement on faculty and staff performance

• Encouraging the professional growth through appropriate funding and release time

• Offering or supporting training opportunities to enhance performance

• Publicizing development opportunities that are available to the Faculty and Staff

Professional Development at CA is aligned with the following priorities:

• • School Priorities and Goals - Based on current and projected strategic plans, student needs, and requirements by external agencies

  • Divisional and Subject-Related Priorities and Goals - Based on division or faculty specific areas of need, particularly as related to specific programme development and student learning needs

  • Individual Professional Learning Needs - Multiple factors can impact the use of funds in this area, including but not limited to: professional learning and improvement, personal professional growth initiatives, or individual role and responsibilities 

The following factors are important in deciding how to fund and allocate professional development funding and time. 

• • Working towards school-wide goals (strategic & operational plans)

  • Strengthening the development of the school's educational programmes

  • Developing faculty and staff capacity in their roles, to develop in their current or anticipated responsibilities

  • Meeting requirements for accreditation & ensuring faculty and staff are current in their training, understanding local and international requirements for schools

  • Supporting team, department and divisional development in order to improve student learning and school operations

  • Minimizing negative impacts on student learning and school operation as a result of missed contact time and disruption

  • Encouraging participation in professional learning communities beyond the school, including leadership of events and networking opportunities

When considering professional learning and development opportunities, the following questions will be used as a guide to decision-making:

• • • How will this learning opportunity support CA initiatives and goals?

    • How will this learning opportunity support current or anticipated needs of the school?

      • • Is the context of the training applicable and transferable to the CA context?

    • What will be the positive impact on student learning, team learning, and school development?

    • How does this learning opportunity support the staff member's role and personal learning needs? Is it a required training?

    • What may be the impact on student learning or school function if this staff member is away?

      • • What previous or anticipated absences may need to be considered?

        • What comparable opportunities will have less of an impact on student learning and/or school function? (consider region, time away from school, and transferability)

    • Has the staff member been shown to be a learning, reflective professional who shares their learning with colleagues?

    • What previous learning opportunities has the staff member participated in?

    • What are the staff member's intentions to stay at CA?

Presenting, Workshop Leading & School Visiting

Canadian Academy values the enthusiasm and expertise of our Faculty and Staff, and would like to encourage them as presenters, workshop leaders or school visitors. Please use the guidance on this page to help you through the process, and see the Director of Learning or your supervising Principal for support. 

CA Ambassadors will be:

• Highly professional, with known area(s) of expertise

• Energetic, enthusiastic and confident

• Willing to contribute to the wider educational community

• Returning Faculty / Staff

• Able to balance their normal role with these added responsibilities without detriment to professional performance

We will support CA Ambassadors by:

• Writing reference letters for applications where needed

• Allowing professional leave and providing cover to attend training, where needed

• Allowing professional leave and providing cover for up to two events during the school year, dependent on:

  • the permission of the Principal or supervising member of the Leadership Team

  • appropriate timing in the school year

  • minimizing impact of contact time with students or school operations

Presenting at Conferences:

Many educational conferences have participant-led breakout sessions or cohorts that can be led by faculty and staff. This is a great way to share our story and to build your professional profile. It is essential that CA Faculty and Staff begin the discussion at CA before applying to the presenting organization. 

1. Check for clashes with the school calendar. 

2. Discuss your idea with your supervising Principal or Director of Learning

3. Generate a proposal and run a test-session for feedback. This might be an after-school or lunch session.

4. Collect participant feedback on your session and discuss with the Principal or Director of Learning. 

5. Finalize and submit the conference breakout presenter application documentation. 

If the conference proposal is accepted, follow the PD request process. Enjoy the conference and share our story! 

Becoming a Workshop Leader or School Visiting Team Member:

There are many opportunities for CA Faculty or Staff to participate in the wider learning community in the following roles. If you are interested, please discuss your ideas with your Principal or Director of Learning. Find out more at the links below. 

• IB workshop leader

• IB reader or school visiting team member

• CIS School Visitors or volunteer committee/team members

• WASC school visitor 

Hosting or Leading Job-a-likes:

We love to have visitors to CA in our school, and will fully support Job-a-likes; structured meetings teachers or staff in similar roles. If this interests you, please contact your principal, supervisor, learning leader, or director of learning. 

Some Faculty or Staff may require evidence of continued professional development to retain or upgrade their credentials. If you need support with this, please talk to your supervisor or the Director of Learning.

Tracking PD hours is the responsibility of the faculty or staff member. A document such as this may help. We can print on school letterhead and have it signed by the appropriate people (Principal, Headmaster, or Director of Learning).

This sheet has the beginnings of documenting in-school meetings that may count as PD hours for licensure.

1. External PD: Check KISSFLOW for official records of external professional development. These may include online, virtual, workshops or conferences. Additionally, add any childprotection courses taken through educare.com or similar. Also include here any university courses or extension programmes you have undertaken outside of CA. 

2. CA Inservice/Orientation: Update this section with relevant information. Confirm hours and topics through reference to the agendas from the years in question.

3. Collaboration Time, Wednesdays, Department Meetings, and Advisory Planning - For most regions, these elements are considered as part of professional learning hours, each in its own category. Consult Wednesday Collaborative Learning schedules to review topics and hours. Don't forget to include here the collaborative hours with curriculum, such as curriculum review cycles and working with ManageBac. Most of the time this takes the shape of a table/list with categories, dates, and hours such as the one on the sheet linked above.