How to Prepare a Professional Development Plan for Teachers

professional development for teachers in Singapore

As a school administrator, it is part of your responsibility to help your teachers learn strategies that will help them do their job better.

One way you can arm your teachers with the information they need to overcome the unique challenges they will face is by having a professional developmentsession occasionally.

If you have been a school administrator for a long time and have had many professional development sessions in the past, you surely will be looking for ways to prepare a development plan and make it more effective.

If you are in this boat, you are going to benefit from this article. Read on to learn some tips that will help you put together an effective teaching team professional development plan.

What is a professional development plan for teachers?

To ensure that your professional development program turns out great, you must plan each step carefully.

A professional development plan is a concise document that shows the goals you have set for your teachers or the milestone you want them to achieve.

The plan should outline everything your teachers will have to do to reach the goals you have set for them.

What to write in a professional development plan?

If you are a new administrator in a school, it will likely be difficult for you to figure out what to put down during the planning process. Below are some steps that will guide you.

  • Carefully assess where you are right now.
  • Identify the goals you want your teachers to achieve
  • Ascertain the professional skill your teachers have and the one you want them to work on
  • Do deep and extensive research to find out the best ways to achieve the goals you have set for your teachers.
  • Develop a timeline for achieving each of your goals
  • Put everything down in writing
  • Closely evaluate your plan

Helping your teachers achieve their professional development goals

Even after preparing a comprehensive professional development plan and having several training sessions with them, there is no assurance that they can achieve your desired goals.

Below are a few things you can do to increase the odds of your teachers achieving your development goals.

Picking the right courses

If your teachers don’t have access to the right information, it is going to be difficult for them to thrive in the areas you want.  

So ensure that you do your research in picking an online or face-to-face course for your teachers.

Visit other schools

Regardless of how much experience you have, there will be times when you need the help of others. If you aren’t getting your desired results after your development program or the new strategies adopted by your teachers aren’t yielding the results you expected, you should consider visiting other schools. Seeing new teaching strategies may inspire you or even help improve your development plan.

Finally

There are different approaches you can take when planning a professional development program for your teachers. While you have the freedom to use any strategy that has worked for you in the past, it is wise that you try out new methods.