The Alberta Teachers’ Association

In 2010, the Alberta Teachers’ Association undertook a study to identify the professional development (PD) structures and resources in place to assist teachers. The findings have been released in an ATA Research Update, Professional Learning for Informed Transformation: The 2010 Professional Development Survey.

Professional development plays a critical role in ensuring that teachers’ professional practice meets public demands and expectations.

Although providing teachers with effective PD is the best way of ensuring that students have productive learning experiences, the study suggests that PD opportunities vary considerably from one jurisdiction to another and are largely ad hoc. At its best, PD is systematically planned, systemic, supported and sustained. However, as the workload of teachers has increased and as classrooms become more complex, the conditions under which teachers practise have deteriorated. Ironically, just when coherent PD is more important than ever in helping teachers meet the rapidly changing demands of Alberta’s classrooms, teachers seem to have less time than ever to engage in reflective practice and growth. The ATA has thoroughly documented these trends over the last decade in its annual survey of PD opportunities, and more recently in its publication The Courage to Choose: Emerging Trends and Strategic ­Possibilities for Informed Transformation 2010–2011.

The ATA administered the survey to the PD committee chairs of its 54 local associations. Given that 89 per cent of locals responded, the survey constitutes a reliable representation of teachers’ perspectives on PD activities across Alberta. The survey consisted of an online form that invited participants to respond to various numerical and descriptive scales, to add comments and identify how locals and jurisdictions allocate PD resources.

Major findings of study

1. Funding and access for most forms of PD have declined. However, teachers noted an increase in their ability to participate in professional learning communities.
2. Respondents indicated that stakeholders have been generally successful in implementing PD planning practices. According to respondents, the principle of effective PD that is most evident is that PD “contributes to collaborative learning cultures.”
3. Respondents indicated that the various conditions considered essential for effective PD are generally apparent in their areas but that considerable room for improvement still exists.
4. Respondents report that teachers are most interested in PD opportunities that have a collaborative element, such as seminars, joint unit or lesson planning, curriculum development and interschool visits.
5. Teachers believe that the professional autonomy and choice they have when developing and pursuing their individual professional growth goals has declined.
6. Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) projects continue to shape PD opportunities for teachers. Teachers do not appear to have as much influence, especially at the jurisdictional level, in setting AISI priorities as had been expected. Nearly half the respondents reported that teachers have only a limited influence in determining project priorities at the jurisdictional level.
7. Most ATA locals and jurisdictions offer programs to support beginning and early-career teachers. In many cases, locals and jurisdictions share the cost of these programs; in other cases, either the local or the jurisdiction bears the full cost. In some cases, locals and jurisdictions share the cost of sending teachers to the ATA Beginning Teachers’ ­Conference.
8. Teachers reported that although part-time teachers enjoyed the same access to PD as full-time teachers, PD opportunities for substitute teachers were limited.
9. PD programs for new and veteran administrators and teachers aspiring to administrative positions were broad and varied.
10. Few respondents indicated that their area offered PD ­programs tailored to the needs of teachers new to Canada or to Alberta.

More information about this study is available from the ­Alberta Teachers’ Association.