I often hear conversations from participants in early childhood training courses discussing how the Professional Development session will be helpful to them as an individual and for others. I also hear participants discuss the stress of Professional Development and question why they are even attending.
From listening to these two different types of conversations, I started to reflect and ask myself, “Do Early Childhood Administrators and Teachers understand the importance of Quality Professional Development?” And beyond that, “When attended, are the resources presented in the training used in the facility or classroom?”
It is a known fact that finding quality and research-based Professional Development is not always easy for individuals in the Early Childhood World to access. These questions led me to research ways to share ideas on how to implement what was learned in some way once the training was over. In my research I found great information on how Professional Development learned can be used intentionally to promote growth.
There are several ways Administrators and Teachers can share what they have learned in quality Professional Development with their co-workers, families and children served in their programs. Key ways to do this are…
o Attend Professional Development that will support your growth and growth of others you are in constant contact with in the professional environment
o Support and Inform before attending Professional Development
o Follow through as a Leader and a Teacher
o Be intentional in using skills learned
o Accountability
To learn more about this amazing topic, please look up at the article, Getting a Return on Your Investment in Professional Development: Putting practices into place that yield results by Jill Bella (2019), that answered so many of my questions on supporting others to implement with intention.
Find quality early education professional development near you.
Notation: Getting a Return on your Investment in Professional Development: Putting practices into place that yield results; Jill Bella (2019) McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership
