Why Professional Development Opportunities Are Important for All Teachers
All teachers and administrators should demonstrate knowledge of their school or childcare center's professional development opportunities as well as knowledge of the Commonwealth's professional development requirements for continued growth and licensure in their state or country. There are so many beneficial professional development opportunities offered by schools, school districts, childcare centers, Intermediate Units, organizations, companies, and PaTTAN for teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators. I have taken advantage of many different trainings to develop my skills as a professional. In addition, I often reflect about what improvements could be made when it comes to providing professional development opportunities for professionals in the education field. That is why I wrote this blog post about this topic.
It is extremely important for employees in all jobs to exhibit professionalism and knowledge of the content in their fields. This is especially crucial for in-service teachers, student teachers, and administrators. These job skill aspects can be obtained through continuous professional development (PD) opportunities since educators are expected to be learning what they can do to support students on an ongoing basis. In-service teachers, student teachers, and administrators should demonstrate knowledge of their schools' PD opportunities. They should also have knowledge of the Commonwealth's requirements for continued growth and licensure in their state or country. Administrators should also be asking for feedback from staff about what types of PD opportunities should be provided more frequently and how they are given for the purpose of bettering professional growth and healthier, safer, and successful schools.
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All teachers in the United States are required to complete mandated reporter trainings to be trained to recognize and report the signs of witnessed or suspected child abuse and neglect as well as submit background checks/clearances. All staff and administrators in the United States are also legally required to complete fire safety and intruder drill trainings conducted by a fire protection professional annually. Staff and administrators must receive training in the maintenance of smoke detectors, the duties of facility persons during a fire drill and during a fire and the use of the facility's fire extinguishers, not including the discharge of the fire suppressant agent. In addition, all teachers and administrators in childcare centers are required to complete CPR certification trainings and Keystone STARS trainings if their childcare center is Keystone STARS certified. Typically, many schools and childcare centers also have staff meetings as well as requirements to attend early childhood conferences sometimes.
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When I was an infant teacher at Schoolhouse Learning Center Southampton, which later became acquired by Alphabet Garden Childcare Southampton, my coworkers and I were also required to complete many online trainings. These online trainings were provided by a variety of different organizations and universities that advocate for children and education, such as the following:
- Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN)
- Keystone STARS
- University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work's PA Child Welfare Resource Center
- Better Kid Care
- National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
- Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ)
- MyTeachingStrategies
- TeachingStrategies
When I was a toddler teacher to 12-24 month olds at Children of America Southampton, the childcare center that I was teaching at was a company chain that provided PD days twice a year in every October and February on days that all of our students had off from school. The administrators would take turns leading multiple sessions about different areas of child development, lesson planning/instruction, classroom management, TadPoles (electronic family-teacher communication system commonly used in childcare centers), collaboration, professionalism, etc. My coworkers and I were also required to complete online trainings on the Childcare Education Institute's (CCEI) website (All of our accounts were paid for through the center's budget) for CEUs. Sometimes I would see different trainings on CCEI's website that I anticipated would help my individual PD as a teacher. When COA first started using CCEI's online trainings, my director at the time told my coworkers and I that if we ever saw certain training's on CCEI's website that we thought would positively contribute to our individual PD to go for it. So, when this happened to me, I went for it because the content in these trainings has been very helpful for me, and I have never looked back. In fact, I have found that a lot of the information that I learned in CCEI's trainings to be Universally Designed for Learning (UDL) for classrooms for students of all ages. I have my Child Development Associate (CDA) certification, which certifies me to teach all infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in the United States. For renewal of this certification, I am required to submit CEU credits every three years to the CDA Council for Professional Recognition. Even though I am no longer an infant/toddler teacher, I choose to keep my CDA certification to protect myself; so, I continue to take courses through the CCEI to renew this certification every year.
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- FAQs About My Former Job as a Lead Infant Teacher
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- Lack of Empathy for Students is a Huge Issue in the Education Field
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In fall 2023, I completed my Field Experience in Special Education internship for my Bachelor's Degree in the same classroom at my alma mater high school that inspired me to want to become a Special Education teacher. This classroom was the same Life Skills Support classroom at Lower Moreland High School that I participated in Buddy Club for. Before Lower Moreland High School's school year started, I was required to attend their two of their PD days according to my school schedule. The topics of the PD sessions that I attended at LMHS included diversity in schools, mathematics curriculum, and teaching English Language Learners (ELLs).
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- What is Collaboration in Education and Why Is It So Important?
- How and Why to Build Relationships in School
- Diversity in Education
- Discrimination Against Students in the Disability Community
- Lack of Empathy for Students is a Huge Issue in the Education Field
- There Needs to be More Discussions About Awareness, Prevention, and Healing from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
- Trauma-Informed Practices for Supporting Children with Incarcerated Parents
- Bullying Prevention Stimulation Activities for People of All Ages
- Best Children's Books for Teaching About Awareness and Inclusion of the Disability Community
- How to Talk to Someone with Suicidal Thoughts
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This year I also completed my student teaching in a first grade classroom at Saint Cecilia Catholic School (SCS) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from January to April. Before I started, I was required to complete the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (AoP)'s online training called Protecting God's Children for Adults. All SCS staff, administrators, student teachers, and volunteers are required to complete this online training when they first start working there. After they have completed the training, they must print and hand in a certificate proving their participation.
Besides PD opportunities provided by individual schools and childcare centers, all in-service teachers and student teachers must be aware of PD opportunities provided locally, statewide, and nationally. To elaborate, PA in-service teachers and student teachers should be aware of PD opportunities offered through the PaTTAN and their local Intermediate Unit (IU) if there is one. PaTTAN offers their PD opportunities through their discussion program called PaTTANpod. PaTTANpod provides free podcast episodes with insightful information about numerous topics in the education field about helping students grow and succeed along with ethics. PaTTAN also has online courses about Special Education, education laws, and Early Intervention (EI). Participants who complete these courses can receive credits and certificates of completion afterwards. Besides PD opportunities for teachers, PaTTAN has PD trainings for paraprofessionals that provide video presentations with review questions. The topics of the PD trainings for paraprofessionals include information about Special Education, supporting students' achievements, and ethics.
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There are several PD opportunities that I would like to start and continue to take advantage of to develop my skills as a professional educator. I graduated with my dual Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood (PreK-4) Special Education (PreK-12) from Bryn Athyn College in May. In addition to my CDA and B.S., I also have my Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education from Bucks County Community College as well as my Praxis certification. Pennsylvania's professional development requirements to maintain certification include college courses for pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in education and taking the Pennsylvania Educators Certification Test (PECT) and Praxis certification exams. Since there are different PECT exams for different grade bands, testing requirements, and some college courses depend on certification type. For example, a college student pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education (7-12) in Pennsylvania would not be required to take college courses about Early Childhood Education PreK-4. This is because they would need to take education major courses about teaching content relevant to the grades that they are pursuing to become certified to teach; however, they would be required to take at least one course about students in the disability community since this is a topic in the education field that all teachers must be prepared to deal with by federal law. Continuous PD is significant for all educators so that they can grow and maintain their knowledge about how to support their students of all ages, abilities, and differences.
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