Personal professional learning – don’t leave it too late |

As we wind up the education year it is time to think about what is important to teachers in our schools. At this time of year with school reviews, reports and exams, it is difficult for teachers to lift their heads long enough to look beyond tomorrow and their well-deserved break.

time for professional learning

Change is happening so fast—but children adapt

Noted futurist and technical historian Dr Jack Bacon, who recently keynoted at the ULearn11 conference, spoke in his recent EDtalk about how, in the past, we could have expected two major shifts in our lifetimes, with plenty of time to adjust. Now, change is happening so quickly that we struggle to keep up. With the advent of the Web and mobile technologies, students are connected

24/7, and part of global communities at a very young age. He says in this time of constant change, teachers, schools and businesses are being forced into "broken-field running" scenarios, reacting moment-by-moment, constantly re-thinking and adjusting.

This has huge implications for the teachers in our schools and centres. How can they keep in touch with the changes happening around them when four year olds are more “expert “ in using the technology for learning and connecting, than teachers?

Personal professional learning vital—teachers must become self-motivated, life-long learners to keep up

Teachers will need to become self-motivated life-long learners in order to keep up with the students they are teaching.

Many teachers have already started this journey, undertaking their own study and developing their own online professional learning networks. Some schools are also running school-based professional learning sessions, or participating in staff retreats such as the Learning@School conference in January next year.

One thing is certain, there is no time to lose. Teachers have to start their personal professional learning journey soon, to ensure they continue to be effective learning facilitators, not only for our students' sake, but also for their own sanity.

Sherry Chrisp co-ordinates educational events for CORE, as well as developing the programmes for the ULearn and Learning@School conferences. A creative thinker and implementer, Sherry thrives when working as part of a cohesive team to deliver quality projects.