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Professional
Development
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A
Low Cost Professional Development Plan for Schools
By Musa Moes
It
is only a matter of time before schools realize that
the school consists of the talents and abilities of
its staff. The school is not a machine wherein the human
beings are merely interchangeable parts. Naturally,
there should be a level of professionalism that allows
roles to be determined and filled by different individuals,
but roles are shaped by the personalities and aptitudes
of the people who fill them.
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Consequently,
it follows that stability will come to an institution by developing
and retaining the staff that will bring its goals to fruition.
This means that compensation must be adequate enough to maintain
the needs of the employees, and an investment in professional
development (PD) is required to ensure that your staff is able
to carry out the mission statement of the school. It also prevents
stagnation in individuals who already meet standards of certification.
PD is necessary all the way around for a progressively growing
institution.
Some low
cost ways to implement PD in your school:
1. Make
it a priority: Once it is a priority weighing in on the minds
of the board and administrators, doors will open up in this
regard.
2.
Require it in the contract:
• For teachers who are already certified,
require them to maintain the CEU (continuing ed units)
that are required in your state;
• For teachers who are not yet certified,
require them to take at least one class per semester
toward certification;
• For both, be sure to require that documentation
be provided for filing with the school. (Not doing
so will be a violation of the contract).
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3.
Help the staff pay for it:
• Pay as much of the cost of these programs
as the school budget allows;
• Deduct the rest from the employee's BUDGETED
salary. This should be stated up front. Let's say you
have budgeted $20,000 per year salary. The cost of tuition
& fees for TE certification for two classes this
year will be $2000. You will actually pay the teacher
$18k for the year and inform him/her that you have $2k
set aside for his/her PD. If they do not use it, they
lose the money (and possibly their job, since they did
not cooperate in becoming certified). For certified
teachers this will be cheaper since CEU workshops are
cheaper (perhaps sometimes free).
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4.
Book of the month program: Part of PD will come from
the school principal recommending books to the staff.
These should fall into the following categories:
• Islamic books - topic oriented, not reference
books.
• Education - keep teachers up to date
on current ideas in education.
• Professionalism - corporations already
have booklists on goal setting, positive thinking, motivation,
etc.
• Family relationships - teachers should
have stable families and be prepared to counsel parents
and students with family matters that come to light
in conferences.
• Money management - teachers should not
be preoccupied with bills and thus should learn to budget
their comparatively low salaries better as well as learn
how to make investments. Also, many students think education
represents the path to financial success in life - how
can they learn this from penniless teachers?
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The
cost of this requirement is very affordable. Assume
for example that you have 20 staff members. The first
year, the principal (or school board) can invest $200
to find 20 good quality books from the above categories
priced around $10 apiece. The principal should be enough
of a leader to have already read them all (or at least
keep up). The staff should be able to read one per month
according to some kind of plan put together by the principal.
Each year you add more books and adapt to your school's
needs. This ensures that all your staff are reading
too. Don't forget to give the staff an incentive to
do this extra "work" at first. Also make sure
the principal follows through with it each month to
find out what the staff is learning. Once they get started,
they will appreciate the difference it makes.
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5.
Tapes: Make sure audiotapes are made available to the
staff (and even parents) on Islamic topics for the commute
to and from the school. You will notice a difference
in the moral climate of the school if staff are Islamically
oriented.
6.
Time school breaks with Islamic conferences and promote
them to the staff:
• If the school will not pay for the staff
to attend Islamic conferences and seminars, then they
should at least accommodate through the school schedule.
• Be sure to promote these events and their
benefits as well.
• Encourage your staff (and parents) to attend
with their families.
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| 7.
Staff led workshops: Your staff is the school's biggest
asset, and they are already under your service! Assign
workshop topics to staff members to prepare topics and
give in-house workshops throughout the year. Use the strengths
of your staff to do this. It builds teamwork, too, as
staff members learn where to turn inside the school for
help with specialty areas highlighted through these workshops.
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8.
Use your school newsletter:
• Have staff members share articles on their
workshop topics, book reviews of the book of the month,
or reflections on Islamic seminars or tapes they have
found benefit in. It promotes these things to the community
while building credibility in your staff;
• Submit articles from your school newsletter
to professional publications as well to promote your school
and staff through Islamic magazines, educational journals,
and otherwise. Imagine an article by your staff being
featured in next month's Reader's Digest!
9.
Hold retreats for your staff. Structure it with activities
that build teamwork and encourage reflection.
I
am sure there are more ways to have a progressive yet
low-cost PD program. It takes dynamic leaders to initiate
and carry out these kinds of ideas, but this should
be the focus of the principal. Spend time empowering
the teachers rather than checking up on their every
move. If you have personally empowered them, then you
will have confidence in their abilities.
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| Our
biggest problem is finding talented trained leaders to
administer our schools. Under qualified boards and principals
are too busy running their best staff away with micromanagement
instead of developing and empowering staff to be a stable
force in the school for years to come. Let us not forget
that if you want to develop your staff, then you should
be on par yourself. Board members and principals alike
should hold themselves to the same standards. Do not give
up trying, but be sure to invest your own time in developing
your prowess as an educator. And if you have little or
no qualifications to be a principal or a board member,
do not hide behind the excuse that there are few other
candidates willing to take the job. At least enroll in
a proper program to become qualified. That is no less
than what we expect of the rest of the staff. |
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| The
future of our schools rests on the people who operate
them at all levels, and the future of Islam in this country
rests on our schools. May Allah give us His help.
Br.
Musa Moes is a teacher at Universal School in Bridgeview,
Illinois. You may contact him at the following email
address:
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