Inspiring world-class teaching professionalism

A-Z of Professional Learning in Scotland Information on the resource and how to submit an example 16 December 2021

Contents

A – Z of Professional Learning in Scotland	3

1.	An Invitation to all College Lecturers in Scotland	3

2.	Why Professional Learning is so important for College Lecturers	3

3.	The Reflective Lecturer	3

4.	Professional Learning	3

5.	Calling College Lecturers across Scotland!	4

A – Z of Professional Learning in Scotland

An Invitation to all College Lecturers in Scotland

This invitation relates to a new project being led by the General Teaching Council for Scotland in association with the College Development Network (CDN) and EIS FELA Learning Representatives, to create a new, free professional learning resource, ‘A-Z of Professional Learning in Scotland’s Colleges’. Individual lecturer contributions from all vocational areas are vital to help us create this new national resource. Our intention is to launch this resource in January 2022.

Why Professional Learning is so important for College Lecturers

A new programme of registration is being carried out in Scotland in response to the National Joint Negotiating Committee settlement agreement of 2017, which requires registration of college lecturers with GTC Scotland. Professional registration seeks to ensure the professionalism of lecturers is recognised and their thinking and practice is continually developed through ongoing professional learning. All registered lecturers must reflect on their professional practice and consider how they can improve their skills and knowledge through career-long professional learning.

The Reflective Lecturer

At the heart of being a professional lecturer is the need to be continually self-aware and reflective. Regularly reviewing pedagogical choices and professional practices can help identify areas where there may be a need to enhance subject knowledge and to develop skills and confidence to make changes and improvement to better meet the needs of diverse leaners and dynamically changing global environments.

As a ‘dual’ professional, a college lecturer must maintain and enhance knowledge and skills in their industry/subject whilst continually developing as an educator. This is an ongoing challenge.

Career-long professional learning helps to continually stimulate thinking, develop professional knowledge and to support teaching practice that is critically informed and current. When a wide range of high-quality and purposeful professional learning experiences are undertaken, lecturers are more likely to inspire students through excellent learning and teaching experiences, thus enabling learners to grow and continue to progress their learning.

Professional Learning

Professional learning for lecturers is meaningful learning which develops thinking, knowledge and skills. It often involves learning with and from others and is aligned to the needs of students from diverse communities across Scotland and internationally. A commitment to ongoing professional learning is a clear responsibility within the Professional Standards for Lecturers in Scotland’s Colleges (Standard 3.1). In particular the need to:

use the professional standards to inform practice and ongoing professional learning and development;

reflect critically on own practice and engage in professional dialogue with others; and

continuously and actively engage with up to date research and developments in learning, teaching and assessment to inform practice.

There is a common misconception that professional learning only relates to formal ‘learning’ events such as attending an industry conference or completing an accredited training programme (often with a focus on how many ‘hours’ were completed). In practice, professional learning described as worthwhile and impactful for individual lecturers, tends to include a much wider range of experiences. These may take advantage of local or national expertise, be experienced individually or collaboratively, take place over the short or long term and can be organised through formal or more informal methods.

“For professional learning to be effective, teachers must claim ownership of it and it must support their needs and the needs of their students. To strengthen this process, collaboration within a collegial climate is essential. This allows teachers to discuss and reflect on their learning to help embed it into their practice”

McKenzie, J (2014:65)

Examples of professional learning currently taking place across Scotland’s Colleges are very diverse but may not often be appreciated beyond a particular college or vocational area. Professional learning found to be worthwhile may range from: peer coaching to planning inter-disciplinary learning; participation in assessment and moderation activities to engaging in open learning or attending accredited courses or industry conferences; and professional dialogue with colleagues to critical analysis of professional reading and research. A key criterion for meaningful professional learning is that it should be felt to be impactful on a lecturer’s thinking and practice and on students and their learning.

Calling College Lecturers across Scotland!

We are seeking examples of professional learning which lecturers have found particularly worthwhile in order to create this new national professional learning resource ‘A-Z of Professional Learning in Scotland’s Colleges’. Lecturer contributions are important to its success.

If you would like to submit an example please complete the following template and send to

derek.timpany@gtcs.org.uk

Section	Notes	Your Example
Name and email address	Please include your name and contact email address Ideally, we would like all case studies to be attributable. If this isn’t possible please leave blank
Role	Please provide details of your role (Lecturer or another role)
College	Name of your employer (college or educational organisation)
What?	What was the main focus of the professional learning (PL) you engaged in? What was your main aim/s in engaging in this PL? For example, did you need to: know more about an aspect of curriculum? learn how to utilise a pedagogical /digital method which is new to you? enhance your understanding and use of programme evaluation methods? build your confidence in creatively adapting assessments within SQA parameters? better meet the needs of your diverse learners? other
Why?	What helped you decide on the type of PL you wished to undertake? For example, did you decide to engage in this PL following reflection: on a professional review development (PRD) discussion with your line manager which helped identify/plan PL? against the college lecturer professional standards? following an engagement with industry during professional dialogue with a colleague/s? on feedback discussions with students? career development other

Section	Notes	Your Example
When?	Approximate date range is enough
Planning your PL	In this section explain how you planned and arranged the PL opportunity. Did you: arrange to observe a colleague (or the colleague offered) read an article or book that inspired you to seek an opportunity? book an event? arrange a site visit with an employer? seek support of a mentor/coach to inform your planning/next steps? need to find financial or other resources in order to access the PL? require agreement from colleagues/line managers to access the PL? other?
Example of PL	Please provide full details of the PL activity you engaged in: This could include:	[Please include hyperlinks to online resources/examples to illustrate the PL, if relevant]
Work shadowing  Industry/academic Co-operative or team conferences teaching  Self-evaluation and critical Digital learning to reflection processes enhance  Experiential, action or blended/remote enquiry-based learning learning and teaching  Professional dialogue with Planning learning which colleagues, other is inter-disciplinary professionals, employers Employer/industry and learners engagement  Critical analysis of focused professional reading and research

Section	Notes	Your Example
Participation in activities  Engaging in practitioner relating to assessment enquiry/action research and moderation  Learning about aspects of Secondments, acting curriculum or pedagogical posts and placements practice Masters level study  Peer support e.g. Accredited courses or coaching or mentoring activity related to  Observation of learning achieving national  Online learning/blogs professional standards  Other examples… for lecturers
Sharing	How did you share your learning? Who with /when? Why was it important to you to share this learning?
Impact	In this section please explain what impact you consider the PL has had. Illustrate with examples where possible. Specify impact on: You as a professional  Your colleagues/college Your learners  Your community/industry
Professional Lecturer Standards	Self-reflect against the lecturer standards Ask yourself to what extent the PL you engaged with has helped you to better understand or enhance your values, professional knowledge and understanding and /or professional practice. Please provide examples of aspects within the standards which have been impacted upon through this example of PL
Next Steps	In this section please explain how you intend to develop your professional practice

Section	Notes	Your Example
Please base this on the example of PL and any additional areas you may have identified for further enquiry and development.
Resources	Please include details of any relevant or useful resources which supported the PL experience
References	Please include details of any relevant or useful references which informed the PL experience such as relevant authors, specific articles, textbooks or reports, organisations, web links etc.

Presentation and consistency: We are aiming to develop a collection which provides numerous examples of a wide variety of professional learning. At times we may have to review contributions and make minor changes to ensure we achieve a consistent approach and a representative selection within the collection. If additional information is considered helpful or larger amounts of text require changes, we will contact you to discuss further.

Copyright: By submitting your example, you confirm that you are willing for this example to be edited and disseminated for educational use by the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

Help and further information: We hope the template and notes provided are helpful. However, please do contact us if you wish to discuss how best to describe your example of professional learning. Contact: derek.timpany@gtcs.org.uk