Why Continuous Training for a Pre-Primary and Primary Teacher is so Important

It is important to understand that teaching is an evolving skill. Great teachers help create great students. In fact, research shows that an inspiring and informed teacher is the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement, so it is critical to pay close attention to how we train and support both new and experienced educators.

Preschool and primary education is the first exercise in which children are separated from their comfort zone and safe hands of their parents. So, to start with, it has to be a place which is a second home to the child; a place, which has adequate material to draw and make the child feel at ease and safe. A child learns the importance of his own name, things and friends. The skills and knowledge that the child develops in preschool has a huge impact on the aptitude and attitude of the child later in life.

Today, teacher development has moved beyond simple in-service workshops and has expanded into a more robust system of continuing education. Clearly, the one-time erratic teacher training programs yield no good result. At the end of the day, teachers want development and training that is relevant for their students.

What is professional development?

Professional development refers to numerous types of learning experiences related to an individual’s work. Be it any profession, people participate in professional development programs to improve their performance on the job by acquiring and applying new skills and knowledge.

How does professional development help teachers?

In the field of education, research shows that teaching quality and school leadership are the most important factors in raising student achievement. For teachers to be as effective as possible, they need to constantly develop their knowledge and skills to implement the best educational practices for their students. Professional development is the only way teachers can learn so that they are able to better their performance and elevate student accomplishment.

Is it mandatory to conduct teachers training?

Yes. It is essential atleast twice a year as even well experienced teachers confront great challenges every year. Numerous factors play an important role such as changes in subject content, new teaching methods, advances in technology, changing student needs and a lot more. These issues can be discussed upon and may also arrive at a possible solution.

Isn’t online professional development a good choice?

When it comes to learning content and observing demonstrations, online professional development may be useful. Some also provide interactive training among participants, but there are a few limitations. By engaging in online training, the teacher is in isolation, than as a participating member of a team, this may result in losing out on important experiences and insights. An educators’ collective growth has a greater impact than individual learning does.  And above all, one will not be aware of how well the teacher applies his or her learning towards student’s benefit.

How does teachers’ training benefit students?

No teacher is born perfect. A teacher can never know exactly how a student learns and what affects the student’s learning, and how the teacher can change her way of teaching to increase the student’s learning. Whether a student is a high, low, or average achiever, they will learn better if their teacher regularly engages in high-quality development.

What are the different aspects a teacher’s training program helps?

Teacher’s development focuses mainly on learning modalities. Everyone learns differently, that’s nothing new. Learning is a complicated concept as everyone is unique in their own way, and learns in their own way as well. While one student may enjoy reading and being read to, another might learn more if illustrations and charts accompany reading. While one may enjoy physical movement, another student may prefer quiet and serene surroundings.

That being said, there are four modalities, it includes visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), kinesthetic (moving), and tactile (touching). The more senses or modalities a teacher activates in class, the more learning will take place. Teachers are constantly trained on these modalities so as to understand what method of learning best fits their student.

How do you determine the value and results of professional development?

The results of professional development can be assessed through surveys, tests, observations, video recordings, and interviews. If students begin to achieve at higher levels, because of the effective methods of teacher training, professional development is worth the cost. Teachers learn new knowledge and skills because of their participation and use what they learn to improve the quality of teaching and leadership.

Teachers have the power to make a change in the school or classroom. If you have experienced a particular training development that helped you overcome a teaching challenge, do share with us your story in the comments below.

Written by Fathima Khaja