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Assessment item 2 – Leading Professional Learning Plan For those…
Assessment item 2 – Leading Professional Learning Plan
For those working in ECEC, you will take a leadership role in creating a staff development plan for professional learning. This will include individual development planning for two staff members and a whole service development plan. In addition, you will reflect on and develop your capacity to lead and mentor others. The purpose of the staff development plan is to take a ground-up approach to support the professional learning of staff and ultimately improve the quality of children’s experiences.
This assignment is not about training, as staff development for professional learning goes beyond that notion. It is about developing increased levels of professional competence to build institutional cohesion and vision that will guide quality ECE practice. The leading professional learning plan is a tool that you will use to explain, discuss, justify and evaluate the process involved in enacting leadership and mentoring strategies and skills. You are not expected to implement the plans developed.
You will write a report on the process of planning for professional learning using the main headings provided and submit the report for assessment. You may add additional sub headings if you so wish.
Introduction ()
Review the subject readings around leadership and leading professional learning and staff development, develop a discussion around the role of leadership in supporting staff professional learning in ECE. This should include your understandings of differing leadership styles and approaches/strategies that best facilitate professional learning. Use the subject readings to support your discussion.
It is suggested you complete a draft of your introduction before you start on planning the professional learning, as this will provide a basis for the approach you would take and give you some insights into the approaches/strategies you might use to facilitate the individual planning process.
Professional Learning Plans ()
Complete the ‘Service Profile’ template prior to starting on the individual staff development planning process. Completing the profile will provide information that will help to inform your approach to the staff development plan.
Individual professional planning
Choose two staff members to complete the individual planning process and gain their consent. Give them pseudonyms to protect their identity (a different name or simply Staff 1, Staff 2). Provide the staff members with a copy of the ‘Planning for Professional Learning’ template to complete and make arrangements to meet with them to identify and develop individual goals, objectives for their professional learning. How you manage the individual professional planning is up to you and the staff members participating in the process.
Reflect on how you prepared for the meetings with the individual staff members, what leadership approach did you take with each person? You need to explain and justify how you went about the process in a leadership role, and why you used specific leadership approaches/strategies with the individual staff members. For example, the leadership approach may have been based on what you know about them, their level of experience, and what you know about leadership approaches, communication, and relationship strategies from the literature, and/or your own leadership philosophy/style. You need to explain and justify how/why the approaches/strategies were appropriate for supporting the individual staff planning process. Support your discussion by referring to the leadership and professional learning literature.
Provide an illustration showing the individual goals/objectives identified, a plan and a timeline for implementation. This may include activities, team meetings, identified mentoring sessions or other plans. The illustration is not included in the word count. The ‘service profile’ and the ‘planning for professional learning’ templates should support the planning process, but the templates are not the report.
Note: you are not expected to implement the individual plans. Engaging in the process of planning with staff members assists you to understand the process involved and provides opportunities for you to:
apply effective leadership skills to lead pedagogical and curriculum development,
demonstrate effective interpersonal communication skills and relationship building strategies to afford effective teams; and,
use strategies to build institutional cohesion and vision to guide quality ECEC practice.
Whole service professional planning
Provide an illustration showing a broad whole service goal that would be relevant and appropriate for the whole service. The goal should be based on any common themes or issues arising from the individual planning, and/or the Service Profile, QIP, Service philosophy, regulatory frameworks. A plan of actions and strategies and a timeline for implementation must be included. The illustration is not included in the word count.
The aim of a whole service professional learning plan is to build institutional cohesion and vision to guide quality ECEC practice. You need to explain and justify the choice of the whole service goal and the plan with reference to supporting evidence. For example, common themes or issues from the individual development planning, what you know about the whole staff team (service profile), the organisational culture, service philosophy/policies relating to leadership and professional learning, QIP, and regulatory frameworks which inform and/or support the choice of the goal and strategies outlined in the plan. Support your discussion by referring to the leadership and professional learning literature. You are not expected to implement the whole service plan. The completion of the action plan is to assist you to understand the process involved.
Note: You do not have to collaborate with other staff to develop the goal and action plan, but you may if you are able to do so and time permits. If you do discuss the whole service professional learning plan and receive input from other staff, you can refer to this as part of your justification in the report if relevant.
Evaluation of Leadership Skills ()
Reflect on and evaluate the professional learning planning process and your role as the leader. What leadership skills did you feel you enacted effectively? What were the challenges or what challenges could you perceive may occur during a professional learning process, how did or would you address them as a leader? What leadership skills do you need to enhance and how will you do this?
Appendices (not included in word count)
Appendix 1: Service Profile
Appendix 2: Planning for Professional Learning Staff Member 1
Appendix 3: Planning for Professional Learning Staff Member 2
