Something interesting happened.
I wrote to a few School Principals asking what their monthly/annual budget was for In-Service Teacher development.
Almost all who replied – and not all did! – confessed that they had no such provision.
Yes, they admitted, they did send some teachers every now and then to workshops and conferences but that was about it.
One Principal honestly answered thus: “I am embarrassed to say that I am unable to give you a clear answer! While we do have programmes off and on for teachers, and also hold Orientation Programmes at the start of each year, we do not have a definite budget allocated for such programmes. Which only goes to show that we have a long way to go in organizational development! In fact your mail has spurred me give closer thought to this matter.”
Which spurred me to think, too – if teacher development is not specifically budgeted by School Heads, then how can it happen?
Medical doctors need to keep themselves up-to-date in order to stay entrenched in their profession. IT professionals need to be even more alert to the latest developments.
Teachers – who are the supposed knowledge and learning vehicles – have no such need???!