Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)
Inside PPTA Te Wehengarua’s Manawatū-Whanganui regional action day.
In term four last year, PPTA Te Wehengarua’s Manawatū-Whanganui region held a regional action day, focussing on the professional growth cycle, which will replace performance appraisal.
The focus for this day was to support branches to develop good systems at their school to replace appraisal and to support the members in the region who were struggling with appraisal workload.
This event included an in-depth look at the PPTA Te Wehengarua professional growth cycle model with advisory officer, Anthony Neyland breaking down the model and what it would look like once implemented in schools. There were also sessions on sharing best practice in schools and strategies for addressing workload associated with burdensome appraisal issues.
Cullinane College branch chair Kathleen O’Hara said the event reinvigorated her activism. It gave her some clear guidelines around appraisal and where they could be heading with records of professional growth.
It was pleasing to hear that a number of attendees went back to their branch to share this high-trust model and how they could implement it at their school. Resources for the PPTA professional growth cycle are available at ppta.org.nz. Have a look at them and discuss with your branch how these could be implemented at your school.
About our professional growth cycle template
This tool for fulfilling and recording a professional growth cycle was developed in consultation with teachers and the Secondary Principals council. It promotes a high trust approach to professional growth and will not add significantly to teacher workload.
It addresses the needs of both teachers and principals for professional growth and renewal of practising certificates.
We hope it will eliminate the potential for school-by-school wheel-reinvention on a grand scale. On the PPTA Te Wehengarua website you will find:
- a handy guideline
- a professional growth form
- an annual summary form
- and a background article with rationale for the process and how it is robust in a high-trust environment
