This blog discusses different examples of professional development and how our free Equal Academy courses can help with your professional development.

What is Professional Development?

Professional development is the continuing education and career training that an individual takes in order to stay up to date with new skills and trends and to allow them to further advance their career.

Professional development can occur in all sectors and fields of work; in this instance, we will be discussing professional development in the education sector. For educators, professional development is extremely important to allow you to become a better educators and in turn, provide a better learning experience to the students you teach.

A group of women sat together at a conference

Examples of Professional Development 

Professional development can take the form of many formal and informal activities. 

Formal professional development opportunities include:

  • Conferences
  • elearning
  • Training programmes
  • Workshops
  • Online courses

You can also have informal professional development opportunities which can include:

  • Sitting in on a colleague’s class
  • Feedback from colleagues
  • Coaching and mentoring
  • Performance evaluations 
  • Discussions around new teaching methods and guidance updates

To read more about professional development check out our blog The Benefits of Professional Development.

A woman presenting in front of colleagues on a projected screen

Professional Development Opportunities with Equal Academy

At Equal Education Partners we are passionate about lifelong education and learning opportunities. We offer both in-person and online live training sessions, mentoring and coaching support, and on-demand content from our online academy.

A man reading at a table in a library

Professional Development Courses for Teachers

Our online Equal Academy offers a range of free on-demand courses that cover several different subjects for all types of educators including Newly Qualified Teachers, Teaching assistants, Tutors and full-time teaching professionals.

Newly Qualified Teacher Induction

This free course is offered to all newly qualified teachers (NQT) to help them understand everything expected of them in their first year of teaching. The course covers everything from induction profiles and action points to checklists and helpful documents.

Reflective Practice

In this course, we cover several practical tips for educators to become more reflective in their teaching practices. We also go into detail on how educators create a myEWC account and the best ways to access their Professional Learning Passport (PLP).

Close up of a woman taking notes with other people around her at a table at a professional learning event

New Curriculum for Wales

From 1st September 2022, Wales introduced a new curriculum that will replace phases and key stages with one continuum of learning for all children and young people aged between 3 and 16 years. Our course breaks down the new curriculum into bite-sized, easy-to-digest pieces for all educators.

Tutor Induction Short or Long course 

At Equal Education Partners we also recruit part-time tutors to work in schools and colleges across Wales and England. We have two courses available for tutors, one is an introduction to tutoring at Equal for new tutors and a refresher course for tutors who have worked with us previously. 

Safeguarding

All educators have a moral and legal responsibility to keep the children, young people, and adults in their care protected from harm, abuse and neglect. In our safeguarding course you will learn about types of abuse, reporting a concern, and how best to handle disclosures from learners.

Read more about safeguarding in our blog HERE.

Sticky notes on a table - part of a task during a professional learning course

Delivering Effective Online Tuition 

Are you struggling to connect with students online? If so our course will enable you to deliver effective online tuition. The course covers preparing for online delivery as well as managing the technology you are using correctly.

Using Effective Questioning to Promote Good Progress 

Ensure that you are asking the right questions in your classroom. This course will help you understand how to use effective questioning to promote good progress in your classroom. We will also provide you with useful strategies to get the best out of your learners

Additional Learning Needs reform in Wales

This course provides an overview of the new Additional Learning Needs (ALN) legislation reform in Wales. In the course, we also link to further resources and training the Welsh Government provides.

All of our professional development courses are FREE for all Equal Education Partners staff. Register now for the Equal Academy and start taking courses to further your professional development!