Professional Development
The College advocates lifelong learning and continuous improvement. This begins with the individual development of its leaders. To that end, all staff members are required to improve their professional skills and qualifications.
Support Staff
Training courses are attended or conducted internally as needed in order to equip staff for successful completion of work responsibilities and to progress to the most efficient level of operation.
Faculty
The College is committed to excellence in the delivery of training and in the development of its teaching faculty. All faculty members are required to continuously improve their professional skills and teaching qualifications in the following three areas:
- Specialist areas of training
- Vocational Educational Training
- Industry Experience
Skill Development:
The Academic Dean, Executive Dean, Campus Deans and Head trainers are responsible for initiating professional development with full-time, adjunct and degree trainers.
The aim is to identify opportunities for improvement for training on campus and to identify what training/college information needs to be clarified to trainers.
The professional development meeting is to be conducted by Academic staff who are overseeing other trainers (both adjunct/full-time staff). The aim of the meeting is dialogue with trainers in order to encourage them and support them in the practice of education. Each trainer should be invited to participate in a professional development meeting twice a year (at the end of each semester) and given the tools to effectively evaluate their practice PRIOR to this meeting. Academic staff conducting these meetings must:
- Identify the number of trainers you are responsible for, and which, trainers you will personally meet with during semester break.
- Set a reminder in outlook to send them the “Class Feedback Form”, the “Class feedback on Trainer collation” Excel spread sheet and the “Trainer Self-evaluation form”. Include an explanation of how to use these tools to evaluate their practice. Note: Class Feedback forms should be sent to trainers towards the end of semester in order to allow them time to gather feedback from students.
- Provide all trainers with whom you are meeting with a date, time and place of their professional development meeting. [at least 2 weeks before the semester break].
This process is all about HELPING trainers feel better about their teaching. All interactions during this process need to communicate support not discipline.
- Glean information of the trainers’ performance in class from your own sources prior to the professional development meeting. This will add to your knowledge.
- Conduct the meeting and document final discussions and agreements on the “PD Planning Form – Trainers”
Continuous improvement:
Collate data from the trainers self-evaluation forms using the Excel “Trainer PD Collation Table” template and save it to your directory. This form can automatically create a graph in the “Trainer PD Chart” tab of the average response to each question. This allows for quantitative research into the trainers skills and abilities and a visual tool that can be used in development meetings.
Use the trainer PD chart to plan appropriate training and coaching for your trainers over the next 6 months.
Tools for professional development
Skill development can occur in a variety of ways and depends on the specific needs and background of trainers. The following are suggestions.
Internal College Training Events.
Faculty Development Days conducted each term by the Academic Dean. These address largely pedagogical issues, instructional methodology and course development. Attendance is mandatory for all Faculty members.
Participation in church-life
Faculty are required to participate in different departments of church life on an ongoing basis including volunteering in Sunday services and mid-week programs
Leadership Nights held throughout the year. These are conducted by the church with specific sessions tailored to faculty and are designed to build teamwork, improve teaching skills and provide a forum for mutual encouragement and feedback.
Specialist training
All faculty are required to participate in training in their specialist areas for 2 days in the academic year via the following options:
Formal Study: Faculty are encouraged to upgrade their formal qualifications outside the College setting. A number of the faculty are currently involved in Higher Education programs and the College budget allocates resources for this.
Conferences/Workshops that focus on their specialist area (e.g. Music, Counselling, Children).
Attendance at the quarterly district, annual State, and biennial National conferences conducted by the Assemblies of God in Australia. This part of the development specifically focuses on the latest thinking on ministerial approaches and church development.
Educational Training:
All faculty are required to attend one day workshop on vocational training processes every academic year. This may take the form of in-service training, formal VET training or completion of the Certificate IV Training and Assessment.
Faculty are encouraged to attend one subject taught by their peers within the life of the College each year in order to develop their knowledge base and further their learning.
Mentoring
Senior members of faculty, especially the Executive Deans, Academic Dean, Campus Deans and Co-ordinators of the Faculties, play a significant role in the ongoing formal and informal mentoring, development and oversight of both junior and senior staff members.
Access to resources
With the latest information concerning ministry education including:
Ministry journals – these include: Leadership Journal, Studies in Australian Christianity, Journal of Christian Education, Christianity Today, Reformed Theological Review, Expositor’s Times, Australian Ministry, Christian History and others
College Library books.