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Professional Development

Rationale Guiding Principles Policy and Implementation School Hosted Events School Initiated Professional Development Staff Feedback Staff Initiated Professional Development Questions and Answers

Profile

Beijing World Youth Academy (BWYA) is an independent, international, day school located in Beijing. Founded in 2001 with a small cohort of students studying the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, it has now grown into a large K-12 school with over 1100 students. BWYA has developed a reputation for academic excellence coupled with a strong sense of community. We educate students with English and Chinese as the main language of instruction, as well as with a commitment to the Chinese government education policies for national students. BWYA is authorised with International Baccalaureate Organisation (IB), Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), and accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The school is also a member of Association of China and Mongolia International Schools (ACAMIS) and East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS).

Mission

Beijing World Youth Academy strives to provide members of our community excellent learning opportunities that incorporate critical investigation, exposure to different cultural perspectives and assessment against objective criteria. Our mission is to develop principled, open-minded thinkers who are capable of integrating with diverse international communities and who are empowered to shape their environs for the improvement of quality of life for themselves and others.

Values

As a school community, these are our values:

Compassion

We respect and empathise with the rights, opinions, culture and feelings of others.

Trust

We believe that honesty, integrity and reliability in ourselves and others, forms the cornerstone of our community.

Solidarity

We value harmony and oneness while recognising the individuality of each person in our community.

Collaboration

We recognise that the development of the student is the shared responsibility between the student, the family and the school.

Schoolwide Learner Outcomes

We have adopted the International Baccalaureate ® (IB) Learner Profile, which describes a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond academic success, as our Schoolwide Learning Outcomes as part of our commitment to help all members of the school community learn to respect themselves, others and the world around them.

As learners we strive to be:

Inquirers

We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. We know how to learn independently and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life.

Knowledgeable

We develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across a range of disciplines. We engage with issues and ideas that have local and global significance.

Thinkers

We use critical and creative thinking skills to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems. We exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions.

Communicators

We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups.

Principled

We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences.

Open-minded

We critically appreciate our own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others. We seek and evaluate a range of points of view, and we are willing to grow from the experience.

Caring

We show empathy, compassion and respect. We have a commitment to service, and we act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the world around us.

Risk-takers

We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.

Balanced

We understand the importance of balancing different aspects of our lives — intellectual, physical, and emotional — to achieve well-being for ourselves and others. We recognise our interdependence with other people and with the world in which we live.

Reflective

We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and personal development.

Rationale

The quality of the education we provide our students is ultimately determined by the quality of our teachers and administrators. This written policy directs us in deciding if, when, in which direction and how we provide professional development opportunities to our staff.

We believe that investing in the professional development of our staff is beneficial to the quality of education we offer our students and important for maintaining a safe, inclusive and academically stimulating environment.

In addition to initiating professional development opportunities, the school is open to recommendations and requests from the staff.

This document outlines our considerations when assessing professional development opportunities, and procedures we have in place for requesting, attending and reporting on professional development sessions.

Guiding Principles

• The purpose of investing in the professional development of our staff is to maintain the high quality of the service that we provide to our community, particularly our students.

• Before the school will consider participating in or hosting a professional development event, we should have reason to believe that doing so will result in an improvement in one or more of the following:

  • Safeguarding and student wellbeing.

  • Our teaching and learning environment.

  • Knowledge of our programme requirements and administration.

  • Incorporating educational technology and pedagogical developments in our implementation of the programmes.

Policy and Implementation

We see the time of our staff as a valuable asset. It is the responsibility of the school administrators and the Continuing Professional Development Committee to ensure that only high quality professional development events are considered to be hosted or sponsored by the school.

To this end, the purpose and goals of any professional development event hosted by the school are to be clearly expressed to all participants beforehand. Specifically, the following questions must be addressed:

• What is currently lacking, or may potentially be improved upon, at our school, that the event will address?

• What skills, knowledge, perspective adjustments or other benefits may attendees expect to gain by participating in the event?

• How and when will we assess how successful the event has been in actually implementing change?

School Hosted Events

Each school year includes school-provided professional development workshops, professional teaching community sessions, which offer professional growth in a spectrum of topics. These events are organised by the Continuing Professional Development Committee and school leadership. Information about staff needs and desires, programme specific opportunities and whole-school initiatives drive the decisions for what is offered.

School Initiated Professional Development

Programme coordinators are responsible for identifying the need for professional development related to their respective programmes. For example, teachers who are new to the programme may require orientation and experienced teachers may require specific training when there are changes or updates to their subjects.

Principals, the Continuing Professional Development Committee, and other school leaders are responsible for identifying the need for more general professional development, such as safeguarding and technology.

When a need has been identified:

• Relevant leaders discuss the event with identified staff.

• The school makes the arrangements for the necessary professional development. For example, the school registers staff and makes necessary travel and accommodation arrangements.

• The school covers expenses associated with the professional development including travel and accommodation expenses.

Professional development that entails least disruption to classes is, of course, favoured.

For events that involve accommodation, the school will generally choose economic options. Teachers may thus be expected to share accommodation. Further, teachers may be expected to use their own bank cards to pay hotel deposits and fees, which will, of course, be reimbursed by the school afterwards.

Staff Feedback

After staff have participated in a professional development opportunity, they are expected to share their learning experiences with others. First, they will complete a survey (Sharepoint > BWYA Faculty > Professional Development > Feedback Form) which provides feedback information about the benefit of the opportunity to the Human Resources department. Additionally, the school leadership will provide times when and a presentation to peers will be required to occur. This may be a school-wide event, school-based situation, or grade or subject meeting.

The presentation may consist of:

• An overview of the session's contents.

• An outline of skills or knowledge gained from the session.

• An outline of how new skills or knowledge might be incorporated into teaching.

• A summary of how incorporating the new skills or knowledge should improve learning.

Where possible, it is encouraged that teachers pull out essential teaching skills learned from the professional development that can be utilized across subjects and ages, so that the audience of colleagues can be as broad as possible.

Staff Initiated Professional Development

Staff might learn about professional development events that they would like to participate in. In this case they should fill in the professional development request form (SharePoint > BWYA Faculty > Professional Development) and submit it to the human resource manager.

The request form asks for information pertaining to:

• The time, duration and location of the event.

• The cost of the event.

• The disruption to school activities that might result from attending the event.

• How the attendee and the school community might benefit from the event.

• When and how the benefit to the school community may be evaluated.

The human resource manager will consider this information, consult academic leaders and then make a decision as to:

• Whether to authorise leave for participation in the event, and whether leave will be paid.

• Whether the school will contribute to the associated expenses (attendance fees, travel, etc.)

The final decisions are based on whether the potential benefits to the school community outweigh the costs and disruption.

Questions and Answers

Does the school support staff in acquiring external qualifications such as degrees and licensure?

Although there may be special cases, in general we only financially support PD that is directly related to the programmes that we implement or our school requirements. Of course, all members of the school community, including teachers and administrators, are encouraged to be lifelong learners and to direct - and invest in - their own education.

If I have my PD over the weekend, am I allowed to take a week day off?

No. The purpose of PD is to support our endeavours to provide services to our community, particularly our students. Being student-centred thus takes precedence over any PD event.

How many PD events can we attend per year? Or per contract?

Staff may be required to attend PD events based on school needs and how the PD may be expected to benefit the school community. Selection to participate in a PD event is not a reward system nor a contractual entitlement - staff may attend as many PD events as deemed necessary by the school.

Will the school only send teachers who are renewing their contracts to PD events?

Decisions regarding whom to send to PD events are primarily based on school needs, particularly with regards to the correct implementation of our programmes. However, in line with the principle that all PD is evaluated in terms of its benefits to the school community, particularly our students, we do primarily invest in teachers and administrators who have been with us, and who are expected to remain with us, for longer terms.

Is it possible to receive PD before the semester when it it will be relevant?

It is possible but the participant may need to cover the initial expenses and be refunded during the next semester.

If a request for PD is declined, how can we challenge the decision?

The final decisions are based on whether the potential benefits to the school community outweigh the costs and disruption to the school. Unfortunately, you cannot challenge the decision.

Are there deadlines for requesting PD?

There are no specific deadlines but there must, of course, be enough time for arrangements to be made: requests made well in advance of the event are more likely to be met with success than later requests.

Are there separate budgets set aside for professional development for the different programmes or campuses?

No. Decisions are made based on school wide considerations, needs and focuses.