Continuous Professional Learning
We have taken the time to map personal, professional, regulatory and institutional training needs across the college in order to determine what the weekly, termly and annual CPD menu looks like. These professional development pathways are there to guide staff to recommended training depending on their aspirations. We recognise that not all staff wish to be promoted upwards so the recommended training can either help staff deepen their current expertise or prepare for promotion or both.
That said, our CPD programme will continue to include traditional training in the form of expert presentations, external lectures, specialist online courses, individual reading and summative lesson observations as part of the annual review process. Crucially there will also be an expectation that DC staff disseminate training they have received to their colleagues as part of in-service training.
These pathways mean that CPD take on new and fluid forms including collaborative research, group discussion, joint reflection, coaching triads, reflective journals, best practice sharing, lesson co-planning, peer observations, lesson study triads, 360-degree leadership reviews, a school R&D hub, marketplace carousels, social networking sites like Twitter, education blogs, online webinars, termly newsletters, SPARKs, lunchtime Pedagoos, research conferences, and classroom filming and feedback through video. We also pride ourselves on part funding Masters and PhDs and fully fund and facilitate staff that would like to engage in the TDT NPQ courses.
The college has also built its own profession platform where we host bespoke online courses. DC LearnED is Dubai College's online professional development platform. It is designed to provide high quality blended, research-informed, application-focused, impact-driven CPD. The courses on LearnED allow staff to learn at their own place, work through workbooks that focus on the science of implementation. Courses are designed by our own experts, engaging content and external providers. Our courses are always crystal-clear and concise. The courses on DC LearnED are designed to deliver staff with brilliant insights, tips, ideas and strategies in easy to digest learning bites.
The college has allocated a generous budget for professional development, we are proud that all reasonable requests as granted as learning is at the heart of the college. For more information about the plethora of opportunities available at the college please draw upon the DC CPD Booklet below.