New Skills for VET Teachers

CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD) APPROACHES IN SALPAUS

One core element in improving the continuous professional development (CPD) approaches and quality management process within Salpaus Further Education was the implementation of team development discussions (TDD). In this article we will summarize how we understand TDD, what it includes and how it helps to develop and support integration of new skills into everyday work process. Also, how staff, HR department and the organization in general benefit from the process. We will also introduce certain elements of Salpaus CPD, for instance peer mentoring and teamwork and heads of department training. 

Inputs of Salpaus CPD 

Vocational education and training are the core function of Salpaus Further Education. It takes many forms, there is a great variety of learners, there is a need to serve work life better now and in the future, and a need for shaping the education future. 

To ensure that we succeed in the core function we must continuously develop our continuous professional development (CPD) approaches in Salpaus. One core element in improving the CPD approaches and quality management process within Salpaus Further Education was the implementation of team development discussions (TDD). There are many different drivers which led us to conclude that it is important to do team development discussions on a regular basis and in a standardized way. These drivers include the national curriculum and Salpaus level implementation plan, the needs of local and national companies in Finland and our own goals and strategy.  

We updated our team discussion process and relaunched it in 2021.  Our target is to carry out the TDDs regularly at least twice a year with each team including managers’ teams. To standardize this process the HR department put together a framework which should be used. This includes standardized questionnaires, reporting layout, and instructions for management and staff. The TDD results are recorded by each team on an open Teams platform and can be accessed by anyone within the organization.  

We wanted the TDD process to create transparency and systematic approach within the organization. Therefore, the steps leading to the team discussions are: 
1) The upper management and education directors meet to create targets and goals for the whole organization. 2) Then the education directors have their own team discussion with the heads of department to talk about these. 3) The heads of department then take these targets and goals into action and fit them into their own departments when delivering the team development discussions within their own departments. 

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Picture 1: Continuous improvement work cycle (PDCA) 

Within the TDDs the PDCA quality framework plays a key role (see picture 1). This is based on commonly known quality model where there are four main elements: Planning, Doing, Checking, Acting. The TDD includes the team members reviewing the goals that are set for them and any previous TDD plans which were made earlier, as well as going through feedback and data from work life and students. Each team lists areas where they have achieved their goals, and areas where development or progress needs to be made. The team creates an attainable implementation plan including short term and long-term goals which either the whole team or smaller groups or even individuals in the team could be assigned to take care of.  

Individual development discussions still take place once a year. They have a more targeted focus and they ensure that the manager and the worker have open communication. This gives the opportunity to both receive and give constructive and positive feedback to your superior/managers.  

For several years, we have used questionnaires to gain knowledge from the staff about their current skills and abilities. These questionnaires include for instance the following themes: student personalization, work life co-operation and digital skills.  

In 2022 we added another element to our CPD planning: discussions with all the managers about the training needs of their staff. Based on the results from the questionnaires, development discussions and the discussions with the managers, the HRD puts together and updates a personnel development plan.  In future we hope to improve the involvement level of the work union representatives also in this process.  

Another aspect in ensuring the success of the core functions of Salpaus is training events for heads of department. Upper management and the HRD coordinating group arrange about 5-6 training days per year for the heads of department. These days have turned out to be an effective way to implement new processes or facilitate changes through the organization. We use collaborative and team based learning methods to strengthen cooperation and promote interaction between the heads of department.  

Why the need for working together in a team? In the Nordic countries people are often very independent and individualists and working as a team is not necessarily automatic. Especially in the field of teaching, lecturers and teachers tend to work very autonomously. Not even admitting when they need help.  Therefore, we have found that work needs to be done to create trust, collaboration and make people work as a team. The reason to start team development discussions was to help individual workers to integrate into their team and then for each worker to bring their ability out for the benefit of the team. This is done through open, honest, and clear dialogue. With a more co-operative and open environment, we can serve our clients better and give them a more balanced quality level and course-content equality. To be sustainable in the future we are going to need to work together and share and co-create material and develop new educational products to support modern work life better. 

There have been big changes in teachers’ job role over the last few years meaning that ongoing change has become a permanent part of work. An example of this is the jump from being the expert who is giving knowledge to students to being the facilitator of learning. The old way of doing things no longer works. Studying paths have become more complex and flexible, and teachers need to collaborate and develop new skills in harmony with what work life needs. We also know that in the future more changes are ahead. This means teachers have so much to new to learn and old habits to unlearn that on your own this can be overwhelming. Therefore, within the team you can have the perspective to see the need and make changes happen.  

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Application of Salpaus CPD 

The HR department benefits from both the team development discussions and individual development discussions.  The results of all development discussions contribute to HR planning in connection with staff recruitment and budgeting. All these factors are also in connection with anticipating the education future. 

The results of these discussions are used to put together staff training events and programmes. Acknowledgement of teacher's competence is one of the most important things which we can do. The education manager maps out the levels of the staff's ability and set targets for needed skills or accepted levels of required competences of teaching and education staff.  

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Picture 2: Application of CPD in Salpaus: Salpaus Skills   

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The Salpaus CPD consists of the following elements: 

• Peer mentoring. Peer mentors of digital learning, mentors of student personalization, mentors of international activities. This role is integrated into their work resources, and it varies from teacher to teacher and is re-evaluated every year to be in the right level. The peer mentors organize workshops open for all, team workshops, and they give individual support when needed. They take part in education process development.  

• Staff training programmes and sessions on various pedagogical topics, for instance eLearning pedagogy on-line and in small groups.  

• Monthly open pedagogical afternoons for all staff on Teams. 

• Moodle e-learning courses: Welcome to Salpaus (orientation course for new employees), Working as a teacher in Salpaus (both for new and existing teaching staff), Language and cultural guidance and support. Also compulsory courses and tests for all staff on GDPR, information accessibility and on-line security. We also hope that in the near future we can put together a compulsory course for all staff members on the theme of sustainability.  

• Systematic onboarding program of new workers to Salpaus. The peer mentors also play a key role in orientation of new workers to Salpaus.  

Inspired by the project New skills for VET teachers and the good practices we have learnt from the project partners, we too want to conceptualize our CPD approaches. From now on, we would like to package our learning academy under the brand Salpaus Taidot (Salpaus Skills). As a result of this project, we are going to gather all the CPD approaches under the name and help our personnel to find all the staff training events and programmes we have to offer.  

Conclusion 

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In Salpaus, we want to turn the sometimes too individualist culture into a more collectivist way of working. By starting the team development discussion in 2021, we aim to help individual workers to integrate into their team and bring their ability out for the benefit of the team and the organization. Team development discussion is an integral part of the quality management of the organization and fit very well in the continuous improvement work cycle.  

The Salpaus CPD, Salpaus Skills, consists of many elements. One of the most efficient and appraised form is peer mentoring. There are peer mentors of digital learning, mentors of student personalization and mentors of international activities. The peer mentors take part in education process development, and they also play a key role in orientation of new workers to Salpaus.  

Co-writers: Erika Penttilä, Sannakaisa Raatikainen and Craig Donald, Salpaus Further Education. 27.6.2022 
  

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