Key Domain - Engaged Professional

The engaged professional puts students at the center of their collegial relationships and engages as a lifelong learner, to continuously expand their educational practice. The engaged professional is proactive, intrinsically motivated, reflective and contributes to a shared vision for the school community.

Connection to Dimension of Quality Teaching

2. Teacher as Engaged Professional

Professional Focus   

• Contribution to a Shared Vision - educators develop, enhance and share responsibility for all learners with a focus on continuous school improvement. Keeping students as their central focus, educators work with colleagues and leaders to engage in ongoing cycles of teacher inquiry and in evidence-informed conversations (Earl, 2009; Timperley, 2011).
  
  
• Collaborative learning with colleagues - professionals welcome learning opportunities that are collaborative in nature. Moving from classrooms with isolated practices, educators form collaborative relationships where they develop interdependence (Johnson, 2012) to foster shared responsibility and collective ownership (Hargreaves & Shirley, 2012) for student success.
  
  
• Reflective Practice for Growth - educators engage in ongoing reflection to enhance student learning and achievement and envision new ways to approach our practice (Dufour, 2004), shifting from professional development to professional learning (Timperley, 2011).

Reflective questions

• How is our practice contributing to the shared vision of our school community?
• How have we leveraged professional connections to enhance our learning?
• What have we learned from our students or colleagues that will influence our professional practice?
• What steps are we taking to expand our practice as a result of our reflection?

References

Dufour, R. (2004). The best staff development is in the workplace, not in a workshop. JSD, 52(2). p. 63-64. Retrieved from https://learningforward.org/docs/jsd-spring-2004/dufour252.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Earl, L. M. (2009). Leadership for Evidence-Informed Conversations. In Professional Learning Conversations: Challenges in Using Evidence for Improvement (pp. 43–52).

Hargreaves, A., & Shirley, D. L. (2012). The Global Fourth Way: The Quest for Educational Excellence. Corwin Press.

Johnson, S. M. (2012). Having It Both Ways: Building the Capacity of Individual Teachers and Their Schools. Harvard Educational Review, 82(1), 107–122.

Timperley, H. (2011). Realizing The Power Of Professional Learning. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).