Preschool Teacher Professional Development
In an industry with an undergoing significant development and regulation within the context of UN agreements internationally, providing the relevant quantity and quality of teachers is a significant constraint in both the public and private sectors to achieve the goals of the SDGs.
We are linking preschool teacher development experiences directly to their implementation of new programmes with a community of peers that are learning together both face to face and online. Mentored support provides scaffolding to these experiences to ensure a reflective change practice model.
Our place in this puzzle is focused on building capacity within existing workforce structures aligned to the demands of 21st century teaching and learning – This is where micro-credentials apply and show how talent management aligns to future government and private teaching standards.
A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.
Embark on a Learning Journey to Shape the Future of Our Children.
ALFA and Friends ACADEMY
ALFA and Friends ACADEMY brings professional learning community together and supportively provide access to our continuous professional development and opportunities to undertake short courses and internationally recognised qualifications.
The initial and continuing professional development is a formal requirement that occurs twice a year. Building in depth and complexity, the professional development programme embeds reflective practice alongside the dispositions and practices of science education. This work actively supports building evidence linked to practice with a focus on understanding impact, the giving, receiving, and evaluation of feedback, and building professional relationships of trust. Establishing and developing professional learning conversations grounded in critical analysis and action research is a key element that reflexively connects our community and their professional learning journeys.
We require all preschool teachers using our programmes to attend these professional development programmes. They receive not only relevant content materials to support their ongoing learning but also become part of wider learning communities of early years’ educator practice
Professional Development Courses
ALFA and Friends professional development programme for Little Scientists and Euler Maths is scheduled at two times during the calendar year, beginning and mid-year. The core professional development programmes operate in parallel to the adoption cycle of Little Scientists and Euler Maths. Teachers will begin at the introductory level of professional learning and progress over 6 consecutive professional development cycles as illustrated. The teachers’ skills and competencies are built progressively as they engaged in experiential learning practices, working with the materials and their peers during the face to face workshops and their reflective inputs form the basis for the collaborative mentoring structure.
ALFA and Friends Academy Structure
Our Academy specifically structured to support professional teacher practice through the delivery of formally recognised, regulated qualifications, unregulated but endorsed short courses, and the delivery of our own programmes.
Hands-on Workshops
These 3 to 4 hours workshops focus on acquiring the content knowledge of the core programmes through experiential learning.
PD1-PD6 Programs
A mentored PD programme focuses on scaffolding the teachers skills and competencies from introductory level (PD1) and graduate (post PD6) to become our master teachers.
Short Courses
Courses needed by teachers to improve their classroom practices in their journey to be effective teachers, ie “Project Approach”, “Problem Based Learning (PBL) with Design Thinking in STEM” Courses.
STEM Teachers Learning In Action
