Key Findings

The main findings arising out of comments from respondents when asked “If time and money were not an issue, what kind of PD would you choose?” included:

• Develop learning and teaching practices to engage learners
• Attend relevant conferences, workshops or talks
• Spend time with industry or network with teachers or experts in their own field
• Learn skills for their responsibilities as leaders, mentors, managers – through informal and formal learning, including gaining qualifications
• Upgrade their research skills through publication or guidance on supporting research.

Key Recommendations

Recommendations for Educational developers include reminders of

• The value of conferences and workshops, and in-house training
• Timing – when to offer PD around common workload demands
• Communicating the availability of PD opportunities of interest to experienced teachers
• To assist staff to identify their intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to engage with PD
• Recognition of effort, including PD which leads to something, e.g. “building blocks” towards a longer term objective.

Recommendations for managers of experienced staff include ensuring that the PD

• Is chosen by the staff member
• May involve formal learning, such as higher qualifications
• May include specialist discipline training and upskilling
• Includes sufficient funding and time
• Will be regarded by experienced staff as beneficial to both to the staff and the institution.