Staff Professional Development
Wellspring Learning Community views itself as a learning community that is committed to the continuous growth and development of teacher and staff professional learning as it is committed to student learning. Wellspring believes continuous professional development is essential to quality education. A culture of excellence can only be achieved through personal and organizational commitment to growth.
The ethos of professional development at Wellspring is to focus on developing a professional learning environment that empowers teachers and staff members to take the lead of their own growth, by creating opportunities to inquire into their professional learning needs, sharing best practices, participating in reflective dialogue sessions and undertaking peer observations.
As a learning community, Wellspring recognizes the wealth and unique variety of teacher and staff expertise; therefore, the school encourages each community member to develop and take personal ownership of their individual learning growth and that of the institution as a whole. The learning community commits to sharing their knowledge and expertise by mentoring, coaching and collaborating with other members. It is through this commitment and an understanding of Wellspring’s mission and vision that effective, targeted and useful PD/PL opportunities can be found or created both through external and internal offerings.
The purpose of teacher and staff professional development is to promote individual and community growth with the ultimate purpose of enhancing student learning through the dissemination and exchanging of new knowledge, additional skills and new pedagogy. Ongoing professional development opportunities for Wellspring teachers and staff members take a wide variety of forms on both individual and group levels.
In line with IB principles, Wellspring is committed to supporting the professional development of our teachers and staff by providing opportunities for training to:
- Support the professional growth of teachers and administrators
- Transform classroom practice and student learning
- Cultivate enduring communities of learners
In addition to being trained by IB, some teachers hold additional positions within the IB such as: examiner, workshop leader, workshop evaluator and MYP curriculum committee member.
