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About PGDTA Professional Development Roles

What are the duties of the PD Chair (volunteer position, elected by membership)?

PD Leadership
  1. Receive reports on status of the PD Fund and provide input and direction for budget priorities, funding categories, and present a budget to the PD Committee for approval (Sep/Oct).
  2. Build and maintain PD Committee Agendas, and Minutes (3-5 in-person and 4-6 virtual each year) 
  3. Chair/Facilitate PD Committee meetings and monitor action items (3-5 in-person and 4-6 virtual each year)
  4. Coordinate PD School Rep training (does not happen every year)
  5. Engage in PD Policy Review/Change and multi-step approval process (doesn’t happen every year) 
  6. Dialogue and collaboration and dialogue with PGDTA table officers and office manager (monthly; ongoing) 
  7. Dialogue and collaboration with other PGDTA Standing Committees, e.g. Social Justice, Indigenous Ed Committee (ongoing)
 
PD Representation
  1. Attend PGDTA Exec Meetings and submit a brief written report (c. 10 per year)
  2. Attend PGDTA Staff Rep Assemblies or General Meetings and submit a brief written report (c. 10 per year)
  3. Attend BCTF Fall and Spring Zone Meetings (October and April) 
  4. Participation in BCTF Summer Leadership Conference (August) 
 
PD Communication
  1. Write and submit a PD Committee Report for PGDTA AGM (April)
  2. PD Advocacy and correspondence with members on BCTF News, application of the PD Lens and expectations on PD Days, and relating BC Teaching Standards to teacher professionalism (ongoing) 
  3. Key contact for correspondence from BCTF, Provincial Specialist Associations, PD Chair list-serve, and other bodies (ongoing)
  4. Inquiries from School Admin or Teachers on PD Interpretation and Problem-solving (ongoing)
  5. Maintenance and updates to http://www.pgdta.org/pro-d.html (ongoing)
What does the PD Committee (8 elected members) do?
  • review decisions and use of the fund by the PD Fund Administrator
    assist in making difficult decisions (e.g. expensive or unusual application for PD travel)
  • gather ideas for PD events and help promote PD events in the district
  • advocate for high quality, autonomous professional development
  • assist with or share the duties of the PD Chair (see below)
  • often double as the Zone Conference Organization Committee (many duties need filling around the Zone Day itself)
  • model professional conversation and lifelong learning for others
What do the PD Reps (usually one one per school) do?
  • help plan or organize PD events for your school alongside your staff
  • connect staff members to PD literature, strategies, opportunities
  • sit on or chair a school PD committee
  • help teachers interpret the PD Lens
  • connect with other PD reps to share stories and plan mutual events
  • help build teacher-directed inquiry and collaboration
  • be a school-based leader and advocate for high-quality, autonomous, and enjoyable PD
  • work with the principals or department administrator to ensure professional autonomy around PD choices and rights/responsibilities/safety on PD days
What does the PD Fund Administrator (paid position, elected at PGDTA AGM) do beyond the PD Chair duties?
  1. Build (or commission) and maintain appropriate digital forms and information related to PD Fund applications
  2. Receive and review applications for individual PD funding and dialogue with members if any items are unclear or they made contact with questions or follow-up items. Categories include in-district, out-of district, and virtual.
  3. Receive proposals and applications for “special projects” category which includes mini-conferences, book clubs, local specialist association costs, and workshop costs (typically on PD Days)
  4. Apply PD Fund rules and decide on funding approval and amounts/limits. For complicated applications, the PD Committee is involved either at a regularly scheduled meeting or by polling through a M365 form for emergent decisions.
  5. Work alongside applicants where possible and reasonable to organize events associated with funding, e.g. setting up workshops or mini-conferences with spaces, facilitators, PD Reg entry; ordering books for book clubs, communicating with members about upcoming opportunities. A recent example is support (emails, meetings, planning) for a Social Justice day of learning scheduled for the Jan 2025 PD Day.
  6. Use Credit Claim (Agreement-to-Pay) system to authorize release costs for members requiring TTOCs for approved PD events.
  7. Email correspondence on matters directly related to member applications and reimbursements, shared concerns with school district departments (Finance/Accounting, C&I, Indigenous Ed, Inclusive Ed, Superintendent’s Office, Human Resources), organizers of PD events, inquiries from external agencies groups wishing to provide PD for members.
  8. Email correspondence on other matters. Over the years, the position has been an email magnet for everything related to mentorship, new teacher orientation, onboarding of TTUCs, teaching resources, curriculum development, teacher qualifications, external requests for access to teachers for training, research, discussions, collaboration projects, products and special offers; district initiatives (including those that are unrelated to ProD), professional learning at all levels (individual, school, district, region, province), inquiries from university teacher education or Masters’ programs, professional growth plans, provincial directives (e.g. interpreting M.ECC documents on assessment), teacher evaluation, district calendars, reassurance for teachers who are nervous to lead a PD session, and so on.
  9. Phone calls, Zoom calls, and meetings required as follow-up to email correspondence.
  10. Navigating expenses for Associate Professionals: When the Associate Professionals joined the PGDTA, there was no agreement on how their ongoing and expensive requirements for certified professional development would be met. We have an informal agreement to share costs with Inclusive Education which requires some communication and negotiation from year to year.
  11. Spring Fling Conference Coordination (see full list below).
  12. Additional Event Coordination, e.g. Place in Education Symposia (3-day events in 2016 and 2018 at Barkerville) and an Adventurous Play Symposium (2-day event in 2024 at McBride). These events delivered productive and valuable PD for teachers and others (including administrators and EAs) and required an investment of time and energy. Additionally, the PD Fund Administrator regularly contributes support for special events in SD57 such as Early Learning Conferences, Indigenous Day of Learning, Mental Health Symposia, Compassionate Systems Leadership, Family of School mini-conferences, Specialist Association mini-conferences, Robson Valley mini-conferences, and Student Leadership Conferences.
  13. Representation of PGDTA and SD57 on PD business, e.g. signing contracts for facility rentals and guest speakers, department approval for PD Fund charges, JV forms, invoices, etc.
  14. Leadership roles, especially those associated with funding, that are connected with new teacher support, mentorship, collaboration with Curriculum Innovations and Indigenous Education (and sometimes Human Resources), and communication or liaison with partner groups in the district
  15. External liaison with education stakeholders in the community, region, province, country, and post-secondary institutions. Some examples of external liaison include UNBC (Below Zero training, Active Minds), Network of Innovation and Inquiry (e.g. AESN Grants), AIM (Language Learning workshops), Council of Forest Industries, Active Schools (PHE workshops), SetBC, Play is the Way, BCTF Provincial Specialist Associations, Outdoor Learning Canada, Mental Health First Aid, and many others.