Continuing Professional development of teachers in Portugal

1. Continuing Professional developmentofteachersin Portugal António Silva joaquim.silva@dren.min-edu.pt Fátima Braga 300fbraga@eshm.edu.pt PORTUGAL Riga, Latvia – 27th September – 1st October

2. 1. Is Continuing Professional Development of teachers compulsory? Yes, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of teachers is compulsory, in Portugal, since 2007, although we have since 2001 legislation that prescribe it.

3. 2. Who is the organisational body of CPD? • The Central and Local Administration; • The Scientific Council for Teacher Evaluation; • The Scientific Council for Teacher Lifelong Learning; • Schools and Teacher’s Training Centres; • The Inspectorate does not contribute to the extent it was asked for the government to the delivery of the teacher evaluation model.

4. 2. Who is the organisational body of CPD? In the first evaluation cycle – 2007/2009 -, the national framework provided guidance for schools to set local performance standards and criteria. The evaluation domains needed to be further specified, in schools, with definitions and indicators. The main risk was the lack of comparability among schools, because they had diverse interpretations about the meaning and relative importance of different aspects of teaching. In the present cycle - 2009/2011 -, the role of the Scientific Council for Teacher Evaluation has been increased, and they are now constructing national performance standards, criteria and guidelines to guarantee the equity among schools. However...

5. 2. Who is the organisational body of CPD? • There is still a clear tension between school-level standards for teacher evaluation and national-level consequences of teacher evaluation. • It has been problematic to create some consensus about National Standards on teacher development and evaluation. So, schools are still waiting for them, in the middle of this evaluation cycle. • Some analysts still claim that evaluation for career progression may not be effectively handled within an entirely internal evaluation system, even with National Standards to be used by schools. • We have a quota system that increase the controversy between internalism and externalism.

6. 3. How often CPD does take place? Teacher professional development and evaluation as a central concern • In Portugal, teacher professional development is closely related to teacher evaluation. • Teacher evaluation in Portugal is a vital step to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning and raise educational standards. • Portuguese schools have a lack of evaluation culture. • It was difficult for the Government to place teacher evaluation at the core of school reforms, in 2007.

7. 3. How often CPD does take place? Teacher evaluation as a mechanism to improve professional development • Till 2007 we had a teacher evaluation model that was not achieving its purposes of professional development and was not improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning and raising educational standards. A new model was needed. • Since 2007, wehavecyclesoftwoyears. The first cycle of this new teacher evaluation model took place in 2007-2009, and it has been very controversial. • In this second cycle (2009-2011) there is some consensus within the teaching profession about evaluation as part of a professional development process.

8. 3. How often CPD does take place? These cycles prescribe mechanisms for evaluating teacher professional development at nodal points in a teacher’s career. Teachers are evaluated in five levels: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Regular and Insufficient. Excellent and Very Good are only possible when classroom observation takes place:

9. 4. Whatkindof CPD isoffered? Improvement and accountability in teacher evaluation • Teacher evaluation serves a double purpose: improvement and accountability. • Evaluation for professional development seeks to improve the teacher’s own practice by identifying strengths and weaknesses for further professional development. • Evaluation follows also the principle of merit on career advancement. It is a basis for recognition of a teacher’s work.

10. 4. What kind of CPD is offered? Evaluation in the school context • Teacher evaluation is organised at the school level, takes account of the school context, and is mostly a process internal to schools; • Also frequency of Courses, Seminars, Workshops, Research Projects (25h year). • This has the advantage of giving the school some ownership of the evaluation processes and ensuring that all aspects are carefully considered by the school. • This has two main problems:

11. 4. What kind of CPD is offered? • The lack of pedagogical and organisational leadership • There is no tradition that school directors exert pedagogical leadership of the school and take ultimate professional responsibility for the quality of education provided by the school. • Due to the limited attention paid to specific pedagogical evaluation and management skills in their training, school directors do not seem to be adequately prepared for their new role as educational and human resource managers with a prominent role in school (self-) evaluation, school improvement, teacher performance evaluation and teacher career development. • We need to make large steps in establishing a sustained leadership culture. • We need to include the results of the teacher development evaluation in the evaluation of schools. In the next cycle of school external evaluation process, that begins in 2011-2012, the evaluation of the schools will include the monitoring of the effectiveness of the quality of teaching and learning at the school.

12. 4. What kind of CPD is offered? • The lack of «open door» climate • The current teacher evaluation system provides the opening up of classroom practice to constructive professional scrutiny. • To be effective, evaluation for professional development requires a culture in which there is developmental classroom observation, professional feedback, peer discussion and coaching opportunities. • In the Portuguese education system schools have little expertise in devising evaluation instruments and none in the area of lesson observation and evaluation (except in initial teacher training). • Very little training provided to teachers so they understand the objectives of teacher evaluation and how to make the best use of evaluation results. • This is compounded by an incipient culture of evaluation among Portuguese teachers. Few opportunities exist for reflection and the sharing of practices. • This requires an ‘open-door’ climate of willingness to share classroom practice.

13. 5. What is the content of CPD? We have four CPD dimensions: • Ethical, social and professional dimension; • Pedagogical dimension (teaching and learning process); • Functional performance of the teacher within the school and community commitment; • Lifelong learning process.

14. 5. What is the content of CPD? Tensions between improvement and accountability • Combining both the improvement and career progression functions into a single teacher evaluation raises difficult challenges: • When teachers are confronted with potential consequences of evaluation on their career and salary, the inclination to reveal weak aspects of performance is reduced; • These risks are compounded in the Portuguese context of lack of maturity of teacher evaluation.

15. 5. What is the content of CPD? The teacher evaluation model is comprehensive, includes most domains of teacher performance, a wide range of sources of data, and has a peer-review element (this recognises the fact that the demands on schools and teachers are becoming more complex and teachers have their areas of responsibility broadened). Classroom observation has a pivotal role in teacher developmental evaluation model. Self-evaluation has a key role: teachers express their own views about their performance, and reflect on the personal, organisational and institutional factors that had an impact on their teaching.

16. 5. What is the content of CPD? Evaluation: a way to improve practice and reward performance • Appropriately teacher evaluation is intended to identify areas of improvement for individual teachers, and lead to the preparation of individual improvement plans which take into account the overall school development plan. • Teachers are asked to fallow a national plan of professional learning – a credit system - that includes: • Methodological and scientific areas; • Sciences of Education; • Information and communication technologies.

17. 5. What is the content of CPD? A problem: the legitimacy of evaluators • Often evaluated teachers did not recognise legitimacy to evaluators - there is widespread concern about the competence of some senior teachers who were identified as evaluators. • Some senior teachers expressed their lack of motivation, competences and preparation to carry out evaluation. • Against what would be good practice, evaluators do not have the experience of being evaluated. • There has been limited training for evaluators.