ISM believes that quality professional development for faculty and staff directly correlates to higher levels of student engagement, satisfaction, and performance. But, not all private-independent schools place professional development high on their priority lists. You may need to ask directly for continuing educational opportunities. Knowing this, how do you request for professional development from your supervisors?
Do Your Due Diligence—Research!
Let’s say you want to attend ISM’s Advancement Academy—a professional “boot camp” specifically designed for private-independent school Advancement Teams hosted in San Diego, California—but your school has never sent its staff or faculty members to an overnight workshop. You’d like to approach your boss to ask if you may attend because you believe your development efforts must become more cohesive if they’re to be successful, but you don’t know where to start.
People are more likely to contribute school resources (e.g., time and money) to projects that are thoroughly thought out and planned. Why would you treat your professional development with anything but the greatest of forethought and planning? Even if you see an email or flyer for a conference that looks fantastic, don’t rush straight to your boss requesting funds or time off—arm yourself with information.
Brazen Careerist recommends that you find out about any fees or related expenses like lodging and travel before going to your managers to request professional development. (In the case of our Advancement Academy, all lodging and meals are included in the conference fee, so that’s one worry already taken care of.) Location and timing are important to know, too, as are tangible benefits to the school.
Ask yourself, “How can this specific program benefit not only me, but also my school?” Use the answers you find when you present your case for professional development.
Time Your Approach
You’ve researched ISM’s Advancement Academy and you’ve decided that this program will give you the biggest bang for your buck in terms of quantifiable benefits for your school’s current program. Great! You’re ready to talk to your boss.
But wait a second! There’s a time and a place for everything, and making your manager drop everything this second to talk with you might not be the best plan. If you demand an immediate answer, the gut reaction will most likely be a denial. Give your manager every reason to say yes and plan when you approach him or her.
AllThingsAdmin suggests that you discuss professional development during a slow time when your manager will be in a more positive frame of mind. Perhaps try verbally suggesting the opportunity to your manager, then following up later with written details via an email or packet on his or her desk.
Above all things, AllThingsAdmin advises, do NOT approach your manager with your request in front of colleagues. Maybe the budget only has enough money to send you, but not your co-worker. (Perhaps the manager wants to send your co-worker and not you!) There are dozens of reasons why this is a terrible idea, so just don’t do it.
When They Say “No”
Sometimes we don’t always get the response we’re looking for the first time. Swallow your disappointment and keep trying! BusinessWeek suggests following up your conversation after a little bit of time has passed with a brief email.
In the email, you can (respectfully) clarify a point you were unsure about during the initial meeting, or suggest a way around obstacles your manager presented. Can the school not afford to send you to Advancement Academy? You could, perhaps, ask to register for a webinar or a series of webinars covering similar material. These are less expensive, but less personalized and productive.
But let’s pretend that despite your best arguments, your boss is simply not in a position to allocate the funds or time off needed for your ideal professional development session. In such cases, U.S. News reminds us that we can take our professional development into our own hands by investing personal resources in a guidebook or webinar.
Apply the knowledge you’ve gained at your school, cite the source when revealing the improvements, and perhaps next time your manager will think differently about funding your professional development requests.
Additional ISM resources:
Private School News Vol. 12 No. 5 Summer of Professional Development
ISM Monthly Update for Division Heads Vol. 11 No. 7 When Professional Development Is Useless for Your Teachers
ISM Monthly Update for School Heads Vol. 9 No. 7 Does Your Teacher Evaluation System Include Professional Development?
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
ISM Research Area—Effective Teacher Professional Development: What the Literature Says
I&P Vol. 32 No. 8 The Changing Paradigm for Professional Development
I&P Vol. 34 No. 13 New Research: The Relationship Between Faculty Professional Development and Student Performance
