Professional Associations make their mark with Educators in SA
Earlier this year Educators SA conducted an extensive survey of educators in SA to gather their views on a range of professional issues. Titled Educators Say, this survey was conducted by McGregor Tan who have now provided us an extensive report.
Rather than just publishing the full report and having important information lost in the volume of data, we are going to publish it in sections over the next few months on our website and by email to our key contacts.
The first topic which will be published in the next week is Professional Learning and here professional associations scored a very high mark.
Here’s just a taster:
For educators across the State the top 5 most effective means of professional learning are:
- Listening to/engaging with other professional educators – 95% of respondents find this effective
- Working directly with colleagues – 94%
- Professional learning provided by associations – 85%
- From mentors I have chosen (not chosen for me) – 82%
- Visits to other schools – 74%
The most ineffective means of professional learning was through social media and yet this is the professional support most accessed on a weekly basis (20% of respondents).
The highest extremely satisfied response was for professional associations with 25% of respondents saying they were extremely satisfied with the professional learning they received from associations while the lowest extremely satisfied response was 7% for sector/employer provided professional learning.
Another big tick for associations is that around 7 out of every 10 educators in SA access professional learning from a professional association; these rates were even higher for secondary educators.
Clearly the Educators of SA value the work of their associations; they access it and get their greatest professional satisfaction from the learning they do with their association.
More to follow soon!
