Some of the Academy of Continuing Professional Development in Education team (left-right): Shazia K Jan, Nikki de Souza, Iain Hay, Kim Wilson and Betty Romero.

‘Spotlight on…’ is our way of showcasing different teams across campus to increase engagement, cohesion and an understanding of who does what at Macquarie. This week, we talk to the team from the newly created Academy of Continuing Professional Development in Education (ACPDE).

Who are you?
The Academy of Continuing Professional Development in Education (ACPDE) officially formed at the start of 2018 and is situated in the Department of Educational Studies within the Faculty of Human Sciences. The new team consists of Director, Dr Iain Hay; Deputy Director, Dr Kim Wilson; Manager, Betty Romero; Administration Officer, Nikki de Souza; Learning Designer, Shazia K-Jan; and Endorsed Provider and Quality Assurance Project Officer, Ray Gillies.

What do you do?
The Academy works with academics and researchers across the University, as well as outstanding school-based practitioners to develop and deliver a variety of professional development courses for early childhood educators, school teachers, principals and school leaders. All of the ACPDE courses are designed to meet the rigorous standards of the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). The Academy also engages with industry partners and other international and local organisations interested in co-designing professional development courses tailored to meet their local needs.

Why do you do it?
The changing nature of education and the teaching profession means teachers need to constantly develop alongside these changes. To be a registered teacher in Australia (and in many other countries) requires evidence of engagement with ongoing professional development throughout the career stages of proficient teacher; highly-accomplished teacher and lead teacher. This ensures that teachers are up-to-date with the latest developments in learning and teaching strategies, technology in classroom, child development, and policy and regulations. All of which supports the quality teaching agenda.

We know that quality teaching makes the biggest in-school difference to student outcomes. Macquarie is well positioned to become a preferred provider of high quality, research-informed professional development courses for educators.

The University has many industry network connections, a great wealth of knowledge and evidence-based information on many diverse topics that can be used to make a positive impact in the community. We see the Academy as the vehicle to spread this knowledge that enables school teachers to continue to develop across their teaching career by learning directly from the experts who are leaders in their fields.

Who do you most frequently work with?
We engage with different groups across Macquarie, from researchers and academics, to professional services, such human resources and finance. We also work with external stakeholders such as NSW HUB schools network, early childhood education, Catholic Education, Independent schools, NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), NSW Department of Education, and various international organisations leading professional development programs globally. These stakeholders tend to influence the quality and types of professional development courses we produce so it’s important we work quite closely with them.

What’s a recent achievement you’re proud of?
The Academy has been in the making for the last 12 months, and as is the case with any start-up, we gained many learning experiences during the journey, which have helped the Academy come to life. The team’s persistence has been key in addressing the challenges we’ve faced regarding developing systems and procedures to support the ACPDE operations. We’ve come a long way, so the team is very proud to see the Academy become a reality at the end of May.

Anything exciting on the horizon?
We’re excited about the growing opportunities in the Continuing Professional Development space. We have submitted EOIs to deliver professional development courses for a number of government agencies.

The Academy has been awarded an education innovation grant (discovery phase) from IBM to provide advice on developing customised curriculum and resources for teachers (PD) and students. With the aim being to help understand and use artificial intelligence technology and education as a pathway to jobs in this area. This is a global activity and we will be working with an IBM identified university partner in the UK.

We have also been provided funding from Widening Participation to deliver the LEAP – Digital Literacy (Teacher PD) program to schools situated in low socio-economic communities.

How can we engage with you? Where can we learn more?
We welcome opportunities to collaborate on PD courses for teachers. At this stage, the best way to engage with us is our email address cpd-teachers@mq.edu.au.

People can view our website to browse courses on offer, future offerings and detailed documentation on our processes and policies for developing courses.

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Check out the Academy’s diverse professional development units for teachers across the University.