Who Should Facilitate Professional Learning?

Have you ever paid money to go and watch a professional sporting event, play, or musical? Your answer is probably a resounding yes.  If you are like me, then you have gone too many times to count and have lost track. What drives you to spend money and attend these events? More than likely you go to watch the athletes compete or artists perform. In some cases, you participated in these activities at a certain level during your lifetime.  Or maybe you are just passionate about and moved by, how the experience makes you feel.  Regardless of your rationale, it is essential to understand that there is so much going on behind the scenes leading up to the culminating event that you pay to watch.   

Let me focus the rest of my point on professional sports. For countless hours each athlete is coached, taught, and guided by numerous individuals who have some direct experience in the sport. These individuals either excelled at some level, whether professional or collegiate, or they are a master teacher when it comes to knowledge, ideas, and strategy as to how to take a group of individuals and help them succeed as a team. The majority of these coaches possess a track record of success and the evidence to back it up.  Why else would these people be employed to coach in the first place?

The kicker here though is that many of these coaches have not played the game in years, even decades.  Take Nick Saban for example.  Currently, he is paid millions of dollars (a little over eleven to be exact) as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.  As the head coach, he ultimately calls the shots while training both players and assistant coaches alike.  He has had unprecedented success developing players and building a football dynasty that others hope to emulate yet has not played a single snap of collegiate football since 1972 when he was on the team at Kent State University. Right after graduating in 1973 he became an assistant coach at Kent State. Approximately 45 years later he is still at it. This begs the question, which we all know the answer. Had not playing the game in decades hindered his ability to help others achieve impressive results?

There is often a debate in physical and virtual spaces about who should facilitate professional learning for educators.  I see and appreciate the points from both sides.  Many people want current practitioners who can directly relate to either the content or responsibilities of the position.  In a perfect world this would be great as well as ideal, but just like it is unrealistic for current players to coach, the same can be said for practicing educators, especially when the research has shown that on-going, job-embedded professional learning is what leads to improved learning outcomes. Quality professional learning takes time and goes well beyond one and done. It involves a critical lens, lack of bias, modeling, and meaningful feedback to drive growth. 

Saban was a smart player who initially played offense but was later moved to defense. He was also part of a championship team during his playing days and has led teams he has coached to six college championships.  The point here is that experience and outcomes matter. That is what all educators expect and deserve when it comes to professional learning.  The key is to find the right consultants to help move you forward.  When investing in any professional learning options do your research!  Below are some questions that might help you with this:

• How does the organization or consultant’s experience align with our intended outcomes? It is crucial that each have the appropriate experiences to facilitate the work.
• Does the organization or consultant have evidence of success when it comes to improving outcomes? What criteria make them the best to facilitate the work? Just like I did a Google search on Nick Saban, you can do the same when it comes to companies and consultants. 
• How can an outsider’s view move us forward by helping us see what we are missing? It is often difficult to move beyond internal bias.  Sometimes a different relationship and lens are needed to move systems forward. This is where outside consultants can help.
• Is the intended work aligned to research and evidence on what works? In more blunt terms, have they implemented what they are going to train you on? Effective professional learning moves beyond the fluff and broad claims. 

Effective Professional Learning

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Important decisions have to be made when it comes to facilitating professional learning whether it is a workshop, keynote, or something more intensive like job-embedded coaching. As goals and outcomes are fleshed out, it is then incumbent to determine who is best to oversee the work, whether it is a practicing educator, in-house personnel, or an outside consultant. The lesson learned from the story of Nick Saban is that it behooves us not just to write someone off because they are not currently in a classroom or working in a school. 

Substance matters. 

Context matters. 

Experience matters. 

Professional learning is and should be an experience, not just an event. Satisfaction lies not only in having a message that resonates but how the work leads to improvements in teaching, learning, and leadership that are supported by a broad base of research and backed up by actual evidence of better outcomes. Don’t be so quick to judge based on someone’s current position. Do your homework and take a critical lens to their body of work to find the best fit to facilitate professional learning.