question about professional development in intl schools

[questionableme]

Is there an incentive (such as increased pay) or a requirement for educators in international schools to obtain professional development/further their education? Or is it more of an individual educator's decision to further her/his skills as they see fit?
Also, what options are available for obtaining PD overseas? Are there colleges or organizations that provide PD courses "in the field" or do most intl educators do their PD online? Thanks for the info.

[Nomad68]

I have spent almost 10 years in ISs in the Middle East - Tiers 1,2,3. Not one has offered much in the way of PD - it has usually been, in my experience, reserved for 'pals' of the management team as a perk or given only where it was absolutely necessary. Otherwise it is dangled as a carrot but never actually given.

[joe30]

Quite frankly I'd consider PD to be a downside of the job, not a perk.

[marieh]

My school gives everyone a PD allowance, which is enough to cover the majority of expenses of one of the major conferences or workshops in the ME/SEA. It's up to the teacher to ask for it and to decide which PD opportunities they'd like to pursue. A shockingly large percentage of our faculty never use it, even though the "application" process is a quick 1 paragraph explanation of why you feel that course would benefit both you and the school. I will never understand that.

[shadowjack]

We receive a yearly PD stipend, use it or lose it. My school is also very proactive in general on sending teachers out to conferences and training where it is deemed to benefit the school. It is fairly widespread and not just pals of the admin or whomever. We are also free to spend it on a range of areas as long as we justify it - online training, magazines, books, workshops etc.

[sid]

Good schools do lots of PD. They bring people in to the school, and they send people out to courses too.
My current school does at least 1 IB workshop in-school each year, for all teachers, and we also send people to courses.

[Overhere]

Certainly some PD is required as a classroom teacher, particularly in the ES at our school. However, this doesn't happen very often in the secondary school where PD is generally a choice and teachers can go years without any, other than what is offered at staff meetings by their admin or coaches.

[dude]

i'm at a tier 2 school in SEA and our school provides PD funds. But like others have said, most people don't do it. In my two years here I have gone to three workshops abroad though. I also take some personal days attached to PD trips so I can check out a new city.

[PsyGuy]

There are some PD requirements in terms of IB authorization, and regional authorities may have requirements to maintain a license, but otherwise ISs dont generally have any requirements outside of maintaining your professional license. ISs rarely recognize any type of PD that isnt related to a degree (moving from a bachelors to a masters on the salary scale). Having certain PD certificates may make you eligible for teaching certain classes, but thats rarely an extrinsic incentive (an IS in Europe gave their ITs an extra prep period if they taught DIP 1&2).

Lower tier ISs generally reserve PD opportunities for friends and cheerleaders. Its not uncommon to find an IS with a PD allowance but it typically results in one of two scenarios: 1) The allowance isnt enough to really do anything with, rarely is it enough to include program fees and travel, limiting it to online or local PD opportunities. 2) The IS applies the allowance to whole IS PD opportunities.
Some of the downsides of PD can include having to write a white paper or doing in house training "bringing the training back". In addition PD leave may not be authorized and credited against your general leave, or you may be essentially giving up a weekend to attend.