The International School of Uganda, Kampala, is committed to enhancing the professional competence and personal wellbeing of our staff. This benefits each member of staff, by enabling them to make personal progress and gain desirable qualifications.
It also benefits the School by providing an increasingly competent and motivated team. Professional Growth is seen in the context of our shared desire to maximise the learning and development of our students, learning to be the best we can be on their behalf.
In-School Professional Learning
We are delighted to welcome educational consultants to campus to inspire and train our educators and help their development as successful and informed teachers.
We have had the pleasure of inviting individuals like Michelle Harris, Anne Van Dam, Fiona Zinn, Taryn Bond-Clegg, Kristen Pelletier, Allison Ochs, Ron Ritchhart, Megan Holmstrom, Matt Glover, Angela Respeki, Joseph Moreland, Kristel Solomon and Kath Murdoch and more over the past 5 years. Sharing topics including: Digital Citizenship, Writers Workshop, Cultures of Thinking, Agency, Inquiry and Inclusion.
Personal Learning Journeys
The Personal Learning Journey (PLJ) is an opportunity for teacher-directed inquiry. It is designed to build a culture where active learning is a continuous endeavour, not an occasional, passive experience. Its purpose is to create time, structures and resources needed for teachers to follow their passions and curiosities, to build on their strengths and share their expertise and discoveries as part of a learning community.
The learning journey is developed in three parts:
- Formulating & Planning the Inquiry
- Continuous Reflection
- Sharing & Celebrating
Professional Learning Opportunities
Professional Learning is provided throughout the school year in various forms which include the following internally and externally led professional learning.
Professional Development Afternoons/Days: the school has a shortened day on Wednesdays to allow for 1¾ hours of weekly professional development led by the school’s pedagogical leadership in addition to a series of professional workdays throughout the year.
Induction Activities Training and Orientation: to the school, workplace and country and regular IB induction workshops led by IB programme coordinators.
Specialist Training: Teacher Assistant Training, Learning Support, English Language Support and other adhoc training such as first-aid.
Online Professional Development: includes IB online workshops which staff can apply for release time to attend as well as elected online workshops
On-campus Professional Development
Off-Site Face-to-Face Professional Development: teachers have opportunities to attend educational conferences including CIS, SENIA, IB Regional Conferences and Workshops and the regional conferences of the Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA).
IB Educator Network Training: the school encourages teachers to pursue opportunities to join the IB’s team of workshop leaders, online facilitators, consultants, examiners, moderators and school visitors. Currently, there are over 6 faculty members across the school who fulfil one or more of these roles.
Zuula Scholarship Programme
The international teacher professional growth programme is designed to support and train Ugandan teachers and teaching assistants who would like to pursue a career as an international teacher. The programme is designed to support volunteers and teaching assistants who are working at ISU to support their career development and professional growth. We believe that by investing in individuals, providing learning opportunities we can support individual aspirations and have a significant impact on education in local and global contexts.
ISU has developed a partnership with Moreland University based in the United States that ‘offers a revolutionary online learning experience’. Together we have developed a series of professional learning opportunities which are described below.
Zuula means ‘to discover’ in Luganda. We have chosen this name for our professional growth programme for aspiring international teachers because we hope that it will inspire individuals to discover themselves, discover their potential and discover how they can support and promote the education of young people both locally and globally.
