I’ve heard pedagogy pronounced every which emphasis: the French pédagogie, the more Southern pe•da•gah•gy, or the action forward pe•da•GO•gy, and the most fun pe•da•GOG•y , and I lean more towards the pe•da•gaugh•gy side of the spectrum. Don’t ask me how to properly pronounce it but when you do ask me about pedagogy I will gladly some thoughts about how we can explore it more profoundly when it comes to our collective professional development (PD).
When I think of what our profession is I understand it now to be to teach by encouraging and guiding children towards becoming good citizens. The “art, occupation and practice of teaching” is called pedagogy (Oxford, n.d.) which is ultimately what professional development develops. Merriam-Webster. (n.d.) explains the etymology of a pedagogue as a Greek word that literally translates to leader of children. McPheat (2020) explains pedagogy “involves the interconnection of learning ideas, ways and methods of training or coaching them, and the achievement of results obtained following action after the learning.” So, what are these different parts of pedagogy that help us improve our leadership of children?
The Professional Pedagogue
Thinking back to university we were educated primarily in curriculum, assessment, philosophy, psychology, and more recently Truth and Reconciliation. These are the subjects we must continue to study as life-long learners during PD and include now not only learning but unlearning (Florko, 2025). As someone who loves alliteration, I propose the following framework for framing PD in a school community: the Professional Pedagogue, inspired by Sinek’s Start with Why (2009) with Palmer’s (2007) reminder of the “who” who teaches and who we teach.
The Professional Pedagogue focuses on these four facets:
Planning & Programming– What we teach (curriculum, assessment, methods, etc.)
Practicing & Presenting – How we teach (strategies, classroom leadership, etc.)
Philosophy – Why we teach (theories, ethics, diversity, Truth and Reconciliation, unlearning, etc.)
Psychology – Who teaches and who we teach (SEL, developmental theories, etc.)
This is by no means new or revolutionary and are but a variation of other goals of PD (Howie in Project ACHIEVE, 2022) however, I believe by naming these streams (in a catchy way!) may point professionals at different stages of their development towards places that they can pinpoint better their needs and curiosities but perhaps even more importantly where their gifts are where they can share.
PD Problems
A classmate of mine recently blogged about her professional development journey and pointed me to the idea that quality professional development should be effective and measurable, not “haphazard and random”(Harris, 2025). Her blog pointed me to McGinnis’ (2021) idea that PD can often be “intellectually superficial, disconnected from deep issues of curriculum and learning, fragmented, and noncumulative” which is echoed in the aptly coined terms Howie in Project ACHIEVE (2022) called “fly‑by, ‘spray and pray,’ and awareness‑only training” which have in common a sense of one-and-done days with an “expert” leading the session that lack of teacher agency and autonomy, interconnectedness and integration, and coherence (Ho et al, 2023).
Shifting PD From ‘Needing’ to ‘Giving’
I remember as an early teacher reaching out to the high schhool choir teacher, Ms. G., for mentorship because I felt I needed to learn more about conducting and I needed reassurance and confidence in my teaching. We sat in her classroom one afternoon and she said ”you get that for free, it’s your gift.” I don’t remember what she said my gift was but up to that point I had never thought of what I was doing with students as a gift I was giving them. At that point I was always “needing” to learn rather than “giving” of my gifts.
This now makes me think of Palmer’s (2007) idea that “good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher” (p. 10). Over the years, the more I lean into my gifts (self-actualization!) and what I could share instead of what I felt I was lack (which is a lot!) the more confidence, sense of place, and equality I have in my professional community.
Kishimi and Koga (2019) explain the idea of all people being “equal but not the same” (p. 74):
“In terms of the amount of knowledge and experience and then the amount of responsibility that can be taken there are bound to be differences. The child might not be able to tie his shoes properly, or figure out complicated mathematical equations, or be able to take the same degree of responsibility as an adult when problems arise. However, such things shouldn’t have anything to do with human values… Human beings are all equal, but not the same” (p.74).
The passage speaks of a child but it is merely to say that absolutely everyone is equal even with our differences (age, gender, experience). From a professional perspective it could be replaced by the idea of a beginning teacher and a veteran teacher.
Since university, the phrase “don’t be the sage on the stage but the guide on the side” was tossed around so much it became trite and almost a joke, yet, PD days still tend to be a lot of “park and bark” style lectures (though, some keynotes at my district have been fantastic including recent Brad Baker, Victor Wooten, and Jennifer Katz, to name a few).
Perhaps by leaning into sharing our gifts as equal professionals we can move away from the “needs and expert to fix my teaching” to professional learning communities (PLCs) that are framed by the Professional Pedagogue facets and working towards learning and unlearning. Ho et al (2023) explains in the Singaporean context of PD like an ecosystem: “Learning ecologies or ecosystems refer to contexts, relationships and interactions that provide opportunities and resources for teacher learning and development” (p. 3). They identify three key principles for learning ecologies:
1. Agency and Autonomy
“Professional learning efforts need to be supported by a school culture which provides spaces for experimentation and the asking of critical questions about the purpose of teaching and learning. The values of the school community significantly influence teachers’ capacity and agency to develop adaptive expertise” (pp. 8-9).
2. Interconnectedness & Integration
“Schools can support teachers’ professional learning by providing teachers with the freedom to collaboratively explore new pedagogies in their work environments” (p. 9).
3. Coherence and Diversity
“[PD] ecosystems need to adopt an open-sourced model so that their boundaries are permeable and can continue to evolve to meet changing needs. This means that professional learning should incorporate and encourage external input from diverse stakeholders, with networks as a useful platform to enable dialogue with stakeholders and opportunities for networked members within a learning communities to lead from the middle” (p.9).
In BC, we’re fortunate to have strong professional autonomy, and I often use that ability to focus on self-guided learning through reading, coursework, and deep conversations with my close network of colleagues on PD days. I find more meaning in these small, reflective spaces than the typical disconnected and fragmented workshop offerings. This is the a glimpse towards a more localized PLC which has some similarities to what PLCs look like in other contexts:
To summarize (OpenAI, 2025, Summarize Professional Learning Communities):
Main Points from the Video
1. Definition of PLCs
Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are groups of educators who meet regularly to share expertise and collaborate, with a unified goal: improving student learning outcomes.
2. Shift from Teaching to Learning
The emphasis is on student learning rather than teacher transmission of content. PLCs highlight that “students are not only taught but ensure that they learn.”
3. Data-Driven Collaboration
Teams use school-specific data—assessments, student performance—to identify needs, reflect, and adapt teaching practices.
4. Characteristics of Effective PLCs
- Continuous Improvement: Ongoing cycles of reflection and refinement
- Action Orientation & Experimentation: Trying new strategy
- Collective Inquiry: Teachers explore questions together
5. Positive Impact on Student Achievement and Teacher Morale
Research cited suggests PLCs improve both student learning and teacher satisfaction by fostering a collaborative structure.
This version of a PLC seems more student-outcome based rather than for teacher professional development.
PLCs are a strategy that Ho et al (2023) recommend, their version seems to rely heavily on the idea of a master teachers (pp.11-12) leading new teachers.
I wonder if we could take a more Adlerian approach where we see everyone
“…on the same playing field, there are people who are moving forward, and there are people moving forward behind them. Keep that image in mind. Though the distance covered and the sped of walking differ, everyone is walking equally in the same flat place. The pursuit of superiority [self-improvement] is the mind-set of taking a single step forward on one’s own feet…”(Kishimi & Koga, 2019, pp. 72-73).
This offers the possibility that everyone, brand new teachers to veteran teachers, regardless of grade group, topic or level, have complete lives, gifts and talents they can share to a more localized and Professional Pedagogue version of PLC. These talents and gifts likely fall under one of the facets of the Professional Pedagogue and reciprocity from others in the Profesional Pedagogue PLC will ultimately help.
Perhaps what is missing at this time for any version PLCs to take off in my school is an invitation. Therefore, I would like to propose a Professional Pedagogue PLCs that creates meaningful plans and routines for reflection and accountability towards PD.
A Vision for Professional Development: Routine and Reflection
I have a vision for first first PD day next year. It starts with inviting teachers and crowdsourcing my school community to see where each person has a passion and talent in education via some sort of values survey or index (perhaps leveraging AI?). Next, imagine then a fun photo booth with a large scale “Ask Me About” circle button whereby each teacher takes a photo with the prop. Perhaps even a button maker is there to make actual buttons as well!
After, on the print out, each person writes their passions and talents and posts their in the staff room or Library/Learning Commons for the year or on an commonly-used online platform like Microsoft Teams, a place that people will actually go back to unlike many “flashy” collaborative apps that are forgotten the moment you leave the session – less is more!
Then, instead of asking teachers what they feel they need to receive for PD that year (ie. the usual PD committee survey) we invite Professional Pedagogues to give what gifts they already have. This would be an activity that could establish a reciprocal Professional Pedagogue PLC of teachers establishing their roots and those who are ready to propagate their ideas. Theoretically, this activity will help honour our agency and autonomy, interconnectedness and integration, as well as coherence and diversity among equals.
From there we will establish a routine that for the end of every PD, teachers can write three point “exit ticket” of accountability on a shared Team (this way if they’re off site or doing self-guided learning they can still participate in the PLC):
- Their facet they focused on
- Their learning for the day
- Their unlearning for the day
Keeping the routine simple it will also yield measurable data to assess effectiveness. As the year finishes we can reflect and project for the next year, however, as the group changes from year-to-year, we should repeat our gift inventory and a version of our Ask me about badges in September, just in case.
My ask me badge would say, “Ask me about pedagogy!”
Addendum: Role of the Teacher Librarian (TL)
As the common thread of the school, the TL is uniquely positioned to be a pollinator of pedagogy as they have the opportunity to collaborate with all teachers and staff in the school. By them being aware of the four facets of pedagogy they can be a constant source of seeing the gifts in all the Professional Pedagogues and point teachers to ask each other and learn from one another as well as share their own gift which likely relates to awareness of resources and stories that may connect with what teachers need and can gift.
Where do you see yourself in my story? Comment below!
What would your “Ask me” badge say?
Which facet is your gift or talent?
What was your learning from this post? Your unlearning?
Autios! À la prochaine!
Bibliography
Florko, L. (2025, May 24). Learning to unlearn: How to rethink what we think we know. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/people-planet-profits/202505/learning-to-unlearn-how-to-rethink-what-we-think-we-know
Harris, J. (2025, June 4). Unlock your potential: Strategies for professional growth [Blog post]. Readers’ Retreat. https://blogs.ubc.ca/readersretreat/2025/06/04/unlock-your-potential-strategies-for-professional-growth/
Ho, J., Lee, S.-S., & Pereira, A. (2023). An ecological perspective of teacher professional learning: Principles, processes and practice (NIE Working Paper Series No. 23). Nanyang Technological University, National Institute of Education.https://repository.nie.edu.sg/server/api/core/bitstreams/c4d2b6e8-588b-4fe6-b931-f1058ab11b4e/content
Howie in Project ACHIEVE. (2022, April 30). Reconceptualizing professional development for the coming school year: Moving away from fly‑by, “spray and pray,” and awareness‑only training [Blog post]. https://www.projectachieve.info/news/post/218/reconceptualizing-professional-development-for-the-coming-school-year
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McPheat, S. (2020, March). What is pedagogy in education and learning? Skillshub. https://www.skillshub.com/what-is-pedagogy-in-education-and-learning/
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OpenAI. (2025). [Monsieur Autio Wearing ‘Ask Me About Pedagogy’ Badge] [AI-generated image]. ChatGPT. https://chat.openai.com/
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Palmer, P. J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life (10th anniversary ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Personalvalu.es. (n.d.). Personal Values Assessment results. Retrieved June 21, 2025, from https://personalvalu.es/results/822d3242-4f04-4f48-af4b-4cab82e4d7ab
Sinek, S. (2009). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. Portfolio.
Slykhuis, D. (2015, October 2). A proven approach to professional development for teachers [Op‑Ed]. James Madison University News. https://www.jmu.edu/news/2015/10/02-slykhuis-op-ed-teacher-professional-development.shtml
Teachings in Education. (2019, July 3). Professional learning communities: PLCs [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/r–tAcsrI48
Monsieur Autio 
What do you think?