If you are a parent of a child in the public school system, it may seem that there are more and more Pro-D Days being added to the school calendar. Two non-instructional days were added this fall in B.C. In School District 48, the dates are Jan. 29 and March 7. They are not professional development days, but rather new curriculum implementation days.
Instead of teaching on those two days, teachers will be learning more about the new provincial curriculum for K-12 education. Educational partners, including parent advisory councils locally and provincially, knew that successful implementation of the new K-12 curriculum would demand a concerted effort by educators at all levels. All involved – the councils and many other organizations – advocated for time for teachers to do the implementation work, and the minister ultimately obliged with two days.
But let’s return to widespread concern, perhaps even unhappiness, about “Pro-D Days.” That stems in part from a long-standing misunderstanding or simply a lack of awareness about what Pro-D Days are, how they came to exist, for what purposes teachers use them and what the results have been.
In 1972, professional development days were added to the school calendar at the request of teachers, with the agreement of the B.C. government. These “Pro-D Days” did not replace instructional days. Instead the school year was extended, without added compensation of any kind being requested or given. The intent of those five days volunteered by educators was then, and remains today, to provide time and opportunity to hone skills and improve our practices continually through each and every school year.
Since then, by all accepted national and international measures, B.C. has developed into one of the top-performing public education systems in the world. Annual, ongoing professional development has been a major contributor to that sustained growth. At no time has Pro-D ever constituted a holiday for professional educators in B.C.
In recent years, the five Pro-D Days in the calendar are annually joined by a sixth day of professional learning which, like the recently added days, is mandated by the Ministry of Education and directed by B.C. school districts.
Teachers volunteered five days annually for professional development more than 40 years ago, and the effects have been profoundly positive for all of B.C.’s public school students since that time. Any other “days off” are at the direction of the Ministry of Education within the confines of the School Act – and trust me, they are not “days off.” Nor are Pro-D days.
With profound change on the agenda, teachers are making a huge effort to ensure it all works positively for all of our students.
Michèle Roblin
Sea-To-Sky Teachers’ Association
