More PD days for teachers coming

The P.E.I. Department of Education plans to increase the number of professional development days on the school calendar.

It's part of a major revamp in the way Island teachers engage in professional development. Elizabeth Costa, professional development coordinator for the Department of Education, said a review of some of the best education systems in the world has shown trading more classroom time for development time will bring benefits.

"Actually it's not as strong a correlation between the instructional time and the student learning," said Costa.

"There's a much higher correlation between the high quality of teaching that results from effective professional learning, and student learning."

The province still hasn't released a calendar for the coming school year, as it tries to settle on the exact number of PD days.

Costa has written a report recommending three more during the last week of August, before classes begin, and more throughout the year. Those would come at the expense of class time.

Another change is that more professional development will take place within schools, rather than in outside locations.

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