CRT Professional Learning Support Initiative.

In 2010 the DEECD started the Casual Relief Teachers Professional Learning Support Initiative. This program provides funding for PDs for CRTs state-wide and it makes use of 3 elements:

DEECD staff who govern what PD is approved for funding.

Local schools who hold the funding.

CRT Network Coordinators who are in charge of applying for and arranging the PD itself.

It is important to understand that although the VIT CRT Support Network structure is being utilised, the DEECD is NOT funding the networks who choose to access the Initiative. It is funding PD for all Victorian CRTs regardless of network affiliation. At all times in the guidelines booklet it refers to CRTs, never CRT Support Network Members.

What does this mean for a network?

It is important to note that this initiative is separate and apart from the CRT Networks.  It is up to the coordinator to decide what extent to allow direct member input into PD selection. 

It is also important to remember that the DEECD funding is designed to fill a certain gap between CRTs and full-time teachers.  The Initiative is designed to give you all the latest information and tools to improve the outcomes of the students you teach.

Putting in an application does not guarantee success because there are guidelines in place to ensure that Student Outcomes are the focus of the training opportunities on offer.  The content must have the appropriate topics of educational content and there are further guidelines in place to ensure that the Workshops on offer are also cost appropriate for the content.  While the DEECD is quite flexible in some respects, in others it is rigid in order to protect the quality of the Professional Learning experiences being offered on it's behalf.

While the DEECD recognises that this is not an all-encompassing system, that there is other training that CRTs need access to, there are other sources of funding to provide CRTs with those necessary areas of continued learning.  The CRT Professional Learning Support Initiative is designed to ensure that it fills gaps those other sources of funding don't provide.

What does this mean for you?

CRT Support Networks are independant bodies from the DEECD. They have their own rules regarding their members and are run however the network coordinators think is the best way to serve their members. So what happens if you just don't want to join your local CRT Support network? This isn't an issue. Because you don't have to belong to a network to access these PD's, all you have to be is a CRT, you are still entitled to go to the PDs. It's that simple.

Please be aware though, if you are not in a network the onus is on you to keep yourself informed of the opportunities on offer!   

Are there drawbacks to not belonging to your local CRT network?

Of course there are, and it's our honest opinion that in a lot of cases you are doing yourself harm by not belonging to your local network. The funding pretty much allows for the following:

The Presenter.

The Venue.

The catering.

The teaching resources provided.

There is no advertising budget. This means that the Network Coordinator must rely on their contacts to get the word out. If you are in the network  you are almost guaranteed to be notified of each and every Professional Development opportunity they have a hand in running. If you aren't in the network then you are only reducing your own chances to keep yourself informed about the opportunities.

It is not the intention that every Network Coordinator spend buckets of their own money to get the word out and it's unreasonable to expect them to contact every CRT in their area. In a lot of ways it's all up to you to keep yourself informed unless you are happy missing out.

If you do not belong to a network you MUST be proactive and dilligent in keeping yourself informed if you want to make use of this Initiative.

You didn't hear about it?

You didn't hear about it until too late and it's fully booked?

You didn't hear about it until afterwards and you REALLY wish you'd been in one of those spare seats?

Don't let these things happen to you!

Our view on the Initiative and our commitment to it.

The Wodonga CRT Support Network tries to take a responsible approach to the intiiative at every turn. To this end we do a few things to help local non-member CRTs keep up to speed on the opportunities available.

Primarily, we have this blog. We chose a blog that does not require an account or sign-in with the express purpose of allowing any CRT to visit whether they are a member of our network or not. The intention is that everyone can access it freely, with minimal fuss. Drop in occasionally, read about what's going on and keep yourself informed. We have activated a "subscribe via email" option to both our blogs so you don't have to check every day to see if something new has been added. When a new post goes up you will recieve an email notification containing the body of text from the blog.

Please be aware that this doesn't include static pages like this one. If a new page goes up you won't get notification unless we say so in the blog. Even if we say it's up, the body of text will not be included. You'll have to visit the blog if you would like to read new pages.  Since May this has become more important because of a change in the structure of the blog.  Due to reader feedback we now put an announcement only in the blog.  We then give every PD Workshop a page of it's own to ensure that it always remains easily accessable to readers and doesn't get lost by being pushed off the bottom of the main page.

All PDs funded by the CRT Professional Learning Support Initiative will be announced on this blog at exactly the same time as notification emails go out to our network members. We operate on a "first come, first served" basis when it comes to booking your place. Membership will not help or hinder you in obtaining a seat in any of our DEECD funded PD opportunities.

We hope that by doing this we are being as fair as we can be to all CRTs in our area.

Thanks for reading!

Melinda Lichnovsky-Klock
Wodonga CRT Support Network Coordinator.