Barriers to Breakthroughs: Understanding Professional Development in our Field

What is the current state of professional development for adult literacy instructors in Ontario? This is a question we’ve been exploring over the last year.

Since spring 2024, AlphaPlus has been researching the complexities surrounding professional development in our sector. The research, commissioned by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD), was completed this spring, and we’d like to share a few top-level findings and recommendations with you.

Why research the state of professional development?

Although the ministry commissioned this research, we too were interested in deepening our understanding of the topic beyond what we know anecdotally. As an organization dedicated to supporting adult literacy programs, we wanted to learn more about the most effective professional development formats, the challenges and barriers you encounter, and the factors that impact your participation, engagement, and ability to apply the knowledge you gain. We also wanted to explore potential solutions and models to support successful implementation. Recognizing that professional development is often underfunded and undervalued, understanding strategic paths forward is critical.

What we learned reflects what we already know: barriers and needs

To do this work, we contracted a researcher who conducted a literature review and facilitated 26.5 hours of focus groups and interviews with 30 individuals from across all delivery sectors and cultural streams. Here’s a glimpse of what we learned.

To foster meaningful participation in professional development, you need flexible and inclusive delivery formats, opportunities to design and test practical tools aligned with real-world needs and culturally responsive and holistic materials that are developed collaboratively.

Underlying these specifics is a need for structural investment in professional development that is separate from service delivery funding to ensure sustainability and effectiveness. Here’s what one research participant from a community-based program had to say: “If it’s just another line item in our service agreement with no additional support or flexibility, we won’t be able to do it — not without cutting something else.”

Potential solutions

While the research findings reflect what we already know anecdotally, they sharpen the focus on a few key points. Primary among these is the structural issue of dedicated funding for professional development. We also propose a set of four recommendations:

1. Piloting paid professional development time

2. Establishing a centralized provincial professional development hub for tools, learning events, and sector knowledge

3. Supporting peer-led maker spaces and informal mentorship networks

4. Exploring micro-credentials to support recognition of practitioner growth and development.

Some of these recommendations draw on options currently offered by subsets of our community; we suggest combining complementary approaches to work synergistically. See the full report to learn more about how your peers are implementing professional development, and for the details of our recommendations.

Using the data to find a path forward

We know that ongoing professional development is valuable and necessary to support your success and effectiveness. We recognize that, as a field, we are doing all we can under the current circumstances. And we know that optimizing professional development for adult literacy educators will require both a financial commitment and strong leadership. Although not surprising, this research provides the data we need to find a path forward.

Access the professional development research report

We encourage you to download the summary or the full report, explore this research in further detail and use it to inform conversations with your team (which we’ll be doing here at AlphaPlus) and with the ministry.