Edcamps are for principals, too

The day in and day out work of educational leadership can take its toll on even the most commit-ted school principals. It’s no easy feat to remain fully engaged and effective from one academic year to the next, or to serve as a constant source of encouragement for students, teachers, and staff. Like professionals in every other field, principals need opportunities to recharge their batteries, learn new skills, and connect with others who are navigating similar challenges.

An increasingly popular new approach to professional learning for educators, known as Ed-camp, appears to be an effective means of giving principals this kind of much-needed support. Edcamps are free “unconference” events, typically held on a Saturday, that provide attendees with the opportunity to choose what, where, when, how, and with whom to learn. Any organization or interested group of individuals can organize and host an Edcamp, and unlike traditional conferences — with topics and presenters scheduled months in advance — the Edcamp structure allows attendees to determine session topics on the day of the event (Swanson, 2014). Instead of sit-and-get sessions, participants engage in discussion-based, collaborative learning in breakout sessions with other attendees who share similar interests and/or concerns. Since the first event in 2010, more than 1,100 Edcamps have been held around the world, most of them regional events that include educators from many different schools and districts.

The idea is to give participants a chance to connect with each other in an informal setting that’s deliberately unlike a typical district-mandated professional development program, which tends to feature external experts, required activities, and limited opportunities for participant choice (Sparks, 2004). When asked to provide PD to teachers — a notoriously tough audience — principals often find the experience stressful. And when they’re on the receiving end of PD, principals often end up feeling condescended to and demoralized, made to participate in a one-size-fits-all workshop that casts them in passive roles and ignores their experience (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009). By contrast, Edcamps are intentionally low-key affairs, where participation is entirely voluntary.