I entered education as a second-act career. I feel gratitude for the organizations that I have been affiliated with. My participation in professional organizations — at the local, state and national levels — has played a huge role in my career and personal achievements.
It has shaped the type of leader that I aspire to be. My affiliation with various organizations has been a kind of career navigator. I have built relationships, learned about programs and schools across the region and country. And I identified what I wanted my voice to be as I developed my own philosophy of education. I often wonder why others don’t participate in professional organizations, as this is something I encourage all educators, new and those with long tenures, to do. In an effort to understand broader perspectives on this topic, we conducted throughout the state of New York.
Benefits
Many respondents shared that being connected with a professional organization directly informs them of education updates, best practices, new resources, and, most importantly, networking and collaboration. Educators are able to source and craft new projects and initiatives for their students. At a recent conference hosted by the NYS Career Readiness Educators Association, most of the breakout sessions were peer-led. And this spurred tremendous conversations among attendees. The room buzzing with collaboration and conversation is always a positive takeaway.
Professional organizations allow educators to identify opportunities to invest in their students and in themselves.
Limitations
What factors are hindering educators from joining professional organizations? Before conducting this survey, my initial thought was lack of awareness, and that people don’t know that these organizations exist. However, survey results indicated different challenges. The two biggest limitations were reported as a lack of time to participate and lack of district buy-in. Others felt that it would not be relevant to their role and/or they felt an overall disconnect from the value that membership would add.
Questions to consider
- What types of events (conferences, associations) are district decision makers attending?
- How can members participate? Is there enough variety in the formats?
- Are topics, meetings or events planned using feedback collected from educators?
Incentivizing professional membership
What worked in prior years to incentivize membership may not work in the future. Professional organizations must be adaptable in meeting the needs of members as they evolve with education. Our professional organizations represent a powerful engine that can drive advocacy and awareness with a collective voice to move the needle forward in CTE.
With power in numbers, we create a collective voice to support the ideologies that we believe in for our craft and for our students. Professional organizations add a unique perspective and outlet to grow the knowledge of educators and enhance the pipeline of the future.
- Start small! Choose two to three goals each year that your leadership team can work toward.
- Connect with students in education programs to get the word out about your organization early.
- Create incentives that are realistic.
- Survey your members each year.
- Create a membership role that can help to support some of the initiatives.
- Collaborate with other groups to leverage resources and share ideas.
- Promote what you do! Use social media pages, websites, newsletters and other channels to demonstrate your value.
Michele Leonardo is currently a work experience coordinator and holds certifications in business education, work-based learning, school building leadership and educational technology.
