3000-3-2Professional Development

The Lambton College Mission will be achieved “…through quality teaching and an innovative learning environment…” that will see the achievement of the Vision of Lambton College as a “…higher education institution recognized locally, nationally and globally for excellence…”.

The College recognizes the Mission and Vision will be achieved in partnership with its employees and that a program that encourages professional development is an integral part of that partnership. While individuals must bear the primary responsibility for undertaking continuous professional progress, the College recognizes its role in providing individuals and groups of employees with appropriate developmental opportunities and support. Support is planned on an annual basis and is subject to financial considerations.

Policy

1. Lambton College will provide development opportunities and support to its employees consistent with these principles.
   1. The College seeks to create an environment that encourages professional growth for all employees.
   2. The College will provide an array of opportunities and supports to encourage continuous development among all employees.
   3. The College will provide professional development that is universal for all employees.
   4. The initiative for development comes primarily from the employee.
   5. There will be integration of the performance appraisal process and professional development.
   6. The professional development program will expand the skills and knowledge of all employees.
   7. Professional development will be congruent with College goals.
2. The professional development opportunities and support will be provided
   1. to respond to the needs associated with current job requirements;
   2. to respond to an individuals developmental needs - self determined or determined through the performance evaluation process;
   3. to enhance an individual's opportunities for advancement;
   4. to assist an individual to move to a new area of responsibility; or
   5. to provide opportunities for faculty to learn about innovative practices and technologically enhanced teaching.
3. Three professional development committees, one for each of the employee groups, will advise the manager responsible for professional development. The terms of reference for these committees will be established by the manager and filed with the office of the Senior Vice-President, Academic & Student Success and may be amended from time to time by the manager.
4. The College recognizes that professional development takes many forms. The most common forms will be internal professional development sessions, workshops, conferences, seminars, courses, diploma, designation or degree completion. field trips (for example, to other institutions,) work experience (to provide opportunities for employees to observe and experience new developments in an external workplace, participation in professional organizations and meetings, developmental leaves, intra-college professional development activities, and in-service employee orientation.
5. Professional development activities, such as workshops, seminars, conferences, etc., will be supported by the College through financial assistance, release time (with or without payment), or direct provision, or in some combination of these supports, recognizing the constraints of budgets, prioritization and appropriateness.
6. All employees are eligible for internal professional development; all full‐time employees are eligible for external professional development activities; part-time employees are eligible for external professional development as described in the relevant collective agreement.
7. Annually, through the budget process, the College will identify the amount of money to be allocated to the professional development fund.
8. Professional development that contributes to objectives that support the College strategic plan and/or supports an employee's development plan within the College will be given highest priority.
9. Faculty will:
   1. participate in all mandatory professional development in a timely fashion,
   2. attend the training or professional development outlined in the hiring letter,
   3. avail themselves of professional development opportunities as appropriate for their growth as subject matter experts and educators,
   4. maintain their professional designation(s), as identified on hiring, and currency in area of expertise,
   5. maintain a current CV to be provided for the purpose of program reviews and accreditation renewal processes, as required,
   6. enhance academic capability through ongoing professional development,
   7. participate in internal and external opportunities to share and enhance professional practice,
   8. continuously improve, through professional development, the quality and innovativeness of teaching practices.
10. Successful completion of the College Educator Development Program (CEDP) is required of all newly hired full-time faculty members. This training will be provided by the College and the employee will be release with pay.
11. Completion of the Adjunct Teacher Training course is expected of all newly hired adjunct faculty members. The College will provide the training, with payment, to the participating faculty members.

Appendix A

Educational Assistance

1. Educational assistance for eligible employees undertaking approved education or training at a post‐secondary level may be provided by the College through subsidization of tuition and fees, and/or release time with or without pay.
2. All full‐time employees ‐ academic, support, administration ‐ and part-time members of the bargaining units are eligible to apply for educational assistance.
3. The Educational Assistance fund is a limited fund determined annually through the budget process.
4. The applications procedures and forms for application for educational assistance are established, maintained and, from time to time, modified by the Teaching & Learning Commons, which will post current procedures and forms on the Teaching & Learning Commons pages on the myLambton website.

Lambton College Courses

Credit Courses

5. All eligible employees may enroll in a Lambton College post‐secondary credit course, not including Ontario Learn courses delivered from outside of Lambton College, to be taken on the employee's own time, for a tuition fee of $20 plus a registration fee established by the Registrar. These fees are not eligible for any additional employee reimbursement.
6. All eligible employees may enroll in a Lambton College post‐secondary credit course delivered through Ontario Learn from another host college for a tuition fee of $20 plus a registration fee established by the Registrar plus the additional Ontario Learn costs.
7. Full‐time support staff members may apply to take one College credit course per semester during the employee's normal working hours without loss of pay. The employee must apply to and receive written approval from his/her supervisor for the release time to attend the course. One‐half of the approved release time must be made up by the employee in a manner approved, in writing, by the supervisor. The release time may be combined with the reduced fees described above. 
8. The Adult Education Board of Governors Certificate is available to full-time employees and adjunct faculty, who have completed the adjunct faculty training and have taught for the College in the current or previous academic year, at the reduced rate outlined in item 5. No paid release time is available with this tuition arrangement.

Non-Credit and Non-Post-Secondary Credit Courses

9. The College may reimburse an eligible employee for the course tuition fee, to a maximum of $50 per course, for any non‐credit course taken at Lambton College. In no case will the reimbursement cause the total cost of the course to the employee to be less than $20 plus a registration fee established by the Registrar.

Post-Secondary Courses Outside of Lambton College

10. All eligible employees may apply for educational assistance through partial tuition reimbursement for post‐secondary courses from an institution other than Lambton College by completing the Employee Tuition Assistance Application Form.
11. To be eligible for reimbursement, the course must:
    1. be taken from an accredited or recognized college, university or professional association,
    2. lead to a post‐secondary certificate, diploma, degree or professional designation,
    3. lead to a credential that aligns with the strategic direction of the College, or the objectives of the employee's department or School,
    4. be directly related to the employee's current position, program, department, or to a related position or program to which the College has indicated its intention to assign the employee, and
    5. support the employee's development plan.
12. When an application for educational assistance for a post‐secondary course is considered, these criteria shall be applied.
    1. Applications for courses that assist in the achievement of objectives that support the College strategic plan will be given highest priority.
    2. Applications for courses that lead to a degree that is required for teaching in an approved program will be given highest priority.
    3. A higher priority will be assigned to plans that address identified current and future human resource and credential needs of the College.
    4. Applications for courses that support an employee's development plan within the College will be more favourably considered.
13. An eligible employee may apply for reimbursement for up to 50% of the tuition for a single course. On an annual basis, employees will be asked to make every effort to indicate the number of courses for which they will be seeking reimbursement.
14. Reimbursement will be considered only for pre‐approved courses. Only courses that commenced after the issue of this policy are eligible for consideration. This policy does not apply retroactively.
15. Reimbursement is for tuition, and compulsory auxiliary fees only (unless books are included in the tuition fee) and not for travel, conferences, seminars, professional memberships, etc.
16. Reimbursement is paid on a per course basis and only upon submission of evidence of successful completion of the course (normally a grade report) and a tuition receipt.
17. Educational Assistance reimbursement is subject to a lifetime maximum total reimbursement of $5,000 for a diploma or undergraduate degree, $7,500 for a graduate degree. These amounts are not cumulative i.e. the maximum amount for an employee who receives assistance for both an undergraduate and a graduate degree is $7,500. The Director, Human Resources in collaboration with the Director, Teaching & Learning Commons will review the maximum amounts triennially and make recommendations for change when appropriate to the Senior Leadership Team.
18. Course requirements must be completed outside the regular work schedule of the employee. An eligible employee may apply for release time, without pay, to undertake the course, or may apply for paid release time, which time the employee will make up. The employee must apply to and receive written approval from his/her supervisor for any release time arrangement.
19. In order to receive reimbursement for a course, the employee must successfully complete the course with a minimum grade of C, or the minimum grade required for completion of the credential sought, whichever is higher.
20. The employee applying for educational assistance for a post‐secondary course should apply to his/her dean or director who will forward the application with his/her recommendations to the Director, Teaching & Learning Commons who will make the final decision on the request for funding.
21. Upon completion of the course or program, the employee's dean or director will arrange for the employee to share his/her experience with the college community by, for example, sharing a resource, presenting a workshop or writing an article for an educational journal.

Appendix B

Developmental Leaves

22. A full-time employee of the College and a part-time employee in the support staff bargaining unit may be granted a developmental leave to engage in an outside program of study or work that will provide professional and personal development for the individual and from which benefits to the College will be derived in relation to its strategic directions, goals and objectives.
23. A developmental leave may be a Professional Developmental (Sabbatical) Leave as per the collective agreements for Academic and Support Staff, and the Terms and Conditions of Employment for Administrative Staff, or an exchange with personnel in other colleges, industry, business or government.
24. The College will provide for developmental leaves in a manner consistent with the terms of the collective agreements and the Terms and Conditions of Employment for Administrative Staff.
25. An eligible employee must make application for a developmental leave to his/her manager who will then forward the application with recommendations to the Director, Teaching & Learning Commons for a final decision by the Senior Leadership Team.
26. An application for professional development leave will be considered and assessed based on the following criteria:
    1. the contribution to the professional and personal growth of the individual,
    2. total years of service of the applicant to the College,
    3. the benefits to Lambton College in relation to the College‐wide priorities and directions as established by the Strategic Plan,
    4. the breadth of applicability across the College of the objectives of the leave,
    5. the recommendation of the applicants supervisor regarding the benefits to the individual and to the College of the proposed leave program, and
    6. availability of a replacement.
27. Applications for leave must be for a period of one year or less.
28. Employees on a professional development leave are eligible for educational assistance.
29. Employees on a professional development leave (sabbatical) are not eligible for further reimbursement of costs, unless a formal request has received the prior approval of the Vice‐President, and exceptional circumstances prevail.
30. The procedures and forms for application for developmental leaves are established, maintained and, from time to time, modified by the Teaching & Learning Commons which will post current procedures and forms on the Teaching & Learning Commons pages on the myLambton website.

Appendix C

Wellness Program

31. Lambton College will provide a Wellness program that provides an array of opportunities and support to College employees in order to meet the following objectives:
    1. to encourage all employees to participate in continuous personal development,
    2. to raise employee awareness of healthy lifestyle choices,
    3. to create an environment conducive to the good health and well being of all employees,
    4. to provide an environment that encourages the use of the Employee Assistance Program, where appropriate.
32. The Director, Human Resources is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of a Wellness Strategy for the organization. The Director, Human Resources will consult with the Wellness committee on the Wellness Strategy.