Thomas Guskey: Select Talent or Develop Talent, The Question That Shapes Every Educator

If professional learning is “working”, where can you see it first: in a staff room conversation, a polished program plan, or in what students do differently tomorrow? We sit down with Dr Thomas Guskey, Professor Emeritus at the University of Kentucky, to get brutally clear on what counts as effective professional learning and how school leaders can evaluate it without turning it into another compliance task.Guskey walks us through his five levels of evaluation and why so many schools get stuck measuring process instead of impact. We dig into the real leadership challenge behind “level five”: agreeing on what we want students to learn, then choosing evidence people actually trust. A key insight is urgency: teachers will often trial a new practice, but if they can’t see credible signs it’s helping students within about two weeks, they will understandably stop. That pushes us towards short-cycle evidence like formative assessment, engagement, dispositions, and other meaningful classroom indicators, not just end-of-term results.We also explore why needs surveys often show symptoms rather than underlying needs, and why evaluation questions mostly need answering before you begin. Along the way we touch on Benjamin Bloom, structured collaboration that helps rather than resists change, principal workload, and the small acts of recognition that keep good people going. The conversation lands on one question that can reshape school culture: is our purpose to select talent or to develop it?If you want a practical, evidence-based way to plan teacher professional development that improves student learning outcomes, hit play, then subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a short review so other school leaders can find the show.Links and References:To view  our Professional Learning Offerings, visit:https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learningTo view our latest offerings, visit: https://www.nswppa.org.au/catalogue