Individual school employees overwhelmingly desire opportunities to improve their job skills. But actually getting the professional development they want and need can be a challenge. In working with the union’s affiliates, the AFT’s PSRP department has discovered that one of the biggest hurdles standing in the way of better training opportunities is convincing the employer, whether a college or a school district, of the employees’ needs in this area.

The national AFT obviously can’t provide all the training that its diverse PSRP affiliates need, but it can equip some of those local unions to make their own case for why they need the training. That’s the focus of some new pilot training the PSRP department has conducted with 10 locals, from New York and Texas, on how to advocate for better professional development.

“Locals participating in this program leave with a plan for establishing a professional development committee and surveying members about their professional development needs and skills, as well as some communication skills to better present their concerns to the employer and the community,” says Tish Olshefski, director of the AFT PSRP department.

One New York local that participated in the training was the Rush-Henrietta Employees Association, which includes a variety of support staff categories. Local president Karen Arthmann says the paraprofessional chapter already had a professional development committee, and now the other groups are also working together to get better training for all the union’s members. Four other New York locals were represented. The Texas training took place in conjunction with a statewide Texas Federation of Teachers conference.

The pilot groups now have the beginnings of a comprehensive plan; PSRP department staff will work with them to monitor implementation. “Our plan is to take this campaign training to other states over the course of the next few years,” Olshefski says.