Dimensions of Professional Practice
The Dimensions of Professional Practice describe the knowledge, commitments, and ways of being that frame UVic’s Teacher Education programs. The two competency statements beneath each dimension describe how teacher candidates enact and develop these commitments through their practice, professional decision-making, and relationships with learners, colleagues, and communities.
The Dimensions of Professional Practice are aligned with the Professional Standards for BC Educators and support the development of professional knowledge, ethical responsibility, and practice across contexts.
The Six Dimensions
- Developing a professional identity and commitment to lifelong learning through reflective practice
- Making ethical, thoughtful decisions and acting with integrity to create respectful learning communities
- Integrating Indigenous worldviews, pedagogies, and ways of knowing into learning and teaching
- Applying decolonizing approaches to create culturally responsive and equitable learning environments
- Developing an awareness of personal worldview and how this relates to others’ worldviews
- Becoming an informed change agent within the class, school, community and society by embedding social and global justice in practices
- Applying inquiry-driven approaches to learning that connect educational theories and practices in meaningful ways
- Designing learning experiences that integrate and build upon students’ foundational literacy and numeracy proficiencies
- Collaborating and creating opportunities for empathetic communication, respectful listening, and facilitating challenging conversations with individuals and groups
- Creating learning environments that promote belonging and meaningful connections with broader communities
- Developing an intentional and professional digital identity
- Using digital technologies in informed, critical, and purposeful ways to support learning and assessment
Connection to UVic Indigenous Plan
The Dimensions of Professional Practice are informed by teachings in UVic's Indigenous Plan, Xʷkʷənəŋistəl | W̱ ȻENEṈISTEL | Helping to move each other forward, developed in consultation with Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Keepers, students, staff, faculty, and community partners. These teachings offer ethical and relational orientations that ground how the Dimensions are understood and enacted throughout your program.