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Gee MacroryInstitute of EducationManchester Metropolitan University20 April 2010
Teacher education: making connections between
complementary and mainstream schools
Outline
Role of teacher education Training the trainers: - Course structure and content for teachers- Complementary school teachers- Initial teacher education Training the trainers Findings Conclusions Issues to consider
Role of teacher education
Teacher education: opportunity or barrier? Place of ‘community’ languages and ‘MFL’ Who educates the teachers?- From classroom to higher education (Wright,
2008)- Appropriate knowledge base (Fedick, 2005) • Training the trainers
Training the trainers
Appointment of trainers for Mandarin, Urdu and Arabic
Identification of teacher audience (course participants)
- Teachers from complementary schools (yrs 1,2,3)- Trainees in initial teacher education (yrs 2,3) Basic course structure and workshop content for
teachers
Course structure for teachers
Needs of participants (see Minty et al, 2008) Teachers in complementary schools Trainees in initial teacher education
Teachers in complementary schools
Course structure: 4 parts:- Workshop 1 at university - Visit to a mainstream school- Workshop 2 at university- Visit by trainer to teaching context (observation
and feedback opportunity)
Visiting mainstream settings
Advantages? Pitfalls?
Initial teacher trainees
• 4 part course structure: :- Workshop 1 at university - Visit to a complementary school- Workshop 2 at university- Visit by trainer to teaching context (observation
and feedback opportunity)
Certification and accreditation
Certificate of attendance for 4 part course Accreditation at 20 CAT points against award
Eg
MA Language Education
PG Cert /Dip Teaching Bilingual Learners
Foundation Degree in Supporting Teaching and Learning
Course content
What do teachers in complementary schools need?
What are the priorities at the outset?
How did we train the trainers?
Two full day workshops (June 2008) prior to 4 part course
Review and development meeting (Jan 09) Additional day’s training (April 09)prior to follow
up day in June 09 Two further training day for trainers (Oct 09 +
April 2010) Content and process
University workshop 1
- Characteristics of a good teacher trainer- Subject knowledge/language analysis:
characteristics; learner perspectives- Role of target language
University workshop 2
- Effective teaching strategies for languages (skills, grammar)
- Planning a school visit- Planning and assessment - Supporting teachers’ classroom skills:
observation, feedback and target-setting.
University workshop 3: reviewing progress and identifying needs
PlanningAssessment Professional progressFuture needs
University workshop 4: ITE
What do you anticipate the differences to be compared to experienced teachers/teachers from supplementary sector?
How will language trained teachers differ from other subject areas?
How will primary and secondary trainees differ?
Summary of content
A parallel process Needs analysis The good teacher trainer Anticipating participant needs Subject knowledge for teaching Methodological issues Assessment Planning a training session Preparing teachers to observe Observing and giving feedback Accreditation
Process: principles and pragmatism
Some guiding principles (see Wright & Bolitho, 2007)
Modelling a teacher education pedagogy Making choices about content A training plan as an outcome
What was the impact on teachers and trainers?
Teachers (complementary; ITE trainees) Trainers
Attendees
Complementary school:44 teachers on the autumn 2008 course and 28 on the spring 2009 course;41 currently on autumn 09 course
ITE :15 38 people attended the top-up workshop.
Findings: teachers from complementary schools
Year 1Overall results
Excel to Good Average PoorTraining days 1 & 2 average score 83% 14% 3%School visit average score 69% 20% 12%Observation average score 89% 7% 4%
Findings: teachers from complementary schools
Year 2Overall results
Excel to Good Average PoorTraining days 1 & 2 average score 85% 15%School visit average score 85% 8% 7%Observation average score 81% 10% 9%
Follow up day June 09 Excel to good average poor
materials 94% 6%
delivery 94% 6%
relevance 94% 6%
opportunities for discussion 94% 6%
What was useful?
Learning teaching methods from others and sharing experience Active discussions and plenty of useful and practical
information Opportunity to observe teaching in local schools Very clear and enthusiastic delivery Classroom management skills gained Feedback on observations Guidance of where to obtain help and resources Information about asset languages and the language ladder as
a way to encourage pupils Teaching through action to engage pupils Ideas for integrating games and activities into the classroom Techniques for teaching grammar
ITE trainees
83% of the trainees reported to be very satisfied with the
overall workshop, the material, delivery, relevance and opportunities for discussion with colleagues.
Techniques found most useful: Learning where to find resources and how to use them Practical tips to keep students engaged How to include culture points into lesson plan Techniques to encourage use of target language in the
classroom and in other subjects such as maths 67% of the trainees declared that the school visit has been
extremely useful as it enabled them to see how languages are taught outside the mainstream school
Feedback from trainers
Improved professional practice Useful and appropriate content Discussion valued Opportunity to develop training skills and “to train
colleagues as colleagues rather than students” “Made me more reflective and focused as a trainer” This “ has given me an effective model of training”
Conclusions
Enriching opportunity for all First training opportunity for many Opportunities to observe in other contexts
valued Clear desire to make further progress High interest in gaining QTS
Some issues to consider
Course structure and content Meeting QTS needs of teachers from complementary
schools Developing the profile of community languages in teacher
education, initial and CPD Longer-term impact of training Differential training needs for different community languages Training trainers: modelling practice or co-operative
development? Synergy and sustainability
References
Minty, S., Maylor, U., Tözün, I., Kuyok, K. and Ross, A. (2008) Our Languages: Teachers in supplementary schools and their aspirations to teach community languages. Institute for Policy Studies in Education, London Metropolitan University.
Naldic (2009) Developing a bilingual pedagogy for UK schools. Naldic Working Paper No.9
Partnerships in Language and Culture: A toolkit for complementary and mainstream schools working in collaboration. www.ourlanguages.org.uk
Tedick, D.J. (2005) Second language teacher education: international perspectives. Mahwah, N.J : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Wright, T. and Bolitho, R. (2008) Trainer Development. www.lulu.com
Wright, T. (2008) “Trainer development”: Professional Development for Language Teacher Education. In: Burns, A. and J. Richards (eds) The Cambridge Guide to Language Teacher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
