Andy Keedwell and Ruchi Jain detail ways that they have encouraged teacher educators to reflect on their teaching and training through face to face training and other CPD activities.
Reflection underpins each of the professional practices in the Teaching for Success CPD Frameworks for teachers and is a vital ingredient for effective teacher development. Many teachers and teacher educators, however, find reflection difficult and are often reluctant to engage. This presentation investigates how teachers and teacher educators can be encouraged to reflect and be supported in the process. The speakers also suggest that developments in reflective skills as a result of support can be identified, measured and compared.
Approaches to reflection by a group of two hundred teacher educators on both classroom teaching and training delivery will be examined in the context of a major professional development project in India, the BLISS (Bihar Language Initiative for Secondary Schools) which works in one of the least affluent and challenging states in India. Since 2011, the project has developed two cohorts of teacher educators, monitored changes in their classroom practices and enabled them to deliver training to over two thousand secondary school teachers. Andy and Ruchi detail ways that initiatives have encouraged these teacher educators to reflect on their teaching and training through face to face training and other CPD activities.
The project has also collected several hundred comments by teachers and teacher educators and we will present an analysis of these comments. Analysis shows clear progression in the ability to reflect and indicates how support can have a very significant impact on this progression. We hope the presentation is of interest to anyone involved in helping others to reflect.
About the speakers:
Andy Keedwell has been involved in teaching, training and ELT project management for the last thirty years. He has been involved with a range of projects including those targeting primary and secondary school teachers in South East and Central Asia, East Africa, the Middle East and the South Caucasus and has also been involved with British Council Peacekeeping English projects. He has been working in India since 2015. He has a PGCE in Primary Education, the Trinity TESOL Diploma and an MA in ELT.
Ruchi Jain has been involved in teaching, training in the British Council since 2010. She has been involved in teaching various courses from general English to exam classes. Ruchi had also been involved in academic management in English Language Centre where she line managed teachers and their professional development. She has been working in English Partnerships since 2015. She had initial teacher training certificate as well as a B.Ed. She also has an MA International Educational Management.
Watch a recording of this talk below
