Gee Macrory Institute of Education Manchester Metropolitan University 19 November 2009 Promoting diversity in language learning: the role of teacher education

COLT teacher training Gee Macrory : Pura Ariza:

Outline Role of teacher education Training the trainers: - Course structure and content for teachers - Supplementary 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

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)

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)

University workshops Workshop 1 - Characteristics of a good teacher - Language analysis: characteristics; learner perspectives - Role of target language - Teaching activities (skills, grammar) - Planning a school visit Workshop 2 - Debrief from school visit - Planning and assessment - Place of culture - Preparation for a visit from trainer

Follow up day for all Planning Assessment Professional progress Future needs

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.

Certification and accreditation Certificate of attendance for 4 part course Accreditation at 20 CAT points against award

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 + March 2010) Content and process

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

Findings: teachers from complementary schools Year 1 Overall results Excel to GoodAveragePoor Training days 1 & 2 average score83%14% 3% School visit average score69%20%12% Observation average score89%7%4%

Findings: teachers from complementary schools Year 2 Overall results Excel to GoodAveragePoor Training days 1 & 2 average score85%15% School visit average score85%8%7% Observation average score81%10%9%

Follow up day June 09 Excel to goodaverage poor materials94%6% delivery94%6% relevance94%6% opportunities for discussion94%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 Useful and appropriate content Discussion valued Opportunity to develop training skills and to train colleagues as colleagues rather than students Improved professional practice Made me more reflective and focused as a trainer 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. Tedick, D.J. (2005) Second language teacher education: international perspectives. Mahwah, N.J : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wright, T. and Bolitho, R. (2008) Trainer Development. 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.