Early Career Professional Development – Mandarin Teacher Micro-programme 2.0
3 days
Overview
This unique Mandarin-specific professional learning programme provides early career teachers of Mandarin in the UK with tailored and subject-specific support to further develop their practice in the school context, to complete their induction or probation period to a high level, and to meet the professional practice standards of the relevant bodies.
Since its first delivery in 2020–2021, this highly popular programme has accompanied practitioners through the first years of their teaching careers, offering assistance, stimulation for reflection, inspiration, and a warm welcome into a Mandarin-specific early career teacher community as well as the wider professional community of practice.
Extending its support to early career teachers of Mandarin across the country, the revised programme ultimately aims to increase the inclusivity of the subject; to promote deep learning and broad experience of, through and with Mandarin; and to develop the knowledge, skills and strategies that empower practitioners to maintain workload efficiency, optimised wellbeing and greater professional agency throughout their lifelong professional learning and career development journey in the AI era.
This is achieved through mini-lectures, workshops and joint-practice development sessions with subject experts, highly experienced school teaching practitioners and peers, and is funded by UCL IOE Centre for Chinese Language Education.
Open to
Current teachers of Mandarin in UK schools who are in the first two years of their UK teaching career and have completed initial teacher training (ITT)
Availability
Available – Limited Places
Location
UCL IOE, London WC1H 0AL
Organiser
UCL IOE Centre for Chinese Language Education
chinesenetworks@ucl.ac.uk
Programme Information
Programme Aims
- To provide subject-specific support to current school teachers of Mandarin in the first two years of their UK teaching career who have completed initial teacher training (ITT).
- To deepen understanding of the Mandarin subject curriculum and enhance curriculum-related knowledge for the success of all pupils in GCSE and GCSE-equivalent examinations (e.g. iGCSE and National 5) and beyond.
- To design and enrich learning experiences on daily, termly and yearly teaching and learning, in ways that align with school development priorities and the relevant national curriculum and qualification frameworks.
- To apply adaptive teaching and task-design principles, with AI facilitation, to enhance the learning progress of all pupils while maintaining an efficient workload.
- To strengthen skills for data analysis, interpretation and reporting, for effective accountability, targeted practice development, and optimised teaching-career progression and professional agency.
- To contribute to and benefit from a subject-specific early career teacher community of Mandarin teachers, and to promote peer-to-peer joint practice development.
Programme Content
The programme consists of a range of interconnected areas and subject-specific topics.
Dimension 1: Understanding the Curriculum
Focus: Identifying and scaffolding core learning content in MFL (Mandarin) as a school subject, with particular reference to GCSE and GCSE-equivalent (e.g. iGCSE, National 5) courses, for day-to-day teaching and learning.
Dimension 2: De-understanding MFL (Mandarin) as a School Subject
Focus: Targeting language skills and strategies, and planning for deep learning processes that support success in GCSE and GCSE-equivalent high-stakes examinations.
Dimension 3: Re-valuing MFL (Mandarin) Teaching and Learning for the Success of All
Focus: Trialling a skill-focused approach for enriched learning experiences, overall personal growth and contribution to wider school life, informed by design principles, data and AI.
Structure and Certification
The programme is delivered through three face‑to‑face sessions on the UCL campus. The venue for each session will be confirmed by email.
|
Session |
Date |
Time |
|
Session 1 |
Saturday 24 January 2026 |
11:00–16:00 |
|
Session 2 |
Saturday 21 March 2026 |
11:00–16:00 |
|
Session 3 |
Saturday 6th June 2026 |
11:00–16:00 |
Total professional development time: 15 hours.
A completion certificate will be issued upon request, provided all three sessions are fully attended and inter‑session tasks are completed.
Who the programme is for
This programme has been developed specifically for current school teachers of Mandarin in UK-based schools who are in the first two years of their UK teaching career (during the 2025–2026 academic year). All participants are expected to have completed initial teacher training (ITT) – for example, through a university-led route (PGCE, PGDE) or a school-based route (such as School Direct or an assessment-only route) – and to hold Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).
Fees
Free of charge for the eligible applicants.
How to apply for this programme
The deadline to apply for this programme has now been extended to Friday 12th December 2025.
Please click « Apply Now » below and fill out the application form.Application Closed
Programme Coordinator
Victor Wu Lecturer (Teaching) in Teacher Training and Professional Development
Enquiries
Catherine Li Project Officer chinesenetworks@ucl.ac.uk