Building capacity – Teacher training
Vision
Katharine Carruthers
Our vision is for every child who wants to learn Mandarin Chinese to have the opportunity to do so. Mandarin Chinese will sit as a fully mainstream curriculum subject in schools throughout the UK, an attractive and realistic option alongside the other more widely taught languages.
For this vision to be realised, we need a sustainable delivery infrastructure: a supply of qualified teachers, professional development opportunities, resources, assessment systems, and coherent progression paths for learners with greater congruity between primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
We need to build capacity. We need to train more teachers.
Katharine Carruthers is the Director of the IOE Confucius Institute for Schools. An experienced teacher and examiner for Chinese, over recent years she has set up and developed the popular Mandarin Chinese PGCE course at the UCL Institute of Education.
Qualified Teacher Status
There are now many different routes to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) – e.g. School Direct unsalaried and salaried and assessment only. The PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) is the traditional route and remains popular, but it’s important to consider all the options available through UCL IOE and through other providers, schools and universities across the country.
From September 2015, the IOE’s Mandarin-specific pedagogy expertise will be available outside of London as part of different QTS routes.
Colin Christie
Dr Colin Christie will join us at the Annual Conference to give an overview of the QTS routes available – both through UCL IOE and other providers.
As well as keeping up-to-date with the different QTS routes available across the country, Colin is the subject leader for the PGCE Languages course and lecturer in Languages in Education at the UCL IOE. He has a rich variety of experience from working in schools and colleges[1] and impressive academic research credentials[2]. Colin and Katharine are part of the teacher training team Ofsted praised as ‘outstanding’ across the board [3].
It is an exciting time to be working towards QTS, with so many different routes now available. Join Colin on Friday (day 1) of the Annual Chinese Teaching Conference to find out more.
Continuing Professional Development
Philippa Vallely
Good teachers are lifelong learners, before, during and long after their chosen route to QTS.
Philippa Vallely is the Teacher Training Coordinator at UCL IOE Confucius Institute. Many teachers already know Philippa from the excellent suite of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses she has designed and managed throughout the year. This year’s courses have been consistently oversubscribed, which is a clear indication of their popularity among teachers and testament to Philippa’s expertise and very thoughtful planning.
Whether you are qualified or unqualified, proficient in Mandarin or a complete beginner in the language, we have several courses to support you in your career.
Philippa will tell us about her plans for more courses in the year ahead.
Philippa will also be running two different workshops on Friday afternoon (day 1) and Saturday afternoon (day 2) of this year’s conference.
Be involved
Does your school have Mandarin teachers yet? Are you a Mandarin teacher yourself? Do you want to become a qualified Mandarin teacher? Can you share your experience with others?
Whoever you are, you can help to make Mandarin Chinese teaching available to every child who wants it.
A healthy supply of high quality qualified teachers requires proactive schools and individuals. Trainee teachers need experienced mentors. They need positive role models. They need supportive placement schools for whichever training route they choose, wherever they are in the country.
Stephanie Koch
Xuenian Leng
Stephanie Koch and Xuenian Leng are completing their PGCE course this summer. They will share their experiences of the PGCE and the placement school mentors who have supported them.
Join Stephanie and Xuenian to be inspired to get involved with Initial Teacher Training.
