Subject Expertise

Inquiry-based Subject Expert Micro-programme 2.0

Start Date: 02 October 2026. End Date: 25 June 2027. 60 hours.

 

Overview

This professional learning programme—focused on Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language and a school subject in the UK, with potential relevance to other English-speaking contexts—aims to build professional capacity and develop a research and design team within the existing professional community.

The programme therefore provides a platform for experienced teaching practitioners with an interest in research and innovation, from across sectors in which Mandarin Chinese is taught as a foreign language and a school subject in the UK, to participate in the research project outlined below.

The overarching purpose is to enhance the learning experiences and outcomes of all school learners of Mandarin Chinese through a paradigm of joint development and shared leadership. This will support community growth and the community’s transformation into an inclusive and participatory community of practice, inquiry and knowledge development.

This programme is run and funded by UCL Institute of Education’s Centre for Chinese Language Education (CCLE) .

Open to
Qualified Mandarin teachers who are involved in subject leadership and school-based curriculum development; have at least four years’ full-time-equivalent school-based teaching experience; and will be working in a UK secondary school and teaching GCSE Chinese in 2026–27.

Availability
Available – Limited Places 

Location
15 Woburn Square, London WC1H 0NS

Organiser
UCL IOE Centre for Chinese Language Education
chinesenetworks@ucl.ac.uk

 

Programme Aims

  • Enhance understanding of current practices and perspectives relating to Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language and a school subject.
  • Critically examine these practices and perspectives in relation to contextual factors at national, cross-national and global levels.
  • Explore perspectives, findings, approaches and trends from a wide range of academic sources.
  • Collaboratively develop practice-inspired and research-informed pedagogical designs in response to current and emerging needs, with due consideration of contextual constraints and potential.
  • Evaluate and optimise these designs in real-world contexts using mixed research methods.
  • Contribute disciplinary, procedural and epistemic knowledge to the professional community through an iterative, cyclical process of design-based practitioner research and shared leadership.

2026-27 Research Project Outline

Developing a Micro-module for, about and as Part of Understanding Communication and Culture in the Refreshed National Curriculum through MFL (Chinese) at GCSE

This pilot project uses educational design-based research methodology to develop a micro-module for, about and as part of Understanding Communication and Culture for school learners taking GCSE Chinese.

Situated within the UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education (2024), England’s Curriculum and Assessment Review (2025) and Modern Foreign Languages: GCSE Subject Content (2022), the project explores the potential of MFL (Chinese) both as a GCSE subject and as a contributor to understanding human culture within a broad and balanced curriculum for all learners up to the age of 16.

Beginning with and centring on a familiar, youth-relevant cultural object, the micro-module brings together three interwoven dimensions: learning Chinese as a repertoire of linguistic forms; learning through Chinese about a historico-geographical phenomenon; and learning with Chinese for pluricultural meaning-making and expression. Cognitive Discourse Functions(2013; 2024) connect learning across these dimensions.

Through a three-stage design process, the project will develop, trial and refine an alpha version of the teaching and learning materials to produce a beta version. It will investigate learners’ developing proficiency and self-efficacy in using Mandarin, their development of disciplinary literacies in relevant GCSE subjects and their intercultural consciousness throughout the classroom trials.

Department for Education. (2025). Curriculum and Assessment Review – Final Report: Building a world-class curriculum for all.

Department for Education. (2022). Modern foreign languages: GCSE subject content.

Dalton-Puffer, C. (2013). A construct of cognitive discourse functions for conceptualising content-language integration in CLIL and multilingual education.

Rieder-Marschallinger, S., Hüttner, J., & Dalton-Puffer, C. (2024). Cognitive discourse functions in history CLIL education: Insights from a design-based research study on conceptual links.

UNESCO. (2024). Framework for Culture and Arts Education. 

Structure and Certification

Participants will actively contribute to the design process during the 2026–27 school year alongside the core teacher-researcher team by attending three five-hour in-person meetings (detailed below) and taking part in three 1.5-hour online meetings (TBC). They will also trial the delivery of the micro-module in accordance with the predefined pedagogical principles and collect relevant data during two pre-scheduled implementation periods (detailed below).

  • Friday 02 October 2026, 11:00 – 16:00
  • Friday 22 January 2027, 11:00 – 16:00
  • Friday 28 May 2027, 11:00 – 16:00

Implementation Period 1: 25 January 2027 – 01 February 2027

Implementation Period 2: 07 June 2027 – 14 June 2027

Total Learning Hours: 60

Who the programme is for

The programme welcomes applications from eligible teaching practitioners (as detailed below) with experience of classroom research, an interest in the project and a wish to contribute to the shared leadership of the community of practice and the development of pioneering approaches. All prospective applicants are advised to develop their knowledge of the project by engaging with the reading materials in the project outline section and should demonstrate their understanding through the application process.

Eligible applicants are expected to be qualified Mandarin teachers who:

  • are involved in subject leadership and school-based curriculum development;
  • have at least four years’ full-time-equivalent school-based teaching experience; and
  • will be working in a UK secondary school and teaching GCSE Chinese during the 2026–27 school year. 

Fees

Free of charge for the eligible applicants.

How to apply for this programme

The deadline to apply is Monday 28 November 2026.

Please click “Apply Now” below and fill out the application form.

Please note: applications may close earlier than the above deadline if all places on the course are filled. 

If your application is successful, the admission confirmation email will be sent to you and your Line Manager by the application closing date.

Programme Coordinator

Victor Wu

Lecturer (Teaching) in Teacher Training and Professional Development

Enquiries

Tanisha Roberts

Project Officer
chinesenetworks@ucl.ac.uk