Job Discussion Forums

sprightly · Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 136 Location: England

i wonder if part of the problem isn't workplace attitude to staff development.

my father and sister work in technical fields, and are sent off about every 4 months to upgrade a certain skill or learn a new thing--and they get qualifications from this which they could show to a new employer. if you work somewhere like this, you accept that constant upgrading is the standard.

state schools and many independent schools do this for teachers, but many language schools do not. if you've worked successfully without further training for 10 yrs, and never worked in another field, of course it may come as a shock that you're considered obsolete.

Teacher in Rome · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Posts: 1286

I like the idea of refresher courses, structured feedback from lesson observations etc. In other words, a commitment to lifelong learning and continuous professional development. (Rather than just getting an MA and then nothing else for the rest of your teaching career.) I'd far rather hire a teacher who showed curiosity about new approaches in ESL, who was genuine about wanting to improve his / her own teaching practice, than someone who only went for the big qual and then stopped. That's why I like the "Ongoing Training and Development" (or some such title) in a CV.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2013 9:25 am Post subject:

Hey, TIR. That's a really nice, and smart, way of presenting such in a CV. I'll use that in future : )

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

Teacher in Rome · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Posts: 1286

My pleasure Sasha!

teacheratlarge · Joined: 17 Nov 2011 Posts: 192 Location: Japan

I would like to chime in that experience and qualifications both have their place. Course design theory can be learned w/o the corresponding grad school work. People I know who are familiar with theory being introduced at places they work and through using something called "The Internet" fare okay including the development of teacher training material.

I think a similar case can be made for "grammatical oversight training"; the people who claim it's needed the most usually rely on it too much. Paper degrees only get you so far, as any good hacker can tell you.

"There's a bit of Eric Snowden in all of us" - we all want to believe we are doing the right thing.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:06 am Post subject:

I know plenty of people who self-diagnose using this thingymebob known as the Internet. Not all of them have suffered complications or death as a result, true. But still not the same thing as a proper grounding in medicine. Course design is probably not as challenging as medicine, but the principle is the same. And that goes double for teacher-training material.

rtm · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 1003 Location: US

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Sashadroogie · Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 7:00 am Post subject:

Online expertise feeding online TEFL courses is what it sounds like to me. Dodgy, and then some more.

Teacher in Rome · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Posts: 1286

Sashadroogie · Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 9:43 am Post subject:

If they are Celta trainers, these teachers have been approved by Cambridge and have undergone training, and have achieved some sort of official status. They did not become Celta trainers just because they had experience in the classroom, or gleaned lots of factoids from the Internet. Surely? Please, tell me I am right!!!

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Teacher in Rome · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Posts: 1286

OK! So basically you're saying that for specific, ESP-type courses (where no published courses exist that meet your needs), you need background quals (experience?) to design the curriculum and materials.

Also like your point about consistent guidelines for marking and feedback. Though for writing tasks I can imagine that would be quite tricky.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Well, when the ESP courses are relatively high-stakes for the students, yes, a knowledge of a wider range of approaches and methods and potential tasks and task types available is extremely helpful.

It's also true that we often have to establish the credibility of what we are doing not only with students, but with the wider institution and with Faculty members. It takes some quals to do this on both practical and other (perception)levels.

As for the consistent guidelines on feedback and marking for specific writing tasks, it takes a fairly solid understanding of both what we are doing and why. And a fairly high degree of collaborative teamwork on the part of the instructors, to ensure we are all on the same page.