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News release from Links into Languages East Midlands

Region: East Midlands [More East Midlands news...]

Posted on: Thursday, 18 Mar 2010

Continuing professional development is hard to access

85% of the Head Teachers and Heads of Language Departments responding to a national survey by the government-funded Links into Languages programme reported that funding, time, cover and location contributed to difficulties in providing continuing professional development (CPD) for language teachers. 1 in 4 language teachers, from the same survey, are finding it difficult to access CPD.

Responses to this survey came mainly from Head Teachers and Heads of Departments but also included key stakeholders, local authorities and teachers from across the nine English regions. They identify the CPD priorities of language teachers as implementing the Key Stage 3 curriculum, tracking pupils’ progress and cross-phase transition, Assessment for Learning (AfL) and differentiation strategies. Teachers want training on the use of advanced technologies such as web and online teaching resources and learning, video conferencing, blogs, Twitter and podcasts to inform relevant and practical classroom practice.

Mike Kelly, national Director of Links into Languages said, ‘It must be a key priority to make professional development more accessible for language teachers. We have had a terrific level of response from senior management teams in schools, which reflect the importance they place on supporting language teachers. We will take account of their views in developing the programmes we offer teachers.’

Here in the East Midlands, the survey found that teachers are finding it even more difficult to access CPD. With 1 in 3 teachers saying that they find it difficult to attend CPD, the Links East Midlands regional centre, based at Nottingham Trent University, is responding to this difficulty by taking training out to schools in the region. Clodagh Cooney, the East Midlands Regional Manager said, ‘Teachers are extremely busy, and are finding it difficult to attend CPD for a variety of reasons. In the East Midlands, we are developing a variety of models of delivery to ensure CPD is accessible to all teachers across the region. One recent example is where we delivered some tailored training on alternative qualifications at the Ashfield School. Schools value being able to access CPD at a time and place appropriate to their needs, and a second session examining outstanding teaching and learning is planned for later in the year. ’

The Ashfield School, in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, is a specialist technology, vocational, language college and training school, and is firmly committed to continuous improvement and high quality teaching. Kim Brown, Language College Coordinator at Ashfield School, said ‘Links into Languages recently delivered an interesting and informative look into alternative qualifications to the traditional GCSE in Languages. Diversification is the only way forward. Courses need to cater for individual students, their employment and lifelong learning needs. We have recently had 78% of our Y9 students opt to take a Language because we have been able to offer a wider and more pertinent variety of languages and courses.’