TEC15: Alison Barrett | Plenary – English language teacher education in 21st-century India скачать в хорошем качестве

TEC15: Alison Barrett | Plenary – English language teacher education in 21st-century India

A plenary session by Alison Barrett Over the last five years, the role of the teacher educator has risen to prominence in India and beyond. Through the input and support that a teacher educator provides to practising classroom teachers, the potential contribution that she can make to achieving quality in the classroom is immense. But to be effective, a teacher educator has to balance the priorities of a number of different stakeholders within the system and she needs to ensure that her approach is based on sound pedagogical principles, is relevant, appropriate and feasible. Not only this, but a teacher educator must balance what she knows from the evidence she has gained from academic research and experience with the specific realities and needs of the context within which she works. For example, she knows that teachers must be motivated and supported to become self-directed learners, but how can they be when they have no time, resources or experience of autonomous learning? How can in-service programmes move away from one-off face-to-face teacher training input to holistic programmes of continuing professional development where knowledge and experience is co-constructed rather than force-fed? How can technology be best exploited to facilitate improvements in quality teacher education when infrastructure is new and teachers ICT skills are low? How can teacher educators balance the need for data which drives accountability with data that drives improvements? This session explores the tensions that result from trying to balance what we know theoretically with what can actually be done, and recommend some practical ways to move forward in the 21st century. Alison Barrett is Director English for Education Systems, South Asia, British Council, and responsible for overseeing English language development programmes in partnership with the public sector across the region.