BESA CORNER


This month, in our ongoing feature highlighting the work of members of the UK education suppliers’ trade body BESA, we are delighted to hear from FIELDWORK EDUCATION and HIGH SPEED TRAINING.


Adapting to virtual learning whilst delivering an international curriculum


Over the last year, learning and teaching has seen a dramatic change with the necessary shift to virtual learning. In many cases teachers, parents and learners are now rising to the challenge of adapting to moving between remote and in school learning as government restrictions shift. One of the benefits that has come from remote learning is the vast


number of inspired ideas and innovation teachers and schools have shown on a global scale. Including teachers coming together in sharing activities, online resources and helpful suggestions. We want to share some creative ideas that have helped our member schools adjust and deliver the international curriculum at this historic moment in time. Firstly, we understand the effort it takes to connect early years learners


via a virtual classroom. It definitely is a strange transition especially for such young learners who are only just starting school. Our International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) school in Oman shared with us how the school introduced virtual learning. The early years team put strategies in place to welcome children to online


learning, which included two meetings with the class teacher to help the families and children feel comfortable. Once everyone felt familiar with the new virtual style, the team set out to conduct the first IEYC entry point. The teachers put together virtual learning kits for the entry point and asked families to come and collect the equipment and meet their teacher in person. Alpa Toprani, IEYC Coordinator at the Apple Green Private School in


Oman shared ‘collecting the virtual learning kit and meeting their teacher with social distancing in place, helped to build excitement for the entry point and the new unit of learning that they would follow from home.’ This resulted in a fun virtual entry point, that set the tone for more activities whilst capturing the children’s curiosity. Primary schools have likewise been sharing fantastic suggestions for


International Primary Curriculum (IPC) units at home and have been getting learners to thinking outside the box. One school in New York asking students to make Bird feeders as part of the unit ‘Our World’ completely out of recycled items found around the house. Another school in Warsaw enjoyed a cooking class together online to make dishes from ancient Rome as part of the unit of learning, ‘The Great, The Bold and The Brave’. Learners in Brunei found new and exciting ways to record their learning by created their own comics about extreme weather for the unit 'Weather and Climate'. Excellent plans for adapting engaging topics to home learning. Middle years learners have similarly adapted. Students in Bucharest,


Romania, learning with the International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC) have adjusted to a virtual learning approach that best suits learning needs and teachers have been able to adapt their plans.Rico Chow, Principal of Secondary at Verita International School in Bucharest shared ‘The great thing about the IMYC units and the curriculum, in general, is the flexibility of it. We were able to adapt the units we had planned to an online setting quite effortlessly.’ For unit exit points, teachers encouraged students to reflect on


their learning in their reflection journals and utilised this to create their own remote exit point. Causing an inspired concept from a student to create their own guided meditation to help people adapt during this difficult period. These are just a handful of examples, but it has been remarkable to hear


from teachers and schools around the world the inventive ways they have made remote learning work for them and their learners. We hope that some of the thoughts shared can help global educators and inspire more ideas.


https://fieldworkeducation.com/ 14 www.education-today.co.uk Teachers taking control of their CPD


CPD is extremely important. It helps teachers to keep up with the current standards and practices in education, allows them to upskill and progress to higher levels, and ensures that they are teaching effectively. However, until recently, many


teachers struggled to find the time or opportunity to pursue self-chosen themes in their professional learning. Because travelling to a certain place for a course often required a whole day away from teaching, this reduced the number of courses that they could take each year. Additionally, some of the courses they found most interesting often had to be struck off the list for being too far away or too expensive. But since the COVID-19 pandemic, this has all changed. CPD is now


much more accessible: there has been a surge in high-quality, effective online training courses that can be taken from home. Teachers no longer need to take a day or half-day off teaching to get through some training – most of the online courses are an hour or two, and can be taken in bite sized chunks rather than all at once. Even courses in different countries are now within reach. The cost of training has also decreased. Online courses are often


much cheaper than face-to-face ones – the number of free resources that are available on the internet has rocketed, with teachers and training companies alike sharing their ideas and research so that they can help others in need. With these barriers to CPD being broken down, fewer courses than


ever have been off-limits. It is unsurprising that an increasing number of teachers have been pursuing self-directed professional learning as a result. Upskilling has also become popular: more and more headteachers


and senior leaders are considering leaving the profession since the pandemic, with a recent study by Teacher Tapp reporting that almost a quarter of headteachers may do so this year. This will leave gaps in senior roles that could be filled by teachers looking for career progression if they use this time to upskill. Overall, it seems that now is the ideal time to take the training that


you want or need. Whether you are looking to build on your existing skills, learn something new, or study a topic that inspires you, there will never be a better opportunity to do so. And there is good reason to take this opportunity: research has shown that taking control of your own learning and development leads to the higher performance of both individual teachers and their schools as a whole (Tucker, 2019). Stepping away from your everyday work in the classroom can also


help to reenergise you – something that we could all benefit from after the stresses and strains of the pandemic. This, again, makes you a better educator: higher levels of motivation, engagement, and satisfaction all correlate with effectiveness in teaching. As Steve Jobs said, “your work is going to fill a large part of your life,


and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” It’s important to feed your passion for teaching by being a learner yourself – give yourself permission to find courses that you want to do, because at the end of the day, everyone will benefit.


High Speed Training provides a wealth of free resources to get your professional development started. If you are looking for training with accreditation and a certificate of completion, have a look at their CPD training courses, from Mental Health Training to Autism Awareness and Designated Safeguarding Lead. https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/safeguarding/ https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/available-courses/education.aspx


April 2021


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