In need of
rebranding?: Sneak peek of the workshop for cooperating teachers
Summary
From 13 to 15 March 2024, seventeen cooperating teachers in the Mfoundi division took part in a training entitled Teaching Practice Mentoring: Workshop for Cooperating Teachers. The workshop, which was supported by a grant from the A.S Hornby Educational Trust, was run in partnership with Open Dreams and IELTA-Cameroon under the supervision of the regional inspectorate for Bilingualism, Centre region.
Background
The workshop idea stemmed from the cognition that teaching practice lies at the heart of initial teacher training as it enables student-teachers to gain practical professional experience in real classrooms under the guidance and support of cooperating teachers. Yet, these cooperating teachers are not always sufficiently trained to handle the delicate responsibilities that come with guiding and helping student-teachers to effectively transition into the profession.
Workshop activities
The workshop, which was presided over by the Country Lead, British Council Cameroon (a highly esteemed partner of the A.S Hornby Educational Trust) and the Regional Inspector Coordinator for Bilingualism lasted three days.
Day 1 was marked by the official opening ceremony during which the Project Lead, Anestin Chi, presented the rationale for the workshop. Thereafter, the Regional Inspector Coordinator, Mme BELINGA, encouraged selected participants to make the most of this training. She also expressed the wish to see this initiative extended to other regions of the country.
Finally, the British Council Country Lead, Mme Caroline Ndifor, presented the A.S Hornby Educational Trust and its work in the promotion of English Language teaching especially in the Global South as well as professional development opportunities for teachers offered by the British Council and its partners.
British
Council Country Lead addressing workshop attendees Project team members and officials at the opening
ceremony 
After the official launch,
workshop participants dived into serious business with four seasoned sessions:
first, a getting-to-know session, which enabled participants to interact with
one another and share expectations from the workshop.
Participants
actively engaged in getting-to-know-you session led by Robert Next, there was a session on
cooperating teachers’ roles and responsibilities, which introduced participants
to different mentoring roles and the qualities of an effective mentor.
Participants actively engaged in session led by Anestin
Thereafter, participants learned about different mentoring approaches and tools and discussed applicability in the teaching practice context.
Finally, participants reflected on the learnings of the day before going home at 15:45pm.
Day 2 sessions started at 9:30
am with a recall session to help refresh the minds of participants and
ascertain mastery of previous learning.
Participants
engaged in recall session led by RobertNext, participants were introduced to the different
dimensions cooperating teachers need to consider in teaching practice mentoring
as covered by Hudson’s (2004) five factor model of mentoring.
Participants
actively engaged in session led by Anestin After that, participants were introduced to British Council's continuous professional development framework and guided to reflect on their professional growth, which is key in mentoring others.
Participants actively engaged
in session led by Fadidac After the lunch break, participants were guided to explore
and practice applications of co-planning and co-teaching models.
Participants
actively engaged in micro-teaching (co-planning and co-teaching) – session
moderated by AnestinFinally, in groups, participants reflected on the
day’s learning and completed exit tickets before retiring home at 16:10pm.
Day 3, just like day 2, was made up of five sessions. First,
participants started off with a recall to enable them to refresh their minds
about previous day's learning.
Participants
engaged in recall session led by RobertSecond, participants were introduced to the art of
managing post-teaching conferences. They watched good and bad models of
post-observation conferences and analyzed them.
Participants actively engaged
in session led by FadidacThird, participants were introduced to effective
strategies for managing difficult conversations with student-teacher mentees on
teaching practice.
Participants
actively engaged in session led by AnestinIn the fourth session, after the lunch break,
participants were supported to engage in role playing post-teaching conferences
to help them to master the art of giving constructive feedback.
Participants
actively engaged in role-playing post-teaching conferences - session moderated
by AnestinFinally, participants reflected on the learning of the
day and completed end of workshop evaluation forms.
Feedback from workshop attendees
Workshop attendees were
generally satisfied with the conduct and content of the workshop which they
described as ‟insightful”, ‟impactful” and ‟timely”. Participants reported that the workshop created
‟greater awareness of the expectations of teaching practice and their roles as
cooperating teachers”. They mentioned that the workshop was ‟hugely beneficial”
to them because they had never received any training or document to help them
fully assume the responsibilities of a cooperating teacher. Oftentimes, they
are assigned student-teachers with no prior notice. In rare cases, they receive
letters which simply state assigned student-teachers' names and start and end
dates of teaching practice with ‟no mention of what is expected of them as
cooperating teachers, their roles or even how the mentoring should be conducted”.
At the end of the workshop, participants attested that they ‟became more aware
of the expectations of teaching practice mentoring”, ‟understood the roles they
are expected to play during teaching practice” and are thus ‟likely to be more effective
henceforth”.
Workshop attendees decried the ‟lack of synergy of
action between teacher training supervisors, inspectors and cooperating
teachers” in the mentoring of student-teachers during teaching practice. They
expressed the wish to ‟have a workshop not just for cooperating teachers but with
all the stakeholders taking part in teaching practice supervision involved”.
Appreciation from the project team
The project team is grateful to the A.S Hornby Educational Trust for supporting this workshop with a grant and to the regional delegation of the Ministry of Secondary Education for readily supporting this initiative and mobilizing cooperating teachers to participate. We thank the regional inspectorate for Bilingualism for closely overseeing the success workshop, which was not just a capacity building opportunity for the cooperating teachers but also a learning opportunity to the team of facilitators.
Anestin Chi
Commentaires
Enregistrer un commentaire