The one-off teacher training workshop or seminar continues to thrive for practical and organisational reasons despite widely acknowledged limitations. We will consider ways of overcoming some of the drawbacks and of avoiding an unprincipled, ad hoc approach to such events. Four traditions of teacher training will be surveyed and related to practical frameworks for use when planning workshops or seminars.

1. Frameworks for
teacher training
sessions and workshops
Briony Beaven brionybeaven1@t-online.de
53rd IATEFL International Conference, Liverpool 2019
‘Fallen words from a broken framework
Take it down put it in your diary’
Clannad, The Other Side.

2. Four traditions in teacher education
 Teaching as a craft – copying or imitating an expert’s
teaching behaviour and recommendations
 Teaching as applied science – theory is put into practice.
Public theory is viewed as the basis for effective teaching
 Teaching as reflective practice – conscious reflection on direct
experience. Surfacing routine behaviour and rethinking it
 Teaching as participation in a professional community –
situated, contextual development of teaching
Diaz Maggioli, G. 2012. Johnson, K.E. 2009. Richards, J.C. & Lockhart, C. 1994. Wallace. M.J. 1991.

3. Teaching as applied
science – theory is put
into practice.
Public theory is viewed
as the basis for effective
teaching.
Great-grandfather’s teaching certificate 1883

4. From
traditions to
frameworks

5. ‘Framework’?
A supporting
structure around
which something
can be built

6. Teacher education
1.PRESETT Teacher preparation courses
2.INSETT Teacher update, refresher, new
role and methodology courses
3.INSETT The one-off teacher education
session or workshop, typically 60 mins, 90
mins or three hours.

7. One-off teacher training workshops or seminars
PROBLEMS
‘Teacher learning is best promoted by cycles of related
activities.’ Roberts, J. 1998
‘Many PD experiences across professions still seem
predicated on the assumption that learning consists of
discrete finite episodes with a beginning and end.’ Wenger, E.
1998.
REALITY
One-offs or very brief mini-courses continue to thrive for
practical and organisational reasons: the only financially and
temporally attractive mode of teacher education in many
language schools and cultural institutes.

8. Just choose a framework?
Learning to teach
Learning to teach better
Learning to teach in new ways
Teacher education is
COMPLEX
VARIABLE
CONTEXT-SPECIFIC
Frameworks can illuminate our session planning choices but we
will often need to combine elements of frameworks in our
workshop design

9. The everyday
challenge
How can we create the
bridge from principled
frameworks to our 90
minutes or three hours
with teachers in a
language school on a
Friday afternoon?

10. Why relate short sessions to frameworks?
 Avoids over-simplified solutions to teaching
puzzles
 Can lead to increased complexity, deeper
understanding, and potentially greater effect
on classroom practice
 Provides principled variety

11. Teaching as a craft
Traditional craft model in teacher education
Trainer delivers model lesson to teachers/trainees. They fill in
evaluation form.
Did the trainer .....
Vary interaction patterns?
Limit teacher talking time?
Clarify meaning of new language items?
Check meaning of new language items (CCQs)?
Give clear instructions?
Check instructions (ICQs?)
Monitor activities?

12. Teaching as applied science
… the [applied science] approach to teacher education …
was based on the assumption that theory can be taught to …
teachers with the effect that they apply this theory within the
school context. A fundamental problem with this approach
was that the theory was often taught in isolated courses, with
little connection to practice.
Korthagen, F.A.J. 2017. A Foundation for Effective Teacher Education: Teacher Education Pedagogy Based on Situated
Learning. In J.D. Clandinin, and J. Husu (Eds). The SAGE Handbook of Research on Teacher Education. Sage: London.
Can we make use of this model minus the ‘isolation’? Is
knowledge transfer such a wrong pedagogical perspective?

13. Applied science in short TEd sessions
‘Nothing is as practical as a good theory’: How professional reading
can benefit your teaching
Session 1
Look back at your reading histories - not just ELT
Learn how to select professional reading
How to optimise your reading experience for teaching impact
Text to read and react (‘Homework’)
Session 2
Share reactions to texts from Session 1
Follow a guided approach to reading a practical ELT article
Use it to create one or two teaching activities.
Session 3
Report on the teaching activities
Consider classroom implications of further professional reading.
Choose further reading and plan for linking reading to your teaching in
future

14. Teaching as reflective practice
A vague term – reflect on what? for what purpose?
Reflection on action: Ability to interpret a problem or task from
a number of standpoints so as to suggest a number of
solutions and contribute to a change of perspectives (Dewey
1910).
Reflection in action: Framing, reframing and ‘solving’ a
problem in situ, while teaching (Schön 1983)
Processing the teacher’s own experiences rather than
reflecting on received knowledge (Wallace 1991) or public
theory (Eraut 1994).
Feedback control system: Comparing output from an action to
the desired outcome provides feedback to inform new action
(Martin 1995, Randall & Thornton 2001).

15. Overuse of
‘reflective’ model
in short sessions?
May not suit all teachers
May not be developmental:
Can trap the teacher in a loop
based on current level of
experience, skills and
knowledge
Lack of self-awareness
Meta-cognitive skill of self-
monitoring may be too
demanding
Simplistic model: Do and
‘think about’

16. Reflective practice in short TEd sessions
Possible aims -
To develop the ability to analyse teaching situations
To recall and analyse new and recent teaching experiences
To compare classroom events with educational theories
To raise awareness of personal images of teaching
To raise awareness of personal theories and values

17. Learners
should listen
to me
Learners
should become
self-confident
My syllabus is
too packed for
games
Ability to
communicate
is key
I should correct
all the learners’
mistakes
The Wall
Korthagen, F.A.J. et al. 2001. Linking practice and theory: The pedagogy
of realistic teacher education. Lawrence Erlbaum.
A way to raise awareness of relationships between different teaching goals
Waste-paper
basket for
useless bricks

18. Teacher education as participation in a
professional community
Example: British Council Teacher Activity Groups (TAGs)
 Semi-formal continuing professional development (CPD)
sessions
 Teachers from same area with similar contexts
 Meet to practice English, share teaching ideas and
techniques
 Regular and extended
 Face-to-face and online
 Get to know each other, trust each other and benefit from
their respective experiences,
 Teacher-led choice of topics
Communities of Practice are groups of professionals who come together because they “share
a passion for something they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it
better” (Wenger-Trayner 2015).

19. Group work A/B → Pair work A/B
Four frameworks
Questions to answer
1. Which tradition is represented?
2. How did you identify the tradition?
3. What is the aim of the
activity/workshop?
4. Could you use/adapt the materials
OR the framework in your
contexts? How?
Which of the four frameworks would
be appropriate and useful in your
context?
Why look at framework?
 To focus the teacher
educator‘s thinking on the
kind of learning a session
is likely/unlikely to
achieve
 To ensure balance across
a programme of teacher
education workshops
 To maximise impact

20. A
A
A
1
B
B
B
2
A B

I will
raise a
hand
when it
is time
end for
stage 1

21. Group work A/B → Pair work A/B
Four frameworks
Questions to answer
1. Which tradition is represented?
2. How did you identify the tradition?
3. What is the aim of the activity/workshop?
4. Could you use/adapt the materials OR the framework in your
contexts? How?
5. Which of the four frameworks would be appropriate and useful in
your context?

22. Likely answers to ‘framework’ tasks
Set 1 Reading in role
Set 2 Object and memory
Set 3 Teacher storytelling
Set 4 Practise, evaluate and personalise
Participation in professional community
Applied science
Modified craft
Reflective practice

23. Frameworks
• Not mutually exclusive,
• Rooted in theories that express a
cumulative understanding of teacher
learning,
• Usefully situate our short sessions,
• Back up practice with principles
Frameworks for teacher training
sessions and workshops
Briony Beaven brionybeaven1@t-online.de
Thank you 