Eaquals Training for Excellence, 22 – 23 November

Event Opening & Welcome

Location: Alpha

Conference Opening

Location: Alpha

Eaquals Updates

Location: Alpha

Eaquals Accreditation Scheme Updates

Location: Alpha

Opening Plenary: Customer Focused Working – ways of paying attention to what matters

Location: Alpha

Opening Plenary: Customer Focused Working – ways of paying attention to what matters

Time:
Location: Alpha

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.” (R.D. Laing)

We know that our people, the contexts for teaching and learning, and the set environment are all crucial components to setting, measuring and understanding quality standards and levels in our English Language Teaching Institutions.

Indeed, there are now, more than ever before, a range of approaches we can take to validate and market our achievements in these areas. EAQUALS itself, of course, has accreditation as one of its three key aims. Other aspects of quality – communications and customer service – are no less crucial, but seem less conspicuous in the attention we give them in terms of integrated strategy, coherent management and oversight, resourcing and measurement. Where we do attend to these we tend to see them as separate, even alien … ‘customer’?

This paper asks why this might be and describes two viewpoints of customer service in ELTI’s: customer focused working and service focused customers which may serve to better align our focus on quality as we move from merely meeting customer needs to something more necessary and remarkable.

We will see why these viewpoints serve us better than “customer service” because they cover the ground many regard as integral to quality (expected or perceived) such as professionalism and skill, attitude and behaviour, accessibility and flexibility, reliability and trustworthiness and getting it right.

Finally, I will ask how well this mantra sits with us: “We are in the relationship-building and experience-selling business” and finish with takeaway examples of what it means in practice to our schools and institutions.

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.” (R.D. Laing)

We know that our people, the contexts for teaching and learning, and the set environment are all crucial components to setting, measuring and understanding quality standards and levels in our English Language Teaching Institutions.

Indeed, there are now, more than ever before, a range of approaches we can take to validate and market our achievements in these areas. EAQUALS itself, of course, has accreditation as one of its three key aims. Other aspects of quality – communications and customer service – are no less crucial, but seem less conspicuous in the attention we give them in terms of integrated strategy, coherent management and oversight, resourcing and measurement. Where we do attend to these we tend to see them as separate, even alien … ‘customer’?

This paper asks why this might be and describes two viewpoints of customer service in ELTI’s: customer focused working and service focused customers which may serve to better align our focus on quality as we move from merely meeting customer needs to something more necessary and remarkable.

We will see why these viewpoints serve us better than “customer service” because they cover the ground many regard as integral to quality (expected or perceived) such as professionalism and skill, attitude and behaviour, accessibility and flexibility, reliability and trustworthiness and getting it right.

Finally, I will ask how well this mantra sits with us: “We are in the relationship-building and experience-selling business” and finish with takeaway examples of what it means in practice to our schools and institutions.

Break

Inclusion & SEN: Are we all included and equal?

Location: Alpha

Inclusion & SEN: Are we all included and equal?

Time:
Location: Alpha

Inclusive education is a process of addressing and responding to the diverse needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, and of reducing exclusion from education. It involves changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures, policies and strategies. Inclusive education is concerned with providing appropriate responses to the broad spectrum of learning needs in formal and non-formal educational settings. Rather than being a marginal theme on how some learners can be integrated in mainstream education, inclusive education is an approach that looks into how to transform education systems in order to respond to the diversity of learners. It aims to enable both teachers and learners to feel comfortable with diversity and to see it as a challenge and enrichment in the learning environment, rather than a problem.

Policies alone are not enough to build an inclusive workplace, and inclusion should not be a box-ticking exercise. At its most basic level, it is about ensuring that no one is discriminated against because of their age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation or other factors such as social background.

Ultimately an inclusive learning and working environment allows people to be themselves. Equality and diversity can bring with them many challenges, so to promote inclusion, you need to consider how staff and students will work together on a daily basis.

In these sessions we will be looking at:

Looking at what inclusion means and how it can help not just learners, but everyone involved from teachers and managers to administration staff and school owners.
What diversity, inclusion and equality look like in the workplace.
How we include not only students with learning differences but also raise awareness of LGBTQ and racial and cultural differences.
Points to consider when embedding equality.
The benefits of inclusion, diversity and equality in the classroom and the workplace.
How to identify and support learners with learning differences such as dyslexia, autism, visual and hearing impairments.

These workshops will help participants learn from each other’s experiences of, and ideas for, planning, implementing and reviewing inclusive education work within their context. Its aim is to help participants think about/develop their own plans for further action on inclusive education. The workshop is designed so that, in the process of conveying information about inclusive education, it will also demonstrate participatory processes that participants can use in their work and demonstrate some of the teaching and learning approaches that often characterise an inclusive classroom.

Inclusive education is a process of addressing and responding to the diverse needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, and of reducing exclusion from education. It involves changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures, policies and strategies. Inclusive education is concerned with providing appropriate responses to the broad spectrum of learning needs in formal and non-formal educational settings. Rather than being a marginal theme on how some learners can be integrated in mainstream education, inclusive education is an approach that looks into how to transform education systems in order to respond to the diversity of learners. It aims to enable both teachers and learners to feel comfortable with diversity and to see it as a challenge and enrichment in the learning environment, rather than a problem.

Policies alone are not enough to build an inclusive workplace, and inclusion should not be a box-ticking exercise. At its most basic level, it is about ensuring that no one is discriminated against because of their age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation or other factors such as social background.

Ultimately an inclusive learning and working environment allows people to be themselves. Equality and diversity can bring with them many challenges, so to promote inclusion, you need to consider how staff and students will work together on a daily basis.

In these sessions we will be looking at:

Looking at what inclusion means and how it can help not just learners, but everyone involved from teachers and managers to administration staff and school owners.
What diversity, inclusion and equality look like in the workplace.
How we include not only students with learning differences but also raise awareness of LGBTQ and racial and cultural differences.
Points to consider when embedding equality.
The benefits of inclusion, diversity and equality in the classroom and the workplace.
How to identify and support learners with learning differences such as dyslexia, autism, visual and hearing impairments.

These workshops will help participants learn from each other’s experiences of, and ideas for, planning, implementing and reviewing inclusive education work within their context. Its aim is to help participants think about/develop their own plans for further action on inclusive education. The workshop is designed so that, in the process of conveying information about inclusive education, it will also demonstrate participatory processes that participants can use in their work and demonstrate some of the teaching and learning approaches that often characterise an inclusive classroom.

Application of CEFR: The CEFR Companion Volume Mediation scales operationalised: Towards English for Professional Purposes in action

Location: Beta 1

Application of CEFR: The CEFR Companion Volume Mediation scales operationalised: Towards English for Professional Purposes in action

Time:
Location: Beta 1

While the original CEFR descriptors for production and reception focus on language competence, and the Interaction scales focus on the combination of these language competences for communicative purposes, the new Mediation scales in the Companion Volume (2018) take things a stage further, and more clearly focus on action-oriented, situation-based language usage. With the tri-partite coverage of Mediating Concepts, Mediating Texts and Mediating Communication, we have an opportunity to look at language activities through the lens of real-world needs and meaningful outcomes for anyone working with language development situated in professional contexts.

In this workshop, we look at what the new scales mean for development of student-focused, client-driven needs analysis and self-assessment, opportunities for teacher assessment, classroom activities, and development of syllabi which target competences with a communicative purpose, taking integrated use of skills and meaningful content as a pre-requisite for language course development.

We will look at how illustrative descriptors across the mediation scales at different levels can be operationalised into coherent lesson and course outcomes, and how the achievement of these outcomes may be measured.

In the world of Foreign Languages for Professional Purposes – not just English but all languages, this will necessarily include such areas as customer services, meetings, briefings, ‘soft skills’, and inter-cultural communication.

We will consider what this means in terms of measuring and certificating linguistic performance in both workplace ‘soft’ skills and the underlying, enabling competences such as grammar and lexis, to provide tangible outcomes for learners. This entails including the quality dimension of the CEFR – no longer simply ‘how much’ a learner can do, but ‘how well’ they can do it, across a spectrum of levels.

We will also explore the idea of creating a new Eaquals project to produce scenario-based, mediation-focused activity plans, developed by Eaquals members, for Eaquals members, and the wider language teaching community.

No prior knowledge of the CEFR or the concept of Mediation is necessary, though we will draw on the experience and wisdom of session participants to work towards co-constructed, useful and useable products from the workshop.

While the original CEFR descriptors for production and reception focus on language competence, and the Interaction scales focus on the combination of these language competences for communicative purposes, the new Mediation scales in the Companion Volume (2018) take things a stage further, and more clearly focus on action-oriented, situation-based language usage. With the tri-partite coverage of Mediating Concepts, Mediating Texts and Mediating Communication, we have an opportunity to look at language activities through the lens of real-world needs and meaningful outcomes for anyone working with language development situated in professional contexts.

In this workshop, we look at what the new scales mean for development of student-focused, client-driven needs analysis and self-assessment, opportunities for teacher assessment, classroom activities, and development of syllabi which target competences with a communicative purpose, taking integrated use of skills and meaningful content as a pre-requisite for language course development.

We will look at how illustrative descriptors across the mediation scales at different levels can be operationalised into coherent lesson and course outcomes, and how the achievement of these outcomes may be measured.

In the world of Foreign Languages for Professional Purposes – not just English but all languages, this will necessarily include such areas as customer services, meetings, briefings, ‘soft skills’, and inter-cultural communication.

We will consider what this means in terms of measuring and certificating linguistic performance in both workplace ‘soft’ skills and the underlying, enabling competences such as grammar and lexis, to provide tangible outcomes for learners. This entails including the quality dimension of the CEFR – no longer simply ‘how much’ a learner can do, but ‘how well’ they can do it, across a spectrum of levels.

We will also explore the idea of creating a new Eaquals project to produce scenario-based, mediation-focused activity plans, developed by Eaquals members, for Eaquals members, and the wider language teaching community.

No prior knowledge of the CEFR or the concept of Mediation is necessary, though we will draw on the experience and wisdom of session participants to work towards co-constructed, useful and useable products from the workshop.

Leadership: Transformational Leadership & Change

Location: Beta 2

Language training organisations and teaching institutions are operating in a fast-changing environment. Therefore, it is important to understand how to develop key transformational leadership skills and change management to operate effectively within this environment.

Following on from the Transformational Leadership session held in Edinburgh last November, the session will be structured as follows:

Session 1 – A recap of transformational leadership and change management, together with a review of the latest research on these topics areas relating to teaching environments.

Sessions 2 & 3 – Action Learning Sets: based on the outputs of your needs analysis, sessions 2 and 3 will specifically look at the issues and complexities of transformational leadership and change management within your environment. Participants will work together, in groups, to develop action plans on how to resolve the issues and complexities, understanding how best practice can be achieved.

By the end of the session, participants will understand suitable transformational leadership and change management approaches that can be implemented within their specific environment.

Marketing: Digital Marketing Essentials for Language Schools

Location: Gamma

In today’s language education sector, a working knowledge of digital marketing principles and practices is a must for schools. With more inquiries and applications originating online than ever before, institutions need to be able to reach prospects all over the world through a diverse range of channels, including search, social media, and digital advertising.

To accomplish this, it is essential that language education professionals develop the skills and knowledge to increase their online visibility, manage their web presence, engage with their school community, and accurately measure the results of their efforts.

Led by Higher Education Marketing CEO Philippe Taza, this session will use real industry examples, demonstrations, and practical exercises to help participants develop their understanding of basic digital marketing principles.

Lunch

Inclusion & SEN: Are we all included and equal?

Location: Alpha

Inclusion & SEN: Are we all included and equal?

Time:
Location: Alpha

Inclusive education is a process of addressing and responding to the diverse needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, and of reducing exclusion from education. It involves changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures, policies and strategies. Inclusive education is concerned with providing appropriate responses to the broad spectrum of learning needs in formal and non-formal educational settings. Rather than being a marginal theme on how some learners can be integrated in mainstream education, inclusive education is an approach that looks into how to transform education systems in order to respond to the diversity of learners. It aims to enable both teachers and learners to feel comfortable with diversity and to see it as a challenge and enrichment in the learning environment, rather than a problem.

Policies alone are not enough to build an inclusive workplace, and inclusion should not be a box-ticking exercise. At its most basic level, it is about ensuring that no one is discriminated against because of their age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation or other factors such as social background.

Ultimately an inclusive learning and working environment allows people to be themselves. Equality and diversity can bring with them many challenges, so to promote inclusion, you need to consider how staff and students will work together on a daily basis.

In these sessions we will be looking at:

Looking at what inclusion means and how it can help not just learners, but everyone involved from teachers and managers to administration staff and school owners.
What diversity, inclusion and equality look like in the workplace.
How we include not only students with learning differences but also raise awareness of LGBTQ and racial and cultural differences.
Points to consider when embedding equality.
The benefits of inclusion, diversity and equality in the classroom and the workplace.
How to identify and support learners with learning differences such as dyslexia, autism, visual and hearing impairments.

These workshops will help participants learn from each other’s experiences of, and ideas for, planning, implementing and reviewing inclusive education work within their context. Its aim is to help participants think about/develop their own plans for further action on inclusive education. The workshop is designed so that, in the process of conveying information about inclusive education, it will also demonstrate participatory processes that participants can use in their work and demonstrate some of the teaching and learning approaches that often characterise an inclusive classroom.

Inclusive education is a process of addressing and responding to the diverse needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, and of reducing exclusion from education. It involves changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures, policies and strategies. Inclusive education is concerned with providing appropriate responses to the broad spectrum of learning needs in formal and non-formal educational settings. Rather than being a marginal theme on how some learners can be integrated in mainstream education, inclusive education is an approach that looks into how to transform education systems in order to respond to the diversity of learners. It aims to enable both teachers and learners to feel comfortable with diversity and to see it as a challenge and enrichment in the learning environment, rather than a problem.

Policies alone are not enough to build an inclusive workplace, and inclusion should not be a box-ticking exercise. At its most basic level, it is about ensuring that no one is discriminated against because of their age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation or other factors such as social background.

Ultimately an inclusive learning and working environment allows people to be themselves. Equality and diversity can bring with them many challenges, so to promote inclusion, you need to consider how staff and students will work together on a daily basis.

In these sessions we will be looking at:

Looking at what inclusion means and how it can help not just learners, but everyone involved from teachers and managers to administration staff and school owners.
What diversity, inclusion and equality look like in the workplace.
How we include not only students with learning differences but also raise awareness of LGBTQ and racial and cultural differences.
Points to consider when embedding equality.
The benefits of inclusion, diversity and equality in the classroom and the workplace.
How to identify and support learners with learning differences such as dyslexia, autism, visual and hearing impairments.