Dedicated resource for Int. Teachers launched

‘Dedicated resource for International Teachers launched’

‘International Teacher’ is a new title for a new resource aimed at teachers of English to international students. Focusing on issues of professional practice, it will be a much appreciated resource in an area that is often overlooked by the mainstream education system.

International Teacher has been established with the support of the Export Education Levy, and was an early priority identified by the Professional Development Reference Group that overseas Levy funded projects in the PD field. It has been developed and published by the international education consultancy Lift Education Ltd, under contract to Education New Zealand (who undertake the management and administration of the Levy, on behalf of industry). Lift Education, an educational research, resource and consultancy company, were contracted to publish the newsletter following a public tender selection process.

“International Teacher is designed to meet the needs of practitioners from the sector,” says Dr Sue Watson, Director, Lift Education Ltd. “As with all education, it’s absolutely vital that the teaching of English to international students is of the highest standard and to support that, we need to ensure our teachers have access to professional development and are kept up-to-date with the effective teaching practices and research. International Teacher will support that goal by alerting teachers to professional practice issues and research, providing them with a forum for sharing their expertise and information on resource and professional development.

“We’ll be covering a range of issues, including information on effective practice, new research, teaching resources and suggestions, industry developments related to teaching international students, information on conferences and opportunities for professional development,” Dr Watson said.

“This is an excellent initiative, and fills a distinct gap in the resource base available to ESOL teachers’ says Robert Stevens, Chief Executive of Education New Zealand. “Initially there will be two pilot issues, and we will develop the newsletter on the basis of practical feedback. Our intention is that International Teacher will become an integral part of the ESOL landscape, and will ultimately become self sustaining”.

The editorial team comprises Janet Rivers as editor and Judi McCallum as researcher. Ms Rivers has extensive education journalism experience, including five years’ as foundation editor of NZ Education Review. Ms McCallum is well-known in the field of adult language education and has worked in the tertiary sector both nationally and overseas for more than twenty years.

Note Education in New Zealand's new website can be found at http://www.education-newzealand.org/

ENDS

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