Practical tips for academic managers at the ELT Conference in January 2020
The job of an academic manager in UK ELT is wide-ranging – recruiting and retaining staff, checking and managing team performance, observing team members, maintaining morale and personal wellbeing. Not an easy ask.
To help you, we are excited to have a variety of topics discussing both practical tips and best practice at our ELT Conference on Friday 17 January 2020 at Prospero House, London. Some of the topics that will be covered include: teacher retention, peer observations, work pressure and wellbeing, performance management, employee engagement and more to be announced over the coming weeks.
Conference Producer Tom Weatherley said: "From my own TEFL experience I know what a difficult and high-pressure job being academic manager, director of studies or similar role can be. We've got a wide-ranging programme to help all attendees, from all types of centres.
In addition to the information in the sessions, conferences are a great time to indulge your interests, network with your peer group and make new connections.
The event welcomes around 300 delegates for inspiring plenaries and over 30 elective sessions. Friday is designed for academic managers, directors of studies, curriculum managers and others involved in course development. Saturday's programme is for classroom practitioners.
"With the support of Trinity College London and Macmillan Education, we can make sure attendees are well fed and watered. We have a free drinks reception at the end of the day, which is a fantastic opportunity to make meaningful connections with their peer group."
English UK members benefit from discounted member rates and a special members-only limited edition early bird for the first 50 tickets sold for each day.
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Making teacher retention work for you with Gill Davidson
Group academic director for EC English, Gill Davidson, will explore the benefits and pitfalls of teacher retention. Establishing a clear staffroom culture, with teacher buy-in, is essential.
And it must inform all your decisions and processes; from recruitment through induction to teachers support. Gill will guide you through management strategies to help you manage and lead your teams, and better identify when individual support is required.
Gill has been a teacher, director of studies, course director and academic manager. While her focus has been teacher management and training, she has been involved in materials, project planning, change management and product implementation.
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Peer observation as part of your CPD offer with Ed Russell
Ed Russell will show the importance of peer observations by sharing a case-study from his current CPD programme. Drawing on his experience and the literature on 'the ideal self' and evidence-based teaching, Ed will make the case for why this kind of professional development is the future of professional development for English language teachers.
In a session for anyone involved in pre- or in-service programmes, he will touch on the thorny issue of peer-feedback, suggest how this links to our classroom practices as well how we can enhance peer observation programmes using smart phone technology.
Ed works for the English Language Centre Brighton where he leads teacher training and development provision.
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Managing work pressure, wellbeing and resilience with Matt Lunt
Mindfulness is a form of mental training in which attention is consciously focused on the present moment with an attitude of curiosity and non-judgement. It is increasingly being used in educational organisations to help both students and staff to work with stress.
In this practical session Matt Lunt will explore what mindfulness is (and isn't!) through experiencing and reflecting upon several mindfulness activities. Participants will gain a better understanding of how our stress response works and leave with practical mindfulness techniques to incorporate into daily routines to help better manage day to day stressful situations.
Matt is the DELTA and DELTM qualified director of studies at Liverpool School of English. He has been working in ELT for thirteen years and is studying for a Masters in Mindfulness-based Approaches.
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Managing and improving performance with Dawn Harry
Underperformance leads to frustration, inefficiency and customer complaints. Yet it is often the elephant in the room. Performance management is a bit like health and safety: if you don't keep your eye on it and aren't all pulling in the same direction, it has the potential to go very wrong.
To help you avoid that situation, Dawn Harry will help you build a well-rounded performance management system, create a development culture and address underperformance.
Dawn Harry, principal at Kaplan International in Oxford, has an extensive background in ELT, teaching and doing teacher training before moving into management. She speaks on a range of topics related to teacher development and holds the DELTA and MA TESOL, with a focus on teacher development.
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The secret to total employee engagement with Josh Round
Delivering quality courses for our students through quality teacher performance - that's what it's all about!
But the turbulent times that we currently live and work in are making it harder and harder for us to keep on achieving that. Staff morale, or employee engagement, is becoming an urgent issue for academic managers and school leaders.
Join academic manager, trainer and presenter Josh Round who will ask: how do we push our teachers not just to turn up for work, but to strive for excellence day in day out? What factors really make for a fully engaged teacher? And what conditions create high staff morale? And how do we evaluate the engagement of our team?
Josh Round has over 20 years of experience in English language teaching. He is chair of LONDOSA, (the DOS Association in London), and a Committee member of the IATEFL LAMSIG (Leadership & Management Special Interest Group).
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The ELT Conference is a one-stop event for ELT practitioners and their managers. Join us to hear from expert speakers and to connect fellow ELT professionals.
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