EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES, IMPROVING PRACTICE AT TEACHMEET

Teaching is a profession that requires commitment, dedication and a passion for professional development. Standing in front of a classroom of students certainly adds to the expectation that teachers place on themselves to deliver relevant, engaging and effective lessons, day in, day out.

It is not surprising then that those working in education  – perhaps more than any other sector – tend to embrace a collaborative mindset, and are open to the critique and ideas of others in order to develop their own professional practice.

The sharing of best practice is at the very heart of TeachMeet, a forum where teachers volunteer to present on practice they have delivered in the classroom, or discuss an idea to enhance their own practice, and practice of others.

Recognised as key opportunity to share and leverage the significant expertise within our own teaching community, the TeachMeet programme has been part of a series of internal CPD initiatives at Shrewsbury International School Bangkok Riverside for some time.

This year, however, Shrewsbury teachers Ms. Carly Walton and Vicki Rotheram have thought much bigger. Under the auspices of the newly-formed Shrewsbury Institute of Teaching Learning and Leadership, which places Shrewsbury firmly at the forefront of best teaching practice, the next TeachMeet (hosted at Riverside on 30th January 2020) has been opened out to schools across Thailand, and will be attended by over 120 educators from 22 schools.

“It felt like a natural progression” Ms. Walton, who is a teacher in the P.E department, explains matter-of-factly.

“This is something that can be done every year in any school. We really want to bring the teaching community in Thailand together and improve our standards”.

Assistant Principal (Staff) Ms. Rotheram claims that it has not been difficult to get the senior management in the teachers’ respective schools on board as everyone who is in this industry knows how important it is to be relevant and up-to-date.

“Teachers feel a great sense of responsibility to have students learning from them every day and we demand a lot from them but at the same time it is important to be a reflective practitioner. If we ask them to improve then so should we”.

In addition to the impressive attendance figures at least 12 brave educators have raised their hands to present a topic and there are some interesting titles to get thinking about including, ‘Wordologies’ and ‘Lessons from Bad Lessons’.

Ms. Walton says the are still encouraging sign-up’s for TeachMeet, right until the day of the event.

“If you are an educator in Thailand or you know a teacher who would be interested – encourage them to come as the real beneficiaries of this are the students. Our passion and drive is to see the level of education raised and only when all teachers do this will it be worthwhile”.

TeachMeet will be held on the 30th of January at Shrewsbury International School, Riverside.

To register visit  http://bit.ly/BKKTMJan2020

For more details contact Ms. Victoria Rotheram or Carly Walton (carly.w@shrewsbury.ac.th).