Twelve weeks of learning for academics from China

The last dozen weeks have been a busy time for a special group of ‘students’ at University of Northampton (UON).

During that time, 26 academics from three Chinese universities have been on campus and around the town finding out about teaching methods in England.

Waterside’s visitors have attended talks and workshops that outline educational best practices and teaching styles in the UK – including those used at UON – to take back home.

These include being more student-centred, international styles of education, the use of Artificial and Virtual Realities in teaching and assessment and research methods, from the traditional to the alternative.

They also explored how their students might use media technology with a tour of the University’s Media Suite and hands-on experience in front of a TV camera.

One of the trips they made was to Delapre Primary School. Here, the group explored differences in education between China and England, such as the curriculum structure for maths, science and arts and whether and how cultural values and social expectations shape the philosophies and objectives of primary education.

Feedback from members of the groups says they will leave with an enhanced passion for teaching, have developed a more open mindset about their profession and found the experience of novel teaching and learning methods highly valuable.

This exchange was the first between the University and Beijing Prepare Education & Technology Co. Ltd, supported by academics from all three UON Faculties and Global Engagement directorate.

Associate Professor Dr Helen Caldwell was part of the UON hosting team. She says: “This educational exchange, the first of what we hope will be many others, has been a wonderful way to close the semester.

“There has been insight, innovation and much learning from our guests, external hosts and University teams who came together to create a comprehensive programme of activities, visits and workshops about the best education at Waterside and Northampton. We look forward to welcoming more academics from China next year.”

Mabel Wang, Director of Global Engagement at Beijing Prepare Education & Technology Co. Ltd., adds: “This year, we organised International Scholarly Exchange Curriculum teachers from three universities to undergo training at UON, which achieved our expected goals. The teachers were very dedicated during their studies in Northampton, focusing on student-oriented and problem-solving based teaching philosophies, and mastering advanced teaching and assessment methods.

“With their wider experience in the UK around culture, food and other universities, this was a crucial time for the teachers and will be even more important for them to apply what they have learned and observed when they return to their universities to teach their students.

“We are extremely grateful to Dr Helen Caldwell and all the excellent faculty members of the School of Education at UON, as well as Zhang Qian, who worked hard to improve the teachers’ English proficiency, and to all the colleagues in the Global Engagement Office at Northampton for their hard work in organizing this training. We look forward to continued collaboration next year!”