Department: ELT
The workshop in brief: Other information about the Event:
On September 6, 2023, the ELT Department organized a national workshop under the theme A Curriculum for a Complete Teacher: National Workshop on Curriculum Development in the Department of ELT. Driven by the concern for relevance and engagement of the curriculum to the educational, cultural, and professional needs of the society in Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq, the ELT Department invited an ensemble of stakeholders who could share their expertise and experiences in education with the Department staff. These stakeholders included current and former students of the ELT Department, schoolteachers, school owners and administrators, teacher trainers, and employers. Divided into small group sessions and a general round table, the workshop took about four hours, during which the ELT Department’s teaching staff and the invited guests engaged in lively discussions and critical dialogue about the current condition of the curriculum and prospects for future development.
Participants: 29 participants.
Place: TIU
Workshop Themes
• What are the key elements of a complete English Language Teaching program?
• What do English Language teachers in Kurdistan Region need the most (in terms of knowledge, skills, character traits, etc.)?
• What qualities and abilities of English language teachers are particularly valuable?
• What kinds of challenges do teachers/ELT graduates face in their career environment?
• What are the key challenges that English language teachers face in their professional setting in terms of student-teacher interactions and other social relations within and outside the school premises?
• How does the curriculum of the ELT department reflect the reality and expectations of schools in Kurdistan Region?
• What specific areas or skills within the English language education curriculum do students need to develop further?
• Which part of the curriculum (language courses, education courses, extracurricular community services, etc.) can help future teachers set proper instructional goals in Kurdistan schools?
The workshop started with the Dr. Abdurrahman Wahab’s presentation of what makes a complete teacher. The presentation highlighted three main dimensions that the ELT Department’s curriculum needs to bring forward and develop, and these are the technical, the personal, and the moral characteristics of teachers.
Then the group sessions and the main roundtable discussion revolved around the questions mentioned above. Each Group had a moderator/reporter.
The curriculum development workshop expected to achieve specific short-term goals that could also set a foundation for long-term goals. With that in mind, the participants examined the relevance of the offered courses to the mission and vision of the department. They also proposed changes in courses and course content in ways that could respond to real needs of teachers. Some participants also suggested removing courses and instead integrating their content into other courses to make the new courses more effective and responsive to students’ social and professional needs. Many of the participants also agreed that students in the ELT Department need more school experience with particular focus on the need for experienced teachers to work as mentors.
The ELT Department will take the feedback and suggestions from the workshop and will further deliberate on how to integrate these suggestions into the department curriculum. Hence, the outcomes of this workshop will be ongoing and foundational to future endeavors of curriculum development processes.
