Page 28 - ELG2410 October Issue 492

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INTERVIEW

Mastering the art of

professional development

Fabio Cerpelloni sits down with NILE’s Martyn Clarke to discuss the
school’s MA in Professional Development for Language Education
and what students can expect to achieve.

Q: Can you provide an overview of the Q: Which modules are the most popular on our course to gain a more structured
MA programme at NILE and its main and, in your opinion, why? understanding of training principles and
objectives? Our three most popular modules are Materials approaches.
The MA program is validated by the Development, Trainer Development, and The same with management. If you’re in
University of Chichester. We work with Management in Language Education. management, you’re in teaching development.
educators from all over the world who have The reason for this is pretty straightforward: So there’s a symbiosis between the two modules.
busy professional lives. So we’ve made our educators may specialize in many areas,
program as flexible as possible. It’s modular, but the development of materials, if they’re Q: What career paths do NILE graduates
and it’s about trying to offer people as much classroom-focused, is key to so many different typically pursue?
personal choice in how they study, what they other areas. In general, our graduates go into or continue
study, and the frequency with which they’re Also, we’re increasingly seeing teachers in areas of training. They work more closely
able to engage in studying. creating their own materials with a huge in supporting others in their area. Some get
The program has been going on for almost variety of resources available today. ‘What into consultancy and take on consultancy
30 years and we normally have around 200 makes good material development for my work or project work. A master’s is a
students within it. Students have a six-year particular context?’ This is something more gateway into that.
period to finish their studies, but of course, teachers seek to understand. We also see people working in international
many complete it before this overall deadline. As for the Trainer Development module, organizations. For example, one of the
This is key because it gives people a lot of I think it’s popular because we have a things I love about going to IATEFL is that
opportunities to adapt their study programme high calibre of student profiles. Many are I get to attend conferences, workshops, and
as their circumstances change: students sponsored by organizations or their own presentations by our alumni.
might get promoted, they might move to companies; these are people who are on the Our tutors are leaders in their field, but
different places or get involved in projects move and are more likely to be in a position also the quality of our students is very high.
they didn’t anticipate when they joined. of coordination. A lot of them come through the management
We work on a personal basis and actively But I also think a lot of people move into program and go into teacher coordination,
support the students in taking what they training through natural development. They course coordination, school management,
need and when they need it. don’t look at it in a formal way, so they come and academic management.
28 October 2024