The GCC’s online media informed early July, 2016 that the first dedicated teacher training institute – The TELLAL Institute ( Teacher Learning and Leadership for All ) – was launched in the UAE in partnership with GEMS Education.
The Institute will provide a pioneering curriculum, including specialist routes in Early Years, Arabic and Special Educational Needs, for pre-service and in-service teachers in the UAE. TELLAL will commence with a pilot program using the context of the GEMS network of schools as sites of learning, a statement said.
The Apprenticeship Teacher Training (ATT) Program is aimed at supporting aspiring and existing teachers through a rigorous 10-month course available to all graduates who have a passion and desire to shape the future of education in this region and beyond, the statement added.
TELLAL aims to support and encourage schools to collaborate in “growing their own teachers” and teachers will develop and learn in real life school environments. Dr Linda Rush, vice president, Teacher Training, TELLAL, said: “TELLAL is a schools-led, schools-situated model of teacher learning which has proven to work very effectively elsewhere. Our conversations with education regulators in the UAE have shown how the apprenticeship model of teacher training has enormous potential for teachers here, especially Emirati teachers.”
Tony Little, Group CEO, GEMS Education, added: “There is a great need to recruit and retain good quality teachers so our students get the best quality education in the world. We also need to prepare them for higher education and for future jobs and this can come only if our teachers themselves are prepared.
“Through our partnership with TELLAL we hope to further foster the passion and dedication of our teachers and those who aspire to join the GEMS Education schools. We believe TELLAL will provide that dynamic leadership coaching that each educator brings to a classroom or the school – for teachers are the force of change.”
Applications for the TELLAL pilot program opened earlier this year, and the course is scheduled to start in August. The first batch of 160 graduate students will start classes in September.
