Teaching Internationally: student reflection on BGU

Friederike Vährmann was one of Bishop Grosseteste University's (BGU) Teaching Internationally students on placement with the University for an entire semester. Spending almost five months at BGU, Friederike took a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) module that helped her connect with students more than she would have if taking the placement back home in Germany.

"The PGDE module was linked closely to the placement and offered support through weekly classes. This led to the experience feeling more structured and organised, as expectations were communicated clearly and the weekly sessions allowed me to consciously reflect on my experience."

The placement was part of the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) department and Friederike was involved in teaching English to people from foreign countries at various language levels. She found the idea of staff being divided into several separate departments and being given an office space was drastically different from schools in Germany.

"In my opinion this encourages collaboration and creates an incredibly supportive atmosphere between teachers of the same subject."

The department also encouraged Friederike and other staff members to continuously ask questions and learn from each other. She noticed that a collaborative approach was taken when planning for certain activities and lessons that deviated from the lessons that had been developed over previous years. She was able to discuss student questions, teaching experiences, and concrete teaching methods with multiple, more experienced teachers - this helped Friederike improve her own practice.

"Another aspect that I found incredibly helpful was that I got detailed feedback from my mentor every single time I taught, which is a lot more than I have ever received during any placement or practical session."

Overall, the PGDE module and the placement have been an invaluable experience in improving Friederike's teaching practice, developing her own style of teaching and becoming more confident in her abilities. The continued support, theories in how to approach planning, facilitating and assessing learning have helped Friederike gain experience and provided a clear guideline for future development.

"I now know what I want to work on and have been given the tools to do so in an effective way. I have gained a different perspective with which to look at the educational system as the one in the UK is so different to the one in Germany and have adopted practices to better support and encourage students to reach their learning goals."

Article on teaching Post-16 learners by Stefan Fusenich (Programme Leader -Initial Teacher Education (Post 16 and Further Education) published in InTuiton

If you're thinking of studying a PGDE please see the link to the course page below.