Over 100 participants came to our Summer Conference at St Mary’s University. The Keynote speech, by Professor Constant Leung of King’s College London, gave a thought-provoking and thorough overview of assessment in relation to EAL learners over the past 30 years. He highlighted key issues that need to be considered and drew on Australian, European and American models to provide a useful framework to guide our thinking as we seek to develop an assessment system that would promote the effective teaching and learning of EAL learners.
The workshops were described as “enjoyable and full of useful, practical ideas”
It was good to have a chance to share ideas on such a range of issues relating to the challenging area of assessment and to make so many contacts with colleagues.
Some of us lunched on the lawn outside the dramatic gothic Strawberry Hill House which provided a beautiful ambience – although we needed more parking due to the increased attendance!
As one participant described the day, “it informed, educated and inspired”.
Some bookings have already been received to extend this training opportunity to school-based sessions which we look forward to next year so do get in touch if any of the content would be useful for your school.