Almost all of us have aspirations to do well in our careers and one major driver in career progression is acquiring a post-graduation certification from a respectable prestigious institution. For the working teachers, as well as those wanting to pursue higher education towards their pursuit of gaining knowledge, skills and competencies as a teacher; a good programme in education acts as a lever in enhancing the career ambitions and aspirations of you as a teacher. There are also a number of schools and colleges conducting a number of teachers’ education programmes, but the million-dollar question always arises……….’How do I select the right college, the right programme for pursuing my certification and what benefits will it give me in my career progression’?
Before we seek an answer to this vital question, let us also understand what will be your personal and professional aspirations and motivation to invest your time and money in pursuing an educational programme. Each one of us have some inherent talent and passion which we would like to pursue. You may be an excellent teacher, but recognition of your talent may be taking a back-seat, for example, due to your credentials of lacking a professional qualification in education. This is where Westford University College, a pioneer in education, which imbibes values, knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies in its pedagogy, is ideal. The College has recently embarked on a flagship programme, ‘Post Graduate Certificate in Education (International)’ (PGCEi), in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University, UK. The educational aim of this programme is to develop informed, knowledgeable, outstanding teachers and related professionals, espousing creativity and research informed teaching through deliberate theory and practice.
The programme will largely be delivered through Onsite (face to face), as well as Online lead lectures, webinars, virtual workshops, and tutorials, with highly skilled and qualified education tutors. The teaching approach is designed to enable students to fully engage with Westford Learning Management System (LMS), where you as a student will find all online materials – which will include innovative digital resources, blogs, as well as the more traditional teaching materials like electronic presentations, assessments, e-library with thousands of e-journals, articles, books, magazines, report publications, etc.
Students will be supported to develop skills in accessing and processing research, guidance and technical information; enabling students to develop conceptual and procedural knowledge. While students will receive individual support and guidance from tutors, they will also form a Community of Practice; working in virtual groups to explore, speculate and evaluate; engaging with problem-finding and problem-solving activities. The students will be engaged to interact with different experts during webinars, virtual workshops and Web Chat platform; enabling them to reflect on experience and co-construct their understanding of pedagogic professional matters and issues in the field of education. All modules in the programme emphasize evidence-based practice for teaching not only in the school context, but also includes wider learning environments.
The Return on Investment (ROI) model is important to be applied here too in seeing that if you are investing your time, effort, money and other resources into pursuing a Teacher’s Education Programme, then the returns on your investment should be as high as possible. The tangible returns can be measured in terms of rise in earnings, promotion, influence one may have, but the intangible returns in terms of job satisfaction, motivation, confidence, leadership abilities, etc. may not be easy to measure. But a good solid certification will always give you a very high ROI in terms of the tangible, as well as the intangible benefits.
These are trying and challenging times, where the whole world is in turmoil due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 through all global frontiers, it has spared no one! Businesses and jobs will get affected adversely; this is also the time to up-skill ourselves, so that in this critical period of self-introspection, we look within and see for ourselves how can we transform this adversity into opportunity by preparing ourselves better for the future. So, before you join any Post-Graduation Programme, it’s always good to do a bit of research on which are the institutions these programmes are available, what they offer, their faculties, their infrastructure, their alumni, their feedback, their experience. Do the SWOT analysis, note down the tangible and intangible ROIs expected. Once you are attentive to your surroundings, and the problem is known in the Now, then the solution will always be at hand. It’s just that we have to clear our minds, be focused on what we want to achieve, have that self-belief and pursue our aspirations whole-heartedly.
So do look at all colleges and universities to pursue an education certification, and get the certification you have been aspiring for. Also look at the Westford University College, talk to their faculties, see their infrastructure, speak to the alumni to get first hand info, calculate the ROI, try and get an answer to all the questions you have been asking yourself. Westford promises you an experience of a lifetime in education, a real roller coaster ride where Learning is Fun…….let’s all be part of this fun journey.
