At the start of the term the School of Education, Communication and Society (ECS) were pleased to welcome Dr. Kollengode Subramanian Vidya, Dr. Meera Gopi Chandran, Dr. Poonam Sharma  and  Professor  Mythili  Ramchand  from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai.  The UGC-UKEIRI Fellowship scheme  facilitated the week long visit. The academics were asked to shed some light on their time at King's.

Why did you come to King’s? 

Professor Ramchand:  We came to King's to better understand the  ITE  (Initial Teacher Education)  sector in England and explore opportunities for collaborative research on a comparative study we are planning. 

What were your objectives? 

Dr Sharma:  My objective was to understand the discourse of teacher education in the UK. Discussions with the faculty members were thought-provoking and enabled useful insight into understanding various routes to becoming a teacher in the UK. 

Professor Ramchand:  Firstly,  to understand the various teacher preparatory routes in key teacher education institutions in the country and secondly, to initiate possibilities of research collaboration on our proposed research project of comparing and understanding teacher education in a few representative countries from the global north and south. 

What helped you to achieve your objectives? 

Dr Sharma: I got acquainted with relevant literature as well as research studies conducted by the department faculty and many more. I also benefited by the easy access library resources. I also used this opportunity to present my paper at the Oxford conference as the dates coincided. I am grateful to the office staff who were very generous in extending their help. 

Professor Ramchand: The discussions with the academics was very useful in meeting our first objective. They had insights to offer based on their experience which helped us understand the ITE sector in England. We received specific inputs on the draft proposal for the comparative study which will help us in finalising the proposal. Some faculties have also indicated an interest in getting involved with the study, once the proposal is finalised. 

The academics met with Professor Beatrice Szczepek Reed, Head of ECS, Professor Viv Ellis, Professor Christopher Winch, Dr. Eleanor Gurney and Dr. Mili during their time in ECS. 

Professor Szczepek Reed, Head of ECS commented ‘I greatly appreciated meeting our colleagues from the Tata Institute and we all learned a lot about their inspiring efforts in initial teacher education in India.’