October 28, 2014, by hmather

Shanghai 4 has started

We are the fourth cohort of PGCE I students to gather in Shanghai to do a four day face to face course to kick off out PCGEI- a masters-level qualification. There are 61 of us and we all work in International Schools across Asia- from Shanghai itself to Taiwan, Beijing and Korea. Some of us have been teaching for years and are looking to develop our skills and reflect. Some of us are beginner teachers seeking to establish and consolidate our skills.

The PGCEi face to face session was a wonderfully vivid learning experience. The opportunity to meet with peers was priceless, people from all around, and beyond, China who have similar backgrounds and goals but a vast range of different experiences. Getting to know some of these people really helped me to realise that I’m on the right track doing this course. I also gained valuable knowledge from the fantastic course tutors, who guided us through a really wide range of new ideas with care and support. It made me realise this is the right route to take my teaching career to the next level. So now we have done four days as a real team we know our tutors and the programme we will be doing in the next eight months.

Before going to Shanghai for the four  days face to face I felt nervous and slightly apprehensive about the PGCEi course. It was our school holiday and one nice thing about this four days was that we did the course in an international school. Just looking at the walls was calming and inspiring. The 4 day induction has made a huge difference in how I feeling about the course starting. The tutors made us instantly feel welcome and came with a plethora of knowledge. The group work meant meeting the people I would be working with online for the next few months, which was extremely valuable.

This is the start of our journey and the consensus is – it feels great!

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