UK partnerships for education
Wipro Limited has formed partnerships with two leading UK academic institutions – King’s College London and Sheffield Hallam University – for strengthening STEM education in state schools in the United Kingdom.
Wipro will partner with King’s College London, to support the development of the first Master of Arts in STEM Education in the UK, and Sheffield Hallam University to offer the ‘Wipro Teacher Fellowship’ and ‘Wipro Teacher Mentor’ programmes.
Both initiatives aim to provide high quality continuing professional development to early and mid-career educators, to address the shortfall and high turnover of STEM teachers in the UK.
Wipro will support King’s College London in developing the curriculum for a proposed Master of Arts in STEM education course, which will take a blended learning approach, involving face-to-face as well as online learning.
The company will also offer bursaries to cover up to 80% of tuition fees, to ensure accessibility of the course for diverse cohorts of in-service teachers and educators from within and outside London.
There will be a strong focus on attracting teachers from Opportunity Areas. The course will be taught by academic staff in the Centre for Research in Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (CRESTEM) in the School of Education, Communication and Society at King’s College London and will be aimed at education professionals from science, mathematics, engineering and computing backgrounds, as well as education policy makers.
The program will help develop their disciplinary capacities while broadening their understanding across the entirety of STEM. It will also enable students to engage with policy and practice in a range of global contexts.
Wipro will also support Sheffield Hallam University to launch and run the ‘Wipro Teacher Fellowship’ and ‘Wipro Teacher Mentor’ programmes.
The 18-months programmes, which will commence in January 2019, will support early career teachers of STEM subjects and STEM teacher mentors from schools in Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster and Derbyshire.
Teachers will have the opportunity to improve their pedagogical & subject knowledge, understand practice through research and receive individualized support through local mentors, said Wipro release on 21 Sept 2018.
The teacher mentor programme will offer a blended model of face-to-face and online support for senior STEM teachers to become effective mentors, drawing on expertise from Sheffield Institute of Education.
All teachers and mentors will also have the opportunity to work towards accreditation of 30 MA level credits, through optional participation in the Research and Development in Educational Contexts module, which is part of the University’s MA Professional Practice in Education. Each academic year, a new cohort of 20 early career teachers and five to 10 teacher mentors will join the programme.
Both partnerships will address crucial issues in the UK by generating more interest in STEM subjects, developing higher standards of teaching, and investing in teacher retention, especially in the national ‘social mobility cold spots’.
Wipro Chief Sustainability Officer Anurag Behar said: “These partnerships will provide directly relevant professional development support to teachers. Empowering, enabling and supporting teachers is the key to achieving continuous improvement in education.”
Professor Beatrice Szczepek Reed, Head of The School of Education, Communication & Society, King’s College London said: “We believe that Wipro’s support for developing a Masters course in STEM Education, and its keenness to ensure accessibility of the course for early career educators from diverse backgrounds, will be of great help in addressing the issues of developing and retaining STEM teachers.
“King’s STEM Education Masters will provide educators an excellent grounding in the understanding of STEM education, as well as broader educational issues in the national and international context,” Reed said.
Dr Emily Perry, from the Centre for Development and Research in Education at Sheffield Hallam University’s Sheffield Institute of Education, will lead the Wipro Teacher Fellowship and Wipro Teacher Mentor programmes.
Dr. Perry said, “The Wipro Teacher Fellow and Teacher Mentor programmes aim to increase young people’s enjoyment, attainment and progression in STEM subjects by supporting teachers to develop their practice in an innovative, evidence-based, collaborative programme of professional learning.
“We are committed to improving the educational outcomes of young people in the diverse communities of South Yorkshire and share Wipro’s desire to support the professional development and retention of teachers in our schools as a key driver to achieve this. We are delighted to welcome Wipro as our partner in these programmes, which have the potential to make a significant contribution to the region.” fiinews.com
