Professional Development Weeks 2023 (PD Weeks 2023) – Where the spirit of “Lifelong learning” is spread

At UTS, the spirit of “Lifelong learning” is not only welcomed by students, but it is also one of the core values that our dedicated “nurturers” always aim for. Professional Development Week 2023 with rewarding activities is a particular demonstration for that spirit.

1. Professional Development Weeks 2023 – the core activities before new academic year

Professional Development Weeks (PD Weeks) is an annual activity at UTS that allows UTS teachers and staff to together exchange essential information and orientation for the new academic year. Through Professional Development Week, UTS expects teachers and staff to:

• Nourish their love of “teaching”
• Cultivate and develop skills – expertise
• Understand and follow the procedures and policies properly throughout the new academic year

Professional Development Weeks 2023 is more special than ever. As far cry from school-wide information sessions, this is a series of seminars with the participation of education experts, in-depth training activities in each department and engagement activities of the UTS community.

2. Uphold the spirit of the growing journey

The opening of Professional Development Weeks 2023 is the series of information orientation and and process dissemination for the key activity at UTS like: Academic, School Services, School Facilities, Education Nutrition and Food Safety, Central Care Office…

If UTS is considered as a fertile land, curriculum, and extracurricular activities are deemed as nutrients, each department is definitely light and water. Within different roles and functions and cross-department collaboration, the entire UTS community will become a cutting-edge environment with the best conditions for the “seeds” to grow healthily and comprehensively.

3. Professional growth and instructional skills improvement

On last August 8th and 9th, UTS was honored to collaborate with Oxford University Press (OUP) to organize the OIC Symposium – Oxford International Curriculum (OIC). More than 200 teachers from shools implemented OIC in Southeast Asia have gathered at UTS to partake in this seminar. The seminar provided practical sharing about how to improve the quality of teaching and training methods, especially in Wellbeing, Sustainability as well as some improvements in other OIC subjects.

“A proven whole-school and holistic approach to Wellbeing will cultivate in each student the capacity to manage social emotions in each student, so they can spark joy in learning and realize their full potential in both school and life.” – this is a meaningful sharing from Ms. Sylvia Yafai – Senior Curriculum Academic Lead.

Putting The Joy of Learning at the heart of the teaching method, the Oxford International Curriculum at UTS always focuses on practical experiences, inspires curiosity and creativity in each student. Therefore, UTS places a strong emphasis on the development of Wellbeing to ensure teachers and parents must be happy and positive first and foremost before applying Wellbeing to children.

Additionally, UTS teachers had the opportunity to share and learn with other colleagues from Schools implementing OIC about their knowledge and experience in delivering group activities. Especially, at this seminar, OUP has officially launched the Global Skills Project Challenge which will be applied in the next academic year.

Accompanying the students on the journey to knowledge, the teachers deeply comprehend their goal in achieving a high standard of professional knowledge and skills throughout the teaching process. Therefore, the highlighted feature of this year’s Professional Development Weeks is the in-depth training sessions on academic expertise with the participation of book authors and global education experts.

From the 2 topics shared by the two authors of the Creative Horizon sets of textbooks, Mrs. Cam Ly (Author of Vietnamese literature textbook) and Mr. Dinh Chinh (Author of Mathematics textbook), teachers of the National Program have a better understanding of the useful information compiled in textbooks and apply new methods into teaching to drive students more interested.

“The teaching method of developing students’ abilities and qualities guided by Ms. Cam Ly is extremely informative and valuable. From the 5 specific questions before starting a lesson that she mentioned in the session, I can easily figure out the appropriate teaching plan for my student’s abilities. – Mr. Dang Quang (Primary Teacher) shared.

Besides professional knowledge, the way of leading and connecting to students also plays a crucial role in forming a united and progressive class. Throughout the seminar, UTS teachers have grasped thoroughly discussed a lot about this statement like: “How to build effective lessons”, “Apply digital technology into practice” or ” How to motivate Gen Z learners”. These sharing sessions are the opportunities for teachers to practice collaborative learning about the art of communicating, build classroom atmosphere, develop creative lessons, etc.

4. Build love, create happy classes

At Professional Development Weeks 2023, apart from the academic aspect, spiritual and humanistic values are delivered to motivate teachers on their teaching journey.

In the Workshop “Happiness in School “, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Bich Hong has unzipped the inner thought of teachers by the phrase “Why?”, and deeply digged into the wishes of the nurturers to help them better understand “the happiness of becoming an educator”.

After that, the discussion on “Life values associated with the teaching profession” led by Mr. Nguyen Duc Hiep opened new perspectives, when the teachers played the role of students to get a deeper understanding about “the nurtures”. The 12 life values provided by Mr. Hiep are the guidelines for the “growing talents” journey of UTS teachers.

In the mood of welcoming the 2023-2024 academic year, the preparation works are not simply Professional Development Weeks. Far from that, those are thorough preparations about operations for the whole UTS community to generate a memorable back-to-school day. UTS believes that from this useful and interesting Professional Development Weeks 2023, the “nurturers” have been motivated on the journey of “Growing talent with care” to create a good learning environment for the development of beloved students.