This summer, EPL visited the School of Education at the University of Southampton to discuss a series of collaborations.
Over the following months, Dr Ewan Wright, Assistant Professor of EPL and Programme Leader of the Executive Master of Arts in International Educational Leadership and Change (IELC), EdUHK worked closely with Dr Henry Koge, Teaching Fellow of the University of Southampton to design an online ‘mini-course’ on professional learning communities.
The IELC is a part-time and online programme in educational leadership, featuring innovative pedagogies that enable aspiring and practising leaders to exchange ideas and develop international perspectives alongside full-time professional commitments in schools. Ewan and Henry invited alumni and current participants from the IELC and participants from the MSc in Education at the University of Southampton to join the ‘mini-course’.
The participants were internationally diverse, creating a unique opportunity for dialogue across different cultural contexts. They came from 14 different countries or jurisdictions, including Canada, Cameroon, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Iran, Mainland China, New Zealand, Serbia, South Korea, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Ewan and Henry designed the ‘mini-course’ to maximise learning efficiency. On 23 November 2023, they shared a prerecorded video lecture on professional learning communities with the participants.
On 29 November, they held the first online session. Ewan and Henry shared information on professional learning communities with practical examples. Then, they put the participants into small groups and gave them a task related to setting up/improving professional learning communities in their schools.
Over the next two weeks, the participants will meet online as small groups to continue to work together on the task. Ewan and Henry will hold a second online session in mid-December where the groups will give presentations based on their insights.
Reflecting on the first online session, Ewan noted: “This EdUHK-Southampton collaboration is an excellent opportunity for our students to expand their network internationally and develop practices that can make a positive impact at their schools”.