Dr. Bimali Indrarathne (University of York) and Professor Judit Kormos have recently completed an ESRC- Global Challenges funded project on raising language teachers’ awareness of dyslexia and inclusive practices in South-Asia and the West Balkans. The aim of the project was to design and pilot a context-specific teacher training course to enhance inclusive language teaching practices in ten different countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia.
Eighteen experienced teacher educators worked with Dr. Indrarathne and Professor Kormos and planned a one-day workshop. Between February and April 2023 altogether 512 language teachers took part in these face-to-face workshops in South-Asia and the West Balkans. The participating teachers found the training highly useful for their contexts and were very keen to implement inclusive practices in their classrooms. They also highlighted the need for more localized training on inclusive language education in pre- and in-service teacher training.
It is great to see LAEL having impact on a global scale!