Bursary Programme for PGCE-Seeking Arabic Teachers in the UK

Recognizing a Need

Mainstream school leaders need a strong pipeline for the development and certification of Arabic teachers to support Arabic in school curricula fully.

“I’m on my own teaching these lessons, yet we want to expand Arabic,” one MFL coordinator shared in “Teaching of Arabic in UK schools research report” with Shift Insight. The teacher faced a lack funding to train teachers and increase staffing for Arabic lessons.

Other educators in the report also shared the need for more training and professional development opportunities to increase the pool of available, qualified Arabic language educators. The report recommended that QFI “work with local universities to increase the number of people training to become Arabic teachers” and help to connect these trained teachers to local schools.

As a result of this report’s recommendations, QFI began working with certification providers in the UK to support incoming Arabic teacher training candidates. The initiative, called the Arabic Language Teacher Training Bursary Programme, provides funding to help cover the cost for individuals seeking to become certified Arabic language educators.

Bursary Programme Impact

In the first year of the programme, QFI selected four students who had been accepted and enrolled in postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) programs to become certified teachers of Arabic and one other modern language.

These four candidates participated in a series of additional teacher trainings including the QFI Autumn Institute held in November 2023, and in the Association for Language Learning conference and training in March 2024. QFI also assisted the bursary candidates with finding teacher training placements in mainstream schools where they could teach Arabic under a mentor teacher, and they received observations from their PGCE program advisors to help them improve and grow as language teachers. Arabic Teacher Councils also assist with resource-sharing across the network and mentoring of new teachers entering the education field.

Ryan, one Bursary candidate enrolled in the Goldsmiths, University of London PGCE program, completed his two teacher training placements at schools in London. An observation summary performed shared glowing reviews of the candidate’s consistent progress and ability to implement teaching techniques learned at university, including growth in motivating students, presenting new learning, and sequencing lessons in manageable chunks.

Ryan’s experience mirrors that of the other three candidates whose dedication to teaching Arabic and learning during their Arabic Bursary Programme year demonstrates the importance of investing in teachers to become fully certified and professional language educators ready to increase the availability of Arabic as a world language offering in UK schools.