by Marija Pejatović

On Friday, 13 May 2011, a one- day seminar organized jointly by YALS and the British Council was held at Guarnerius – Centar lepih umetnosti, Belgrade.

The topic of the seminar was “Good practice in continuing professional development and assessment – institutional and individual aspects” and the presenter was Ms Ludka Kotarska, President of EAQUALS. She has been involved in English language teaching and training for 30 years and has worked as a teacher, academic manager and school director. She is now the Managing Director of ELS-Bell schools in Poland. She has been active in EAQUALS for over 10 years as an inspector, Chair of Inspections Sub-committee from 2001 to 2007 and a special adviser from 2007 to 2010. She coordinated the development of version 5.2 of the EAQUALS Inspection Scheme and was involved in its recent revision. She has conducted training sessions for EAQUALS inspectors, has participated as a speaker in professional conferences and has been engaged in projects related to development of quality assurance schemes. Recently she has led the Self-Assessment Special Interest Project.

It was a great opportunity to meet in person Ms Kotarska, who is a newly appointed chair of the European Association of Quality Language Services.

There were about 100 participants from all parts of Serbia. The seminar lasted from 10am  till 2 pm.

The seminar started by a brief greeting by Mr Marko Ilic from the British Council and Ms Marija Pejatovic from YALS.

During the two one and a half hour long sessions the participants had the chance to get acquainted with the latest trends in the European language schools; the importance of continuing professional development and the ways of assessing different aspects of a good language school. On the seminar EAQUALS Profiling grid for language training professionals was presented.

Apart from obtaining a lot of useful materials  the participants had the chance to ask questions related to the topic and learn the tips of the trade.

After having so many positive comments about the seminar, both YALS and British Council are looking forward to organizing the next seminar.