A delegation from India including 12 senior educational leaders and policy implementors from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), and two officers from the British Council in India arrived in Bath for a 5-day residential training on the topic of "Leading change management in educational systems".
The Project Principal Investigator, Dr Meng Tian, and the Project Coordinator, Ms Dan Zhao, greeted the delegation on arrival. Taking advantage of the warm weather, several city excursions were organised to Bath's top local attractions including the Roman Bath Museum, the Abbey, the Royal Crescent, and Alexandra Park. The ducks on the lake, also enjoying the sunshine, were a big hit with the visitors. By daytime they lunched in the various campus canteens, enjoying local, fresh food while getting a feel for the campus culture and by night they were introduced to local restaurants dotted around Bath. During the 5-day visit, the delegation had a visit to King Edward’s School in Bath on March 22. Students organised campus tours for the delegates and the senior leadership team presented the school history and best practices.
Intensive training covering several topics was arranged for the delegation. These included:
- Education assessment and school development tools by Dr Andres Sandoval Hernandez
- Language-in-education policy and educational models by Prof Xiao- Lan Curdt-Christiansen
- Education inspection framework and teaching quality assessment tools by Dr. Meng Tian
- Education and computers: who wins and loses in the jobs stakes? By Professor Heike Solga
- Education, Meritocracy, the Labour Market and AI by Prof Hugh Lauder
- Social justice in education by Prof Andrea Abbas
- Designing and delivering teacher professional development by Dr James Underwood.
All training participants were awarded with a Continuing Professional Development Certificate.
Impressed with the level of courtesy shown to them by staff and students alike, the delegation believe that this visit can be a good start to a prosperous, long-term friendship with the Centre for Research in Education in Asia (CREA), University of Bath.