By Ana Biazon Rocha
On Wednesday, 24 September 2025, the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) hosted a professional development day to mark the beginning of the new academic year and to prepare staff for the transition into the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. It was an opportunity to share perspectives, outline priorities and support those who work at the ELTC in adapting to recent changes.
The programme consisted of four morning sessions at Mappin Hall, alternated by tea and coffee breaks for staff to get together and catch up, and scholarship discussions in the afternoon at 3 Solly Street, where the USIC (University of Sheffield International College) staff work, and the rest of ELTC staff will move to around Easter next year.
- Session One - Faculty Welcome
The opening session, 'Faculty Welcome', led by Professor Graham Gee (Interim Vice-President and Head of the Faculty for Arts and Humanities), emphasised the central importance of language and the opportunities presented by the ELTC’s integration into the Faculty. While recognising the uncertainty and challenges brought by institutional changes, the message was one of ambition and optimism. Professor Gee highlighted the Faculty’s core strengths in student-centred education and high-quality research, stressing the importance of remaining ambitious and adaptable in an evolving higher education environment.
- Session Two - Learning and teaching expectations of arts and humanities students and teaching specialists
The second session, 'Learning and teaching expectations of arts and humanities students and teaching specialists' with Professor Caoimhe Nic Dháibhéid (Faculty Director of Education), introduced the Faculty’s educational structure and its four main schools: English, History, Philosophy & Digital Humanities, Languages, Arts & Culture and Law. The Faculty’s educational vision was also discussed, especially in terms of delivering coherent and inclusive academic journeys for students through carefully designed UG and PGT programmes, ensuring all teaching is research-informed and responsive to student needs, fostering critical thinking, communication and employability skills, and embedding digital learning technologies to prepare graduates for future challenges.
Key ambitions were presented, namely becoming the leading Russell Group institution for employability, strengthening partnerships with external organisations and enhancing student confidence and pride in their identity as Arts and Humanities graduates. Professsor Dháibhéid also commented on the AHEAD (Arts & Humanities Education & Development) scheme, which supports professional development for both academic and professional services staff. A key question raised was how ELTC students can feel more integrated into the wider university community through these changes.
- Session Three - What high-quality scholarship of teaching and learning looks like within the Faculty structure, and how you can pursue this
The third session, 'What high-quality scholarship of teaching and learning looks like within the Faculty structure, and how you can pursue this', led by Dr Tim Herrick (Chair of the Learning and Teaching Scholarship Network (LTN)), and members of the LTSN Steering Group, explored what high-quality Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) looks like and how teachers can engage with it.
Some of the core principles of SoLT stated were collaboration, reflection, mentoring and development, aiming at improving teaching practice and enhancing student learning. The model of Aim – Action – Value was introduced as a framework for thinking about SoTL. Teachers were encouraged to consider:
- what they want to learn more about,
- how they can improve their teaching
- new practices they wish to try
- how student perspectives can inform their practice
Examples of scholarship by members of the LTSN Steering Group highlighted the importance of building communities, working collaboratively and recognising that SoTL can take multiple forms beyond empirical research. The Q&A discussion emphasised practical aspects such as when and how to share work, including dissemination through blogs, newsletters or small-scale outputs. Staff were encouraged to start small and be disciplined with time management to make scholarship possible.
- Session Four - Key ELTC updates and future plan
Jo Coley, the new director of the ELTC, led the final morning session, discussing ‘Key ELTC updates and future plans’. Despite the recent changes, Coley reflected on the importance of celebrating positive achievements such as the return of TUoS in the QS World University Rankings Top 100, #92, and the ELTC special status, ‘Centre of Excellence’, based on the strengths identified in our British Council Accreditation UK inspection report 2024. The ELTC should now follow the Faculty of Arts and Humanities’ processes and procedures, and focus on income-generating activity where we can showcase our areas of expertise, and the variety of programmes offered: University English, Pre-sessional, USIC Academic English Skills, Teacher Training, to name a few. Ms Coley also presented the ELTC new senior leadership team and some staffing and team updates.
- Afternoon Session
In the afternoon, at 3 Solly Street, ELTC teachers participated in the initial discussions of the scholarship circles, where they brainstormed ideas and began planning their projects. They were divided into groups based on different themes, including:
- Action Research - teachers support each other to puzzle classroom issues
- Artificial Intelligence - impact on language learning and its expected different uses
- In-Sessional teaching and faculty collaboration
- Balancing flexibility and structure in terms of students and teachers’ expectations and needs
- Process v product approaches - the real world or not?,
- Strategic competence - skills to cope in real communication situations
- What does sanctuary in ELT mean?
These themes were previously raised by ELTC teachers during a series of group discussions held in our centre between April and June 2025. The goal is for teachers to continue developing their scholarship throughout the term and to share their outcomes at a future centre-wide Development Day or through other appropriate platforms. This initiative aims to strengthen teachers’ engagement with the Faculty’s academic development and to highlight their expertise and high-quality contributions within both the Faculty and the wider UoS.
Overall, the ELTC Development Day offered staff a valuable opportunity to gain insights into the Faculty of Arts and Humanities’ vision and priorities, reflect on the role of scholarship in teaching practice, learn about ELTC’s plans for the future and get teachers started on their scholarship circles. While challenges still remain, the day certainly highlighted a shared commitment to student-centred, research-informed and ambitious education, hopefully providing a strong foundation for the academic year ahead.
We really would like to thank all those involved in our Development Day and invite those who might be interested in learning more about the ELTC and our work to contact us. A special thanks goes to Will Nash, head of the Teaching Development (TD) team at the ELTC, for organising such a special event.
Ana Biazon Rocha is an English Language Tutor at the English Language Teaching Centre. This post was written on behalf of the ELTC TD team (Will Nash, Ana Biazon Rocha, Josie Taylor, Manuel Flores-Lasarte and Erin Revell). The team can be contacted at eltc-td@sheffield.ac.uk