Shrewsbury International School's story
Situated in a beautiful setting overlooking the Chao Phraya River, this day school's curriculum is based around the English national curriculum and has been adapted to meet the needs of Shrewsbury’s students and the international context.
Shrewsbury recognised the importance of developing staff internally and wanted to promote CPD to ensure that all their teachers achieved the same level of teaching competence.
Those seeking qualified teacher status (QTS) were already very experienced members within their respective domains – most were full-time classroom practitioners with backgrounds such as teaching English as an additional language (EAL) and internships.
We provided Shrewsbury with two route options; Assessment Only and Straight to Teaching. Both led to QTS assessment and the award of QTS, but were suitable for different members of staff, depending on their existing teaching experience.
Assessment Only: This route was for Shrewsbury staff with over two years’ teaching experience who had worked in at least two schools and needed only minimal support with their QTS preparation.
Straight to Teaching: This course was for staff who needed further experience, support and guidance in the classroom before applying for QTS assessment. Once they’d built up their teaching experience they were enrolled onto the Assessment Only route and, on successful completion, awarded QTS.
Our partnership with Shrewsbury was established via Skype sessions and regular email communications with the programme team and followed by a visit from Lesley Belcher (Programme Director) and Jo Coles (Deputy Programme Director) to further enhance relationships. Once senior leaders were comfortable with the course structure and process the first cohort of trainee teachers were enrolled.
Our experienced pathway tutors supported the trainees throughout their programmes to ensure they met the Teachers’ Standards and collected sufficient teaching evidence. Further subject and age specific teaching experience was provided by in-school mentors.
Five members of Shrewsbury’s teaching staff have now enrolled on our QTS programmes. Three have successfully been awarded QTS and a further two will shortly take their QTS assessment.
"Working with Tes Institute as an already established CPD provider and a well-known brand ensures we are promoting high standards and high challenge. Our school motto – If the heart is right, all will be well – sums up our approach to all members of the community; our teaching staff are hugely important at Shrewsbury and we want everyone to be able to demonstrate their brilliance in and out of the classroom."
Victoria Rotheram, Assistant Principal (Staff), Shrewsbury International School Bangkok Riverside
Learn more about our international routes to QTS
If you’re a school leader interested in developing staff at your school you’ll find more information on our Straight to Teaching for schools page and Assessment Only for schools page. If you’re looking to progress from TA to qualified teacher without leaving your current school, take a look at our Straight to Teaching course page and our Assessment Only course page.