Released: 05.07.10

The University College Plymouth St Mark and St John (UCP Marjon) is delighted to welcome the new Head of the Centre for International Language Teacher Education (CILTE); Dr Richard Kiely.  Dr Kiely brings with him a wealth of experience from his roles at the University of Bristol, the  University of Chichester and Thames Valley University.

Principal Margaret Noble said:"The new role will help us to continue to develop and expand our international education offer and research and we look forward to working with him."

Dr Kiely said of his appointment:

" I hope to bring with me some learning and wisdom from these different work experiences. Working in CILTE will further develop a longstanding research and professional interest in language teacher education.  I first trained as a French teacher in Ireland, then worked as an English as a second language (ESL) teacher in Zambia, Malaysia and Hong Kong.  This work always had a teacher learning dimension: I was in each case part of a curriculum renewal and local teacher development project, with opportunities to explore the many challenges and complexities in extending the knowledge, skills and classroom performance of language teachers.

I have been fortunate to be able to continue developing my understanding of these issues through my UK HE work.  I did my PhD in Programme Evaluation by Teachers (University of Warwick).  I have led projects developing a new English language teacher curriculum in Poland (1991-98); been involved in PRODESS, a British Council Project Development Support Scheme in central and eastern Europe (1992-99); and participated in British Council post-experience teacher education programme for teachers of English in the Mexican university sector (1992-98).  I have taught extensively at Masters level, and supervised doctoral dissertations into English language teaching and teacher education issues carried out in Malaysia, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Italy, UK, Oman, Greece, Syria and Switzerland".