News of a major event to be held on 17 September at the British Council, Moscow.
The Russian Federation is entering a new era in the testing and assessment of languages. New tests based on international standards have been introduced and are having a big impact on the way we teach. Unfortunately, testing and assessment are not routinely included on teacher training courses. This means that most teachers lack confidence in classroom assessment, are unaware of the principles behind the writing of tests and struggle to prepare students for major tests. This situation has to be improved.
Now, a consortium of Russian and European Universities has joined forces to deal with the problem by providing state-of-the-art courses for teachers and teacher trainees. The project, known as Promotion of Sustainable Excellence in Testing and Assessment of English, is conducted in cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Education and Science and with the help of a 1 million Euro grant from the TEMPUS programme of the European Union.
The project consortium, assisted by the leading European experts in this field, has developed course materials for training in the principles and practice of language testing and assessment and in the use of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), which promotes student mobility and the mutual recognition of courses across Europe. Following a year spent developing and piloting the materials in the partner universities, the project consortium is now ready to offer these course materials for general use.
A major conference will be held to hand over the course materials to the Ministry of Education and Science. This event will include presentations by leading experts from the European Union including Professor Anthony Green, Dr John Field and Dr Lynda Taylor together with reports by Russian partners on the practical experience gained in the course of the pilot phase. Information will be provided on accessing the course materials and about the new Professional Development Centres for language testing and assessment that have been opened in the partner universities across the Russian Federation. This event will be of interest to everyone involved in the training of teachers and in educational policy.
The conference will be held at The British Council, Russian State Library of Foreign Literature, Nikoloyamskaya 1, Moscow and registration will open at 9:30 a.m. on 17 September.
To learn more and to register for the conference, please contact the Cambridge University Press representative office in Moscow:moscow@cambridge.org, phone number +7495-959-05-24
To learn more about the ProSET project, please visit our website at proset-tempus.net
Dr Anthony Green
CRELLA
Room 125
University of Bedfordshire
Putteridge Bury
Hitchin Rd
Luton
Bedfordshire
UK
LU2 8LE
T: +44 (0)1582 489086
X: 9086
