“…if staff development is to be a key component of school improvement, if it is to be something that empowers teachers and makes schools more responsive, then Pakistan (i.e. The City School ) experience has some lessons for us all.”
UK Times Educational Supplement, Strathclyde University
Since our inception in 1978, we at The City School have always aimed to achieve the highest standards of professional excellence by offering training and development programmes through various ongoing partnerships with International and National universities.
The City School takes immense pride in being the first educational organization to collaborate with School of Education, Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU), United Kingdom to hold PGCEi-CCCU in Pakistan, an international level 7 qualification that targets pedagogy, andragogy, heutagogy and innovative practices in teaching and learning.
The City School witnessed the launch of the first Cohort of Post Graduate Certificate International (PGCEi-CCCU) in February 2021. This is a testament to our resolute commitment to empowering classroom practitioners and senior school leadership with diverse international perspectives and experiences in research, policy, and practice in education.
This partnership has opened doors to a loyal fraternity of engaged professionals at The City School under the banner of CCCU. The certification offers 3 modules and upon successful completion of all modules in PGCEi-CCCU, the students will gain up to 60 Masters-level credits, which could provide them access to further Masters and Doctoral studies in the UK and develop specialist knowledge and skills for institutional development.
Cohort 2 has been launched in September 2021 for Southern Region.
Leadership and Management Programme (LAMP) is a prestigious in-house training programme and has a long-standing history in The City School.
This year, CEPD organised a 30-hour-LAMP for newly joined/promoted School Heads in July 2021 to harness the power of leadership and the organisation's policies, practices, and procedures. This training addressed School Heads' leadership and management learning to enable participants to reflect on their practices and ensure improvement through observing self and colleagues. This training encompassed the role of motivational drivers, emotional intelligence, leadership concepts, and communication methods to establish their leadership style. Heads of Departments (HODs) and their representatives also interacted with the participants to give an orientation of their departmental procedures directly related to school operations.
PDQs are level 4 & 5 qualifications offered by CAIE, United Kingdom that are designed to enrich teaching and leadership in schools. The City School is offering all three strands of PDQs to teachers and school leadership since 2018:
We have accredited Programme Leaders (PLs) for all three strands of Professional Development Qualifications (PDQs) to deliver the training. PL accreditation is valid for 3 years initially, followed by an Annual Review Process conducted by Cambridge International and reaccreditation on an annual basis. The PLs aim to train teachers through PDQs to meet the needs and priorities of the school, teachers, and leaders following guidelines and quality assurance procedures as outlined by Cambridge International. We have delivered several successful cohorts and are steadfast in meeting excellence to continuously professionally develop teachers and leaders to become reflective practitioners.
The Initial Teacher Training Education (ITTE) is a specialized programme of The City School, addressing pedagogical needs and skills required by new teachers, for effective transition into the teaching profession. It is aimed at developing new teachers professionally by giving them a blended learning experience of theory and practice and thus raising standards by improving the educational performance of The City School's students.
This project was initiated in June 2019 in collaboration with the Faculty of Education at The University of Cambridge, UK to train 60 Teacher Educators (TEs) across the network. These TEs, in turn, are now playing an instrumental role in training all teachers at The City School.
The Teacher Educators first received face-to-face training from Cambridge tutors in two tiers, June 2019 and September 2019, in Lahore and Karachi respectively. All TEs have now trained at least 3 cohorts of The City School teachers and will continue to do so. The ITTE training is for all teachers for their baseline professional development, consisting of three workshops that span over 120 hours.
We have initiated Cohort 3 of ITTE in December 2021. This is a testament to The City School’s pledge to provide quality instruction and continuing its legacy of the past 40 years of excellence in education.
Early Years Education PGCC is designed to provide school teachers and practitioners with the required professional skill set to hone and develop children in their care and to prepare them to become lifelong learners. This programme is a combination of approaches, techniques, practice, and reflection that will help educators develop a complex understanding of child development and issues relevant to Early Years.
This year, the training commenced in Quetta (SR) in July 2021. At the end of this training, participants were able to work actively towards the academic excellence of students in their school with the objective for improved learning outcomes in the classroom.
Train the Trainer (TTT) is a refresher course for Master Trainers who are responsible to further cascade trainings to concerned audiences. This training aims to provide Master Trainers with a conceptual background in training and practical skills for delivering sessions to teachers and staff. TTT addresses the processes and procedures of the training cycle and training strategies in both face-to-face and online learning environments.
This year, TTT is centralised and all three regions are facilitated simultaneously in a large group administered by CEPD.
In the pursuit to continuously develop human resource and improve the quality of classroom practices, we at The City School have collaborated with The University of Cambridge to embed global teaching strategies in our classrooms and enhance student learning. The University of Cambridge is a prestigious institute recognised world-wide in research, teaching, assessment and learning.
This partnership has resulted in building professional capacities of over 1100 teachers in 3 cohorts and continues to do so for future cohorts. After successful collaboration on Initial Teacher Training Education (ITTE), The City School will continue to mobilise various coalition with The University of Cambridge in times to come.
On 5th February 2021, The City School and the School of Teacher Education, Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU), UK signed an MoU to announce their strategic partnership to meet the rising demand for high-standard and affordable teacher training opportunities in Pakistan.
Canterbury Christ Church University, UK is globally recognised for its teacher training college and ranks in the Top 20 in the UK for Qualified Teaching Staff (HESA 2017/18).
The City School ‘s recent collaboration with Canterbury Christ Church University, UK has granted us exclusive rights to deliver Level 7-Postgraduate Certificate in Education International (PGCEi) in Pakistan. This high-quality and affordable teacher training qualification, in collaboration with CCCU, is committed to empowering classroom practitioners and school leaders with diverse global perspectives and experiences leading to a transformative impact on learners’ skillset during classroom practices.
To date, this strategic partnership has contributed to upskilling of professional capacities of more than 100 teachers and SLT members with the aim to run more cohorts in future.
We are confident that this collaboration will redefine the educational sector of Pakistan and will contribute further to the greater cause of excellence in education.
The institution was named ‘University of the Year’ in 2012 by Times Higher Education and again in 2019, becoming the first university to receive this award twice. The City School has a long-standing successful partnership history with The University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK since 1996 for a Postgraduate level professional development programme, Post graduate certificate and diploma courses (PGCC & PGDC) in Advanced Professional Studies and Management and Leadership in Education (M&LE), with successful graduates enrolling onto Master level study.
The University has trained our faculty on ways to impart skill, knowledge and learning to improve learning, teaching, and whole school development on various strands of education and research.
The City School successfully conducted 5-day Leadership Development Programme (LDP) through the Institute of Education (IOE), University College London (UCL) (UK) in 2017. This training was given by university tutors, Kate Adams and Ian Smith and centered on polishing leadership traits and characteristics of individuals working in senior positions.
To also cater to the needs of primary years, The City School initiated Primary Years Pedagogy (PYP) in 2017 with UCL that addressed differentiation, inclusion, and research in the Early Years Education. For this programme, Ms. Lizbeth Bullough was the main tutor.
The City School’s school inspectors from School Inspection and Quality Assurance (SIQA) Department received a week-long training in 2018 at the Institute of Education (IOE), UCL by the name of ‘Educational Accountability and Evaluation’ to understand and critically evaluate various school monitoring and evaluation systems along with inspection frameworks. This gave a new dimension to school inspectors in measuring school effectiveness and school improvement on international standards at TCS.
In 2016-2017, School Heads from The City School were enrolled in a Master’s level study at the Institute of Education (IOE), the University of London that focused on Effective Learning and Teaching. This programme revolved around the concept and practice of effective learning and teaching. It provided our participants with a wide range of research contexts relating to the principles and practices of successful learning. It supported them in critically observing and developing their learning processes and how their experiences relate to those of the students they teach.
PDQs are level 4 & 5 qualifications offered by CAIE, the United Kingdom that are designed to enrich teaching and leadership in schools. The City School is offering all three strands of PDQs to teachers and school leadership since 2018:
We have accredited Programme Leaders (PLs) for all three strands of Professional Development Qualifications (PDQs) to deliver the training. PL accreditation is valid for 3 years initially, followed by an Annual Review Process conducted by Cambridge International and reaccreditation on an annual basis. The PLs aim to train teachers through PDQs to meet the needs and priorities of the school, teachers, and leaders following guidelines and quality assurance procedures as outlined by Cambridge International. We have delivered several successful cohorts and are steadfast in meeting excellence to continuously professionally develop teachers and leaders to become reflective practitioners.
The University of Waikato is ranked among the world’s top 1.1% of universities and is globally recognized for research and facilities across numerous disciplines.
In 2012, The City School collaborated with The University of Waikato for a 6-day training in Primary Years Education (PYE) that was tailored and designed specifically for TCS teachers to provide them with a deeper insight into aspects of their teaching and build their capacity to further help students acquire leadership skills from an early age.
The City School is an English speaking school system and all instruction is in English in every school.
