PDU Mission and Vision

PDU vision

ITU School of Foreign Languages Professional Development Unit envisages to be a pioneering member of the foreign language teaching community by research-based practices it offers and commitment to professional learning. 

PDU mission

Professional Development Unit’s mission is to support professional learning within the School of Foreign Languages through peer learning and collegiality in order to maximize the quality of language education offered by the institution. It further aims to guide ITU SFL instructors to build additional professional skills to keep up with the changing trends and challenges in education and to promote a culture of lifelong learning for the ITU SFL instructors through a wide variety of continuous professional development activities appealing to a diverse profile of teachers.

The mission of the PDU is fulfilled by;

• Conducting workshops based on needs analysis

• Conducting induction programs to facilitate newly hired instructors’ adaptation to the institution, including peer observations in order to give them a firsthand view of school practices

• Planning peer observations for the ITU SFL instructors

• Pioneering new methods for continuous professional development such as Teacher Exchange, in which pairs of instructors swap their classes to carry out a series of reflective activities with the eventual purpose of improving their teaching practices, in order to encourage instructors to develop their reflective thinking and teaching skills

• Fostering teacher autonomy for continuous professional development through guidance regarding the continuous professional development activities they can undertake 

• Organizing training days and hosting professionals from the wider teaching community to share their insights with ITU SFL instructors

• Following current events and developments in the field and disseminating relevant information as well as encouraging the staff to remain up-to-date

• Introducing the institution’s new academic practices to the staff through informative meetings and training sessions, thereby assisting efforts for a seamless transition

• Supporting the staff members to be actively involved in field-relevant research to improve classroom practices and enhance the quality of education

• Determining and managing the procedures regarding instructor performances based on the performance evaluation criteria