The World Federation is committed to supporting Madaris in the uptake and delivery of the GCSE Religious Studies qualification – Edexcel Units D & K, Islam. An annual Teacher Training day is now a key feature of The World Federation's Tableegh calendar. Building on the successes of previous years' Inset training, all UK Madaris were once again invited to participate in a full day's training session conducted by the Edexcel Chief Examiner for Units D & K, Dr. John Rudge.

The session was held on 15 March 2008 at Dar al Tableegh. A total of 14 teachers attended from 6 Madaris across the UK. Sister Tabassum Bachoo and Brother Muhammed Sajjad Tharoo were the event coordinators.

The morning session focused on the Unit D syllabus and teachers were given the opportunity to examine feedback from the Summer 2007 examination. Key terms were explained and teachers gained an understanding of the types of responses that were expected from a successful respondent. The afternoon session concentrated on Unit K. Participants were provided with an excellent resource pack for the training and were able to examine model scripts and mark actual student papers.

The day ended with a discussion on a series of mind maps for Units D and K, which The World Federation will shortly be providing all students of the GCSE throughout the community Madaris. Teachers were asked to comment on the first of ten such mind maps. The comments received were very positive and the content, ideas as well as images and the layout were well received.

The teachers were also keen on furthering their links with one another to exchange ideas and teaching tips. The World Federation has an email group to facilitate this. New teachers also expressed a desire to have introductory sessions to help them ease into the syllabus, as well as Shia specific content to help supplement the GCSE syllabus.

Sister Tabassum Bachoo felt that the GCSE Inset had once again met its objectives of providing an opportunity for teachers to further their own professional development and enabled them to better prepare their students for the GCSE examination to achieve the highest possible results.
 
For more information, please email islamiceducation@world-federation.org