Transitions and Transformations: The key roles of the EAP practitioner
Friday 7th March 2025 9.30am – 4.30pm followed by a drinks reception until 6pm
The University of Hertfordshire invites you to attend a face-to-face PIM on Friday March 7th 2025 at the Hatfield Campus just north of London. This PIM aims to explore the key themes of Transition and Transformation for students embarking on their academic journeys and beyond. The focus here is on the vital roles we play as EAP practitioners in firstly supporting students to successfully bridge the (at times significant) gap to academic study and then enabling students to maximise their potential to make a university education a truly life-changing experience for them.
At the University of Hertfordshire, this is of particular importance as we have a large number of minority ethnic students, both home and international, as well as those from UK postcodes statistically less likely to attend university. We would be very interested in sharing and showcasing what EAP practitioners do in our institution and yours to facilitate student success particularly (but not restricted to) students from what could be loosely described as ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds.
We are delighted to invite spoken presentations, poster presentations and short videos on a variety of topics of relevance here.
Themes of interest to EAP professionals that could be addressed at this PIM may include the following broad topics:
1 Transition: What roles can EAP practitioners play in supporting smooth and successful transitions for students from a variety of backgrounds entering Higher Education?
We would be particularly interested in hearing from colleagues about pedagogically driven initiatives, structures and/or tools that have been put into place to maximise the efficacy of support provided to students as they embark on their chosen degree programmes across the sector. This may include EAP and Academic Skills provision at the Foundation, Pre-sessional and In-sessional stage
2 Transformation: How best can EAP practitioners support students so that university can be a truly transformative experience for them?
For many students, university study can be a means of a changing of expected life trajectories in terms of future employment through knowledge acquisition and skills development. The focus here is on how we as EAP practitioners can facilitate this potentially life-changing experience for our students. This may include how we might embed professional skills in our curricula, centre desirable graduate attributes as outcomes for teaching and learning and assist in the development of future fit graduates.
3 Higher Education Re-imagined: What does transition and transformation mean in our sector?
With memories of the COVID pandemic ‘pivot’ reasonably fresh in our minds, the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence increasingly evident and ever improving Technology Enhanced Learning tools increasing in widespread usage, we welcome contributions from colleagues to share how EAP and Academic Skills provision landscape has changed for the better for them. This particularly concerns how technology has transformed the EAP and Academic Skills landscape, and we are keen to share best practice and hear about successful initiatives within our sector.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS –
Registration
Monday 4th November 2024 (09:00) – Friday 21st Feb 2025 (17:00)
In-person tickets: £100 (£75 for members – discount applied at checkout)
Exhibitor’s tickets: £150
Please note: this is a face-to-face event only.
Getting here:
The PIM venue can be found at the following address: The Fielder Centre, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield Business Park, Hatfield Avenue, Hatfield, AL10 9TP
Air:
London Luton Airport is the nearest place to fly to. See below for directions from Luton to the venue.
Road:
The Fielder Centre is 1.6 miles northwest of Hatfield town centre. It can be accessed from the east via the A1(M) or from the west via the M1. Satnav users can use AL10 9TP for the quickest and most accurate journey. Daily visitors may park for an unlimited amount of time in the Fielder Centre car park that is in front and to the right of the Fielder Centre. The car park also has Blue Badge parking bays available within.
Public Transport:
Hatfield Rail Station is the closest railway station and has Great Northern Line trains from London (King’s Cross, Finsbury Park and Moorgate) as well as from Stevenage and Cambridge plus Thameslink trains from London (St. Pancras, Farringdon and Blackfriars) and Peterborough, Stevenage and Cambridge. From Hatfield station, the Fielder Centre is a 30-minute walk or a short taxi journey. Alternatively, a short journey on the 614 ‘The Comet’ takes you 15-mins walk away or you can change to take the 610 ‘Dragonfly’ to go directly to the venue in a further 3 minutes.
St. Albans City Rail Station is another option. Thameslink trains from London (St. Pancras, Farringdon and Blackfriars) and Bedford visit this station. From St Albans, the 601 ‘The Alban Way’ goes directly to the venue in approximately 30 minutes.
Luton Rail Station is another option. As above, this station is serviced by Thameslink trains from London (St. Pancras, Farringdon and Blackfriars) and Bedford. From Luton, the 610 ‘Dragonfly’ goes directly to the venue in approximately one hour.
For more details about the relevant bus services outlined above and provided by UNO bus including timetables, frequencies and journey duration, please see
https://www.unobus.info/journey-planner.
Places to Stay:
Premier Inn, Travelodge and The Comet hotels (in order of proximity to the venue) are all options in Hatfield to stay the night.
Refunds are possible up to two weeks prior to an event, however, an administration charge of £5.00 will be deducted from all refunds to cover our costs.
Tea, coffee and pastries will be available on arrival and throughout the day. Lunch will also be provided, and there is a drinks reception until 6pm to end proceedings.
We look forward to welcoming you!
For any questions or requests for further details about this event, please email Jishan Uddin (
k.uddin@herts.ac.uk)
