by Olwyn Alexander

Our colleague Alistair Frame, who is employed on a temporary contract in the English Section, has just successfully completed a BALEAP TEAP Portfolio accreditation to become an Associate Fellow of BALEAP.

BALEAP is the global forum for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) professionals. It is a professional organisation which provides accreditation for courses and individuals involved in the delivery of English for Academic Purposes courses. BALEAP accredited the Pre-sessional courses at Heriot-Watt in 2014.

The accreditation of individuals is a relatively new development, which involves the EAP teacher in compiling a portfolio of evidence related to the BALEAP Competency Framework for teachers of EAP and writing a personal narrative to link the evidence to the criteria. The award has been mapped to the HEA Professional Standards Framework and several BALEAP Senior Fellows are also now Senior Fellows of the HEA. The first cohort of Senior Fellows, who piloted the scheme, were awarded their accreditation in January 2015 when Olwyn Alexander was successful in becoming a Senior Fellow of BALEAP and TEAP Mentor and Assessor.

This award enabled the English Section to offer temporary teachers on the Pre-sessional courses CPD support to begin compiling their portfolios. Alistair’s is the first successful award from that process.

Congratulations Alistair!