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and are expected to use their professional knowledge and skills to make appropriate decisions in
whatever situations arise. An ELTE curriculum whose goal was to develop English teachers who are
professionals might need to include opportunities to:
! become autonomous, through giving trainees (some) personal responsibility for their own learning,
and chances to develop their flexible decision-making skills in real classroom settings
! become well informed through providing access to up-to-date thinking in the field and information
about/practice at accessing such knowledge in the future
! understand to whom they are accountable and in what ways
! understand how to access opportunities for further training/updating throughout their
professional careers.

Reflective practitioners
If we think about the diversity across the different layers of the place context in which English may be
taught, it seems clear that teachers need to be helped to develop confidence in making their own
judgments in the light of their classroom reality. Put very simply, the idea of teachers as reflective
practitioners (RPs) is one of teachers who work to develop their own understanding of why they do
what they do when they do it. Such a view emphasises the importance of the thinking behind any
teaching behaviour, and views teachers as people who think about what they do, and through such
thinking continue to learn teaching throughout their professional lives. Learning teaching becomes a
process of lifelong learning.

An ELTE curriculum whose goal is to enable trainees to begin to become RPs will need to include
opportunities to:
! develop noticing and observation skills and experiences of using these in real classrooms
! spend time alone and with others thinking about and discussing what has been observed/noticed,
and its implications for their understanding of teaching and learning behaviours
! learn how to access other people’s thinking now and in the future, through literature, conferences
and networks, and to develop criteria for deciding whether and how to integrate, adapt or reject
such thinking.

Technicists
A technicist is someone whose role is primarily to carry out plans devised by others. Often, education
systems, especially those where human and material resources are limited or where the emphasis is on
accountability and standardisation, view producing technicists as a desirable goal for ELTE. Where this
is the goal the ELTE curriculum is likely to emphasise opportunities to:
! learn about and fully understand the thinking underlying the syllabus and the materials that
trainees will be expected to use
! develop the behaviours and skills needed to cover the syllabus content in the time allocated, using
whatever in-class materials, activities and techniques the syllabus recommends.

Guru
Sharma (2012) does not discuss the idea of a guru in terms of teacher education. He describes gurus as
people who constantly strive both as a person and as a teacher, who have an on-going commitment to
the growth of their students, who are committed to supporting their own and their learners’ learning,
and who are concerned with the well-being of society. I feel that the above features of a teacher as guru
do mirror many features of the possible ELTE goals that have already been mentioned. The features of