Mary Spratt has taught EFL in Cyprus, Algeria, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Hong Kong. She also has extensive experience in teacher training, teacher development and assessment. She worked at the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate for 5 years on the production of exams, including IELTS and the revision of FCE. She has written EFL course books and supplementary materials and is currently working freelance as an ELT writer and consultant. She is one of the co-authors of The TKT Course.

Mary was on a whirlwind tour of Indian metros in October to conduct a series of professional development seminars and workshops and to promote the TKT (the Cambridge Teaching Knowledge Test). I caught up with her in Delhi to talk to her about training, travel, home and her thoughts on the TKT.

How did you get into training and writing?

I’d been working for the British Council in Cyprus for 2 or 3 years and they asked me if I’d like to do some one off training sessions in Cyprus for teachers. I found that I very much liked training, so the next job I applied for, again with the Council, was a teacher training position.

Where was that? Who were you training?

That was in Algeria, at a pre service institute. A men’s institute and a women’s institute. I would go between the two.

And what did you learn from that experience?

I don’t know if I learnt it then, or since, but I think it’s really important to realise that all teaching training situations are different. All the participants have different realities, and expectations and ideas about teaching. You’ve got to work with them, and take on board local acknowledge their culture. You can’t work against it. Whereas I think a lot of communicative teacher training tended to go against it. But this has changed now.

Why do you think this has changed?

First because of research and experience, which showed a sometimes huge gap between what happened in teacher training colleges and when teachers returned back to their schools to put into practice what they had learnt. And second, there are a lot more local voices now. People are saying ‘This is very interesting, but would it really work in our situation?’ And also I think the learner or participant is a lot more questioning than before.

You have traveled a lot, and lived in 6 countries. Which places are most special to you?

In terms of training, I think Portugal, because  in my work for the British Council I was doing a lot of traveling around the country working with Portuguese teachers, and also working in-house with BC teachers. I liked seeing those two different kinds of situations – the British Council and the Portuguese realities. It was very demanding but one of the things I like about teacher training is that it does keep you on your toes. You get such a lot of dialogue going on. And I loved Portugal too. I think I’ve loved all the places I’ve lived in, for different reasons.

So where is home now?

At the moment it’s Cambridge. I’m freelance and I do bits of teaching and bits of training and other kinds of work. It’s a nice mix. I like working from home, and Cambridge is very green with lots of open space. It’s still a bit of a ‘town and gown’ place though. There’s a kind of ‘them and us’ feeling between the university and the town, and the two don’t mix that much.

What have you learnt from being involved in the TKT?

I think it’s a kind of ‘bedding down’ of my own knowledge of methodology, and also extending it. And that in itself has been a really interesting process. I’d been working in Hong Kong which is quite a particular ELT world, rather outside the mainstream. I’ve found TKT a very welcome opportunity to get re-acquainted with the mainstream. And the reaction to TKT has been overwhelmingly positive.

Why do you think Cambridge ESOL decided to introduce the TKT now?

I think Cambridge, when they are traveling around the world promoting other exams, are asked ‘Well that’s fine, but what do you do for teachers?’ So, in part it was a response to this request. I think they also recognised that teachers are very busy creatures and need a test which is flexible and easy to work with.

If you are a BC Online member, you can join an online discussion with Mary on the TKT, error correction and any other ELT issues from 18 October to 1 November.

To become a BC Online member, contact your nearest British Council library or click here to complete an online application.

• Click here her for more information about the TKT and how you can take the test.