A successful return of the NATECLA Scotland annual conference
Emma Creswell shares reflections from the annual conference organised by the NATECLA Scotland Branch.
After taking a break in 2024, the NATECLA Scotland committee were excited to host their 8th annual conference this autumn. In a departure from previous years, the decision was made to change the location, with the Languages and TESOL department at the University of the West Scotland (UWS) agreeing to host the event at their Paisley campus. The move to the Central Belt proved to be popular, with the event selling out and requests coming in for extra tickets! Over 100 delegates attended and after registering and getting the chance to spin the wheel on the NATECLA Scotland stand to try and win some exciting NATECLA goodies, they were able to enjoy the catering put on by UWS before visiting some of the exhibitors. The exhibitors came from all over the UK:
The conference opened with a welcome from Emma Cresswell and Gosia Lundie, NATECLA Scotland co-chairs, and Dr Fernando León Solís, Head of Languages at UWS before Katy Highet, Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) English Language told us about this programme and how our ESOL learners can access it. This was followed by an inspiring opening plenary from Orsolya Dunn talking about teacher wellbeing and emotion labour. An ever-important topic, especially in these uncertain times.
Following the opening plenary, conference attendees had the opportunity to discuss all things ESOL in three, facilitated mingle rooms. Each room had a different focus (ESOL Literacies, ESOL Policy and Teaching in the Community). The mingle rooms were a new addition for the 2025 conference and delegate feedback was overwhelmingly positive:
- “It was really interesting hearing about different perspectives and how ESOL is being delivered across the country.”
- “ESOL teachers have a huge sense of fulfilment in their jobs despite the challenges they experience in teaching and preparation.”
- “Was great to meet folk from different organisations and share experiences”
The mingle sessions were followed by lunch, provided by NATECLA Scotland, which gave people the opportunity to continue the discussions as well as visiting the exhibitors. After lunch there were two rounds of parallel sessions, separated by a coffee break put on by UWS. In the first round of sessions, attendees could choose from sessions by Declan Flanagan (Language, Power, and Policy: Unpacking Neoliberal Narratives in ESOL), Eliza Kelly (The Influence of Reading on Vocabulary Acquisition) and Marzanna Antoniak (Learning by Sharing: English Learners and the Transformative Power of Cultural Exchange). The second round of sessions were led by Paula Barrowcliffe (Who Are We When We Teach? Understanding ESOL Teacher Identity), Dinushriya Spybey and John Weeks from ESOL Scotland (Creating Lessons with Real-World Outcomes) and Mehrdad Mohajeri (How We Teach, Not What We Teach: Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for Sensitive Topics). All sessions were well attended, with delegates able to share experiences and ask questions, as well as take home new ideas or be reintroduced to old favourites.
Before we knew it, the final sessions had ended and it was time for people to head home. When asked in the conference feedback form to sum up their experience in one word, the vast array of positive adjectives aptly reflects the experience shared by many:
As for the NATECLA Scotland Committee, they spent the evening post-conference decompressing and reflecting over drinks and dinner. Suffice to say there are already big plans for how to make the Annual Conference 2026 even bigger and better!
Thank you to everyone who attended, exhibited, presented and helped out with the organising and logistics. The conference wouldn’t have been possible without you all!
