Teacher in a classroom with her students

Teaching for Success uses high-quality continuing professional development (CPD) to help teachers and teacher educators improve their performance and achieve better results from their learners.

Our offer

We offer a range of services, from training and mentoring programmes for groups of teachers, to programmes to reform whole education systems.

These services include:

  • consultancy to guide decision-making in ministries of education and school systems
  • mentoring programmes for groups of teachers that ensure training is reflected in classrooms, through in-school support
  • accredited CPD programmes that provide your teachers with online self-directed professional development
  • outstanding teacher development materials that can be licensed for your CPD programmes.

Our approach

Teaching for Success enables governments, ministries and education agencies to assess and improve the quality of teaching and learning in their country, and to make sure that changes to national policy have an effect in every classroom. 

Our approach develops teachers at scale and in challenging circumstances, by integrating technology in teaching and learning, and developing CPD systems for sustainable teacher development.

As well as improving outcomes for learners, Teaching for Success ensures that education systems meet UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.

Case studies

India – Bihar Language Initiative for Secondary Schools (2012-2017)

Problems

  • Lack of an effective, sustainable in-service development for teachers in schools.
  • English teachers not using a student-centred approach in the curriculum and textbooks.
  • Students not spending time in class on effective English speaking and listening practice.
  • Teachers not taking responsibility for their own CPD to improve their English and pedagogical approaches.

Solution

200 teacher educators were selected and trained in child-friendly and interactive teaching practices. They provided a model for, and trained and mentored, 3,200 secondary school teachers who teach up to 1.6 million students across the state.

WhatsApp and Facebook were used to provide continuous contact between teacher educators and teachers.

Outcomes

Between 2013 and 2017, there were increases from:

  • 13 per cent to 89 per cent of teachers providing opportunities for students to speak in lesson
  • 6 per cent to 77 per cent of teachers appropriately using teacher talking time and student activity time
  • 8 per cent to 88 per cent of teachers using the textbook effectively.

Montenegro – school system transformation (2015-2018)

Problem

Poor PISA results stimulated a national debate about the quality of teaching and learning in the country. The government recognised that the lack of national standards for teaching and an effective CPD system hindered improvements in the quality of teaching.

Solution

The British Council’s CPD framework for teachers, adapted to the context, was used to define what skills and knowledge teachers needed in Montenegro. A CPD guide for teachers shifted the focus of professional development from the training room to the classroom.

Outcomes

The project has:

  • strengthened the cohesion of the school system
  • created an approach to teacher development for sustainable improvement in quality
  • improved strategic planning capabilities
  • introduced a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system that is seen in Montenegro as a best practice model.

Uruguay – Plan Ceibal remote English teaching (2014-present)

Problem

Primary schools lacked teachers with the language proficiency and teaching skills to teach children English effectively, especially outside the main urban centres. Training new teachers would take time and be too late to improve teaching for the current generation of primary children across the whole country.

Solution

The British Council developed a system for remote English teaching using video-conferencing technology. Experienced English language teachers in the Philippines, Colombia, Argentina and Uruguay were recruited to provide direct remote teaching into primary classrooms. Teaching materials were developed and classroom teachers were supported to assist the remote teacher during the lessons.

Outcomes

The target was to take children from beginner level to A1/A2 level on the Common European Framework by the end of grade 6, and to improve the English of the classroom teachers.

80,000 children in grades 4 to 6 (ages 9-11) in 568 Uruguayan state primary schools have been involved and 56% of students have obtained A1 and 43% A2 level - comparable to the results of face-to-face teaching by qualified English language teachers.

The project has also demonstrated the impact of technology on inclusion and access to quality education for communities in more remote areas of the country.

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