14 June 2016, Hyderabad: British Council on Friday concluded the three week training programme on ‘Core Skills and School Leadership Development’ for teachers and head teachers of Government of Telangana Education department. The training was held from 23 May to 10 June 2016 with the main focus of improvement of teacher development systems and supporting English teachers specifically in their professional development.

200 State Government Schools under control of the Director School Education were chosen for the pilot programme during this 3 week training period. The training programme will be scaled to other schools across the state only after the successful conclusion of this pilot.

• 1000 teachers underwent the Core Skills training in Critical Thinking and Problem Solving including a one-day Introduction to Core Skills for teachers.
• 200 head teachers underwent the School Leadership Development Programme in these 4 modules – building leadership capacity, creating and communicating a vision, leading and managing change, building and sustaining effective teams) over 5 days training including, a one-day introduction to Core Skills for leaders.

Deputy Chief Minister, Kadiyam Srihari inaugurated the training at Social Welfare Gurukul School in Serilingampally and spoke about the need for quality education and removing misconceptions that government schools cannot offer the same.

Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India said, “We are delighted to collaborate with the Government of Telangana Education department to train 1000 teachers and 200 head teachers. The British Council is committed to supporting teachers improve learning outcomes for young people in India and UK and across the world. We hope that the training has helped them enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills, improve their leadership qualities and create great learning experiences in their schools.”

Mr. Jetty Prasad, Teacher from Telangana Model School & Junior College Mehaboob Nagar, Dhanwada said, ‘We are thankful to Telangana govt for offering such wonderful training session by the British council. Through various activities and group discussions, ideas and best practices of other teachers were shared. The trainers helped us to incorporate the CTPS activities in our curriculum. Integration of other subjects was also explained well, this will help students for overall development. Introduction to the Core skills helps us to look into our future lesson planning.”

Speaking at the valedictory ceremony, Sri G.Kishan, Director of School Education, Telangana said, “Our approach to universalize education by community-ownership of the school system is a response to the demand for quality education. This can be accomplished by embedding core skills in the curriculum. I am confident that this will be achieved through British Council capacity building workshop for teachers and leaders.”

The key objectives of the Core Skills project were:

• To provide training on Core Skills pedagogy to teachers from 200 model schools in Telangana state
• To enable these teachers to use student-centred approaches in their lessons in line with the recommendations of the NCF (2005) and to inculcate Core Skills thinking in students.
• Establish a framework for Continuing Professional Development for school teachers including Core Skills pedagogy and learning.

The key objectives of the School Leadership Development were:

• To equip school head-teachers and school officials in leadership roles with core leadership skills for positive transformation and quality improvement of the schools and the teams they lead
• To provide an enabling stimulus for the school leaders to plan and implement a leadership change project that helps in addressing their specific need for quality improvement in the school.
• To develop leadership capacity of Head Teachers for shared responsibility and collective action for quality improvement

At the end of the training, all participants were given a reflection journal to note down the change projects they will be carrying out in their classrooms and develop classroom delivery techniques and skills so that they can effectively embed Core Skills in their curriculum. The participants will once again come together in October to share their experiences of implementing the learning in their own classrooms, thus engaging in peer learning and reflection.

Through social media active engagement by various stakeholders the training programme has garnered around 1.3 million impressions.

About Connecting Classrooms

Connecting Classrooms is a global education programme for schools, designed to help young people become globally aware and globally competitive in the 21st century. The new programme, running from 2015-2018, will build the capacity of 45,000 teachers, 12,000 school leaders and policy makers worldwide to support them in integrating a range of core skills into the curriculum.

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. We are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter. We work in more than 100 countries and our 7,000 staff – including 2,000 teachers – work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the arts and delivering education and society programmes.

For information on our work in India, please visit www.britishcouncil.in

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As part of third phase of Core Skills training module

Bangalore, March 18, 2016: The British Council hosted Reflection workshop as part of its Connecting Classrooms final phase of Core Skills journey in Bangalore earlier this week. The workshop marked the completion of five months of training for the first batch of 60 teachers.

Connecting Classrooms is a global education programme designed to build the capacity of teachers worldwide and help young people become globally aware and competitive. Teachers who attended the advanced module workshop of core skills training were present for the final phase.

The programme aims at benefiting the teachers; and will allow them to draw upon a wide range of resources to nurture core skills in their learners. This current batch of teachers and leaders in Bangalore are the first set of participants for the Core Skills training in South India.

Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India said, “We are pleased that the first batch of participants from the Core Skills training in South India have completed the five months of training session. The British Council is committed to supporting teachers to improve learning outcomes for young people in India and UK and all over the world. We hope that the training has helped them foster innovation, improve their leadership qualities and create great learning experiences in their schools.”

The day began with a panel discussion on “How can schools contribute to employable skills of its students?” The panel included Dr. Vandana Lulla, Director, Podar International School, Mumbai, Shyaonti Talwar, Independent Consultant from Mumbai, Suman Chawla, Independent Consultant from Delhi and Sangeeta Gole, Independent Consultant from Mumbai. The panel was chaired by Arijit Ghosh, Head-Schools programmes, British Council India.

The workshop on Core Skills was designed with three modules—Introductory, Advanced, and Reflection and was spread over three sessions over a period of five months. In the introductory module Principals, Head Teachers, School Management representatives were invited to attend along with one nominated teacher. Then in the second stage, Principal or nominated teachers attended the workshop. And finally the Reflection module was attended by the teachers who attended the advanced module workshop.

The British Council conducted in-depth desk research to identify the most pertinent key skills from the literature and research that were critical to meeting the needs of students in the 21st century and a globalised economy and were relevant to the educational context of the countries and regions where the British Council operates. The research resulted with an answer that the immediate need of the hour was to supplement knowledge with core skills.

About Connecting Classrooms

Connecting Classrooms is a global education programme for schools, designed to help young people become globally aware and globally competitive in the 21st century. The new programme, running from 2015-2018, will build the capacity of 45,000 teachers, 12,000 school leaders and policy makers worldwide to support them in integrating a range of core skills into the curriculum.

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. We are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter. We work in more than 100 countries and our 7,000 staff – including 2,000 teachers – work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the arts and delivering education and society programmes.

For information on our work in India, please visit www.britishcouncil.in

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Premier Skills Phase 2 training kicks off in India

The second phase of the hugely successful Premier Skills initiative, run by the Premier League and the British Council will take place from 2 to 7 November 2015 in Thiruvananthapuram, Keralaat Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education (LNCPE).

Premier Skills is a partnership between the Premier League and the British Council. It uses football as a tool to help develop both community coaching and English language skills. The programme trains sports coaches, referees and youth leaders, enhancing their existing football skills, whilst also developing their leadership skills and a greater understanding of the role football can play in tackling other social issues.

In November 2014, for the Phase 1 training, coaches and referees of the Premier Skills Kolkata Goalz programme, belonging to Kerala Football Association, Goa Football Association, Sports Authority of India, and  three NGOs, were trained at Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education (LNCPE), Kerala.  Phase 2 consists of two training programmes: Coach Education (2 – 7 November 2015) and Referee Development (2 – 4 November 2015). The coach education programme will be attended by 36 Indian coaches and 24 Indian referees will participate in the referee programme. These coaches and referees (from Goa and Kerala) have been chosen from the Phase 1 participants.

During the programme, the coaches and referees will receive training from qualified Premier Skills coaches, giving them the skills and support to develop their own community football projects and development as referees and coaches. The coaches’ training programme will be led by experienced Premier Skills Head Coach Jeremy Weeks supported by Robert Perret, Sports Development Manager with Crystal Palace FC Foundation and Cheryl Edwards, Community Coach at Aston Villa Football Club. The referee training programme will be led by Graham Laws, Referee Coach at Professional Game Match Officials Limited supported by Michael Edward Murphy, Assistant Referee Coach.

The training will end with a demonstration of skills that the coaches and referees have learnt over the course of the programme. This will be showcased on Friday 6 November and Sunday 7 November, at SAI, LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram.

The course in Thiruvananthapuram is being jointly organised by the British Council and Premier League in association with Sports Authority of India (SAI), Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education, All India Football Federation (AIFF), Kerala Football Association (KFA) and Goa Football Association (GFA).

In addition to coaching, a range of free materials, including a dedicated website, has been created under Premier Skills for teachers and learners of English that utilise exciting Premier League content and the British Council’s world-class expertise in English.

Premier League

Premier League Executive Chairman, Richard Scudamore, said:

“I am thrilled that Premier Skills will return to India this week for Phase 2 of the project. In the UK, Premier League clubs have a long-held commitment to investing in and supporting local community and education programmes and that is now being mirrored internationally, with Premier Skills operating in 25 countries. Given the increasing interest in football in India we are proud to support the country’s growing enthusiasm for the sport by providing more highly trained coaches and referees to pass on their expertise through Premier Skills.”

Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India said

“We are delighted to present Premier Skills, Phase 2 training programme, our very successful partnership project with the Premier League in South India. It combines English and football, two universal languages and with the support of our local partners in India — Sports Authority of India (SAI), Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education, All India Football Federation (AIFF), Kerala Football Association (KFA) and Goa Football Association (GFA) — we have been able to provide this opportunity. As part of Phase 2 training, the Coach Education and Referee Development programmes will be attended by successful coaches and referees from Phase 1 of the project. We hope the coaches and referees find this training useful and are able to make the most impact in their respective communities”.

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36 Teaching Assistants visit Chennai for a 3 day induction programme

23 September 2015: The British Council conducted a three day induction programme for 36 Teaching Assistants in Chennai at the Residency Towers from 21 – 23 September 2015. This batch of Teaching assistants complete the programme for this year which builds a further expectation of bringing in Teaching assistants to increase student outward mobility from UK to India. The placements will vary between 2 to 6 months in various schools in India and they will be teaching various subjects and skills across.

Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India hosted a networking reception. The programme was attended by Bharat Joshi, British Deputy High Commissioner, Chennai, Dr. Amudhavalli, Director, ICOM (International Centre for University of Madras), Dr A Azad, Director, Centre for International Affairs, Anna University.

“Whatever you do in your future lives you will take this cultural experience and the relationship you build with India will stay with you ” Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India told 36 teaching assistants from the UK who reached Chennai as part of the Generation UK-India programme. She mentioned the importance of people’s relationship which this programme builds and connects people at a young age, emphasizing that this journey will be a learning and sharing experience.

“The energy, excitement and enthusiasm of the young people from UK taking part in the Generation UK-India Teaching Assistant programme was incredible. The integration between the host schools from 18 different states in India and 36 young people from different cities in UK was very exciting. It’s a great Initiative from British Council and Generation UK-India will help the younger generation to build a stronger relationship between the India and the UK, with exposure to Indian culture, Indian companies and Indian education” said Bharat Joshi, British Deputy High Commissioner, Chennai.

The 36 students and graduates are part of 500 UK young people and professionals who are coming to India this year as part of Generation UK-India which aims to promote international experience and build engagement and trust between the UK and India. Over the next 5 years, the British Council will work with partners to support up to 25,000 young people and professionals from the UK to gain experience in India. The programme has three strands, teaching assistantships, work placements and cultural immersion placements which are supported by UKIERI (UK –India Education and Research Initiative) and delivered by IndoGenius. The programme will also work with UK and India universities and organisations to support more mobility between the two countries.

Although many Indian students spend time studying in the UK, fewer of their counterparts make the journey in the opposite year. In the first year of the programme, Generation UK-India has begun to change this and has raised the profile of mobility to India as well as increasing the opportunities available.

The British Council hope that this will be the first of many successful years of the programme which will continue to build excellent relations between the UK and India.

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide.

We work in more than 100 countries and our 7000 staff – including 2000 teachers – work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the Arts and delivering education and society programmes.

We are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter. A core publically-funded grant provides less than 25 per cent of our turnover which last year was £781m. The rest of our revenues are earned from services which customers around the world pay for, through education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. All our work is in pursuit of our charitable purpose and supports prosperity and security for the UK and globally.

For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.in. You can also keep in touch with the British Council through https://twitter.com/inbritish and blog.britishcouncil.org.in

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Rin, a leading detergent brand in Tamil Nadu, as a part of its new social initiative called Rin Career Ready Academy aims to inspire, educate and equip youth with livelihood skills to pursue 21st century careers.

Rin Career Ready Academy is a fully sponsored initiative which will up-skill deserving youth in order to make them ready for front facing jobs and increase their income potential. Rin, as part of the initiative, will engage directly with each individual to make an impact and through the same bring about a larger social change, one individual at a time.

British Council is the training and certification partner for Rin Career Ready Academy and will design and deliver the course content, assessment and training. The 3-week customized course will  focus on communication and employability skills and and will be held in Chennai in August.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India said, “We are delighted with the partnership with RIN on this new social initiative to educate deserving youth with 21^st century skills. As part of Rin Career Ready Academy, British Council has designed a 3 week face to face course where candidates will be mentored and trained to improve their English speaking skills and make them job ready at the end of the programme.”

To select deserving candidates for the 3 week face to face training, Rin Career Ready Academy and British Council are conducting a walk-in face to face assessment on Saturday July 25 2015

(8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at British Council, 737 Anna Salai, Chennai.

Give a missed call on 1800-121-4545 for a brighter future. Limited places available so don’t miss this opportunity!

Successful individuals from this assessment programme will be put up for a more intensive face to face course, where they will be guided by expert trainers of British Council who will coach them for 3 weeks in all three pillars of English Speaking, Office Dressing and Interview Training.  Candidates will be mentored and trained and given lots of individual support to help improve skills in these areas:

1. English Speaking – the course will help you speak fluently and communicate confidently in English. The course aims to give you the English skills you need to shine in the job of your dreams.
2. Office Dressing – the course will also explore how you can dress for success!
3. Interview Training –from writing a great CV to acing your interview- we’ll make sure you have the skills and techniques you need to get that dream job.

On successful completion, selected candidates will get a certificate from British Council and Rin Career Ready Academy. Top candidates will also be given the chance to interview for jobs to kick-start their careers.

For further details please visit: www.britishcouncil.in/rin-career-ready

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Chennai, 22 April 2015: At the heart of the historical heritage garden of the Theosophical Society, lies the Olcott Memorial School with a vision to provide quality education to economically disadvantaged children. Making this vision a reality is The Pemanda Monappa Trust, a non – profit, gender neutral and non-denominational entity working to support the needy and the weakest. Partnering with the British Council, who are experts in teaching of English, and the Theosophical society, the trust has embarked on an initiative to improve the skills of teachers from the Olcott Memorial School to teach spoken English.

It is a fact that India is emerging as a favoured destination for investment and English has become a language that creates opportunities for employment and self- growth. The growing demand for professionals with effective English speaking skills makes it imperative that young learners are enabled to become proficient in its use. This is all the more necessary and important for those belonging to the economically and socially weaker sections of society, who are handicapped due to circumstances beyond their control.

The initiative at this school is as poignant as it is ambitious because the children who will be benefited by the programme belong to marginalised families and are children of fishermen, construction workers, etc

Mr. Belliappa,Managing Trustee, Pemanda Monappa Trust, speaking on the initiative said: “This programme involving The Pemanda Monappa Trust, the British Council and the Theosophical Society will be a landmark initiative exemplifying the value of partnership and collaboration where each of these organizations contribute their resources for the good of the weakest and needy. It is also proposed to identify a group of students who have shown interest and competence, and put them on a fast track so that they get optimum benefit.”

Being launched on April 22, 2015, the programme will run for a year, in the course of which the British Council will deploy experts, guide and monitor the progress of the project, and provide substantial inputs, for teachers and learners, both online and offline. About 10 teachers and 500 children will benefit immensely from this programme.

Ms. Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India said, “Ensuring greater access through digital content, improving quality, and teacher training will be the focus areas of British Council’s English intervention with Olcott Memorial School”.

The programme covers 3 main strands:

LearnEnglish for Schools, a digital resource to improve Spoken English, will be installed in the English language lab and a programme of engagement for teachers and learners will be implemented.

LearnEnglishPathways, an online course to improve language proficiency, will be delivered to selected teachers from the school.

Online moderated teacher training courses will focus on methodology and classroom interaction, improving the skills of teachers in the classroom and ensuring improved learning outcomes.

For more information on our English digital resources please visit: www.britishcouncil.in/english/learn-online

About the British Council

The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. We are a Royal Charter charity, established as the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. Our 7,000 staff in over 100 countries work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year through English, arts, education and society programmes. The British Council was established in India in 1948. The British Council is recognised across India for its network of 9 libraries and cultural centres. We offer a range of specialised projects in arts, education, exams, English language and society to audiences across India and more than 100,000 members. We also provide access to English language training and learning for both students and teachers, offer UK qualifications in India and enable opportunities to study in the UK.

Our English language teaching centres in Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata provide a range of general and business English classes, specialised skills based programmes and young learner courses. We work with a wide range of Indian partners in cities all over India enabling British and Indian experts to meet and collaborate and to nurture mutually beneficial relationships.  For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.in.  You can also keep in touch with the British Council through twitter.com/britishcouncil and blog.britishcouncil.org.in/

Background on Partnership:

The Olcott Memorial School located in the Theosophical Society Campus, is supported by Pemanda Monappa Trust. It is a Tamil medium school with about 500 students between classes 1 to 12. English is a subject from Class 1 but until last year they have struggled to recruit English teachers. The school now has 37 to 40 teachers overall and around 7 English teachers. They have good English language and technological resources that students can access, such as English books, an English language lab, projectors, about 35 computers and internet connectivity through dongles.

Based on a comprehensive Needs analysis by the British Council, it was determined that the following areas need attention:

• need for an in-service teacher training course that would focus on teaching methodologies and support English language skills with an end outcome of improved skills for students
• need for an ongoing monitoring and evaluation programme to support teachers
• comprehensive resources to help teachers improve their English language proficiency.

The Pemanda Monappa Trust has agreed to fund this initiative for the school and launch this venture on 22 April 2015 in the presence of:

1. Mr Tim Boyd, International President Theosophical Society

2. Mr Belliappa – Managing Trustee

3. Mr Neil Sarkar – Deputy Teaching Centre Manager, British Council South India

4. Ms Nirupa Fernandez – Assistant Director, English Digital Partnerships, British Council India

For more information, please contact:

Rajeswari Pradeep Kumar, Senior Manager Marketing and Communications, South India, British Council on rajeswari.pradeepkumar@in.britishcouncil.org

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Three-day International English Language Teacher Educator Conference (TEC 15) welcomes 1,000 delegates from across the world to Hyderabad from 27 February to 1 March 2015

Hyderabad, Friday 27 February 2015: The British Council in association with the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad (EFL-U) today inaugurated the fifth International English Language Teacher Educator Conference (TEC 15), one of the world’s largest conferences of English language teacher educators in the world.

The conference, which focuses on the quality of English language teaching and teacher education, will be held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Novotel, near Hi-tech City, Hyderabad. The conference is supported by the English Language Teachers’ Association of India (ELTAI) and the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL). Other sponsors and supporters of TEC 15 include British Council Aptis, British Council IELTS, Cambridge University Press, Collins, Oxford University Press, the Regional English Language Office (RELO), TESS India, Brainfeed and Education World.

Each year the conference focuses on a certain theme. This year the theme is ‘Ensuring Quality in English Language Teacher Education’ in the belief that quality in teachers’ learning leads to better learning outcomes for learners. The theme will allow a wide-ranging exploration of teacher education in India and beyond, with a focus on quality in both pre-service education and in-service training. TEC 15 provides a platform that offers a networking opportunity for English language educators from India and across the globe to get together and discuss opportunities for professional development. The aim is to bring about innovation, share best practices and build a sustainable community of English language educators.

The conference was inaugurated by His Excellency Shri E.S.L. Narasimhan, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Andrew McAllister, British Deputy High Commissioner, Hyderabad, Sunaina Singh, Vice-Chancellor English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U), Chris Brandwood, Director English – South Asia, British Council, George Pickering, Trustee, International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) among others. On the opening day, the keynote address was delivered by Rod Bolitho, Academic Director of Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE)on ‘The ingredients of quality in teacher education’.

Over 1,100 teacher educators, ministerial officials, heads of universities and colleges, representatives of the vocational sector, senior academic staff, directors of NGOs and policymakers from over 30 countries across the globe are assembled in Hyderabad over 27 February to 1 March to attend the conference. ​

Says Chris Brandwood, Director, English, British Council South Asia: “The theme for this year’s conference is timely from a national and global perspective. Internationally, the most recent Global Monitoring Report on the six Education for All goals highlighted quality as its central concern. Key initiatives in India such as the Teacher Education Mission (2013), the National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (2009-10) and the Planning Commission of India’s 12th Five Year Plan highlight issues of quality as fundamental to professional development of teachers.”

Says Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India:  “We are delighted to partner with EFL-U and other partners for the fifth year of the international teacher educator conference (TEC 15). Registrations for the conference have continued to grow over the years and we are pleased to see this year’s conference reach a record number of participants and expect more to follow the conference online through social media and the live streaming of our web-casts. TEC 15 will continue to provide a world-class experience for our delegates and speakers and generate debate and discussion, with a wide variety of high quality plenaries, panel discussions, talks and workshops.”

Says, Prof S Mohanraj, Dean, School of English language education, English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U): “TEC has been a blessing to all the practicing teachers of English in the country. It has helped them grow professionally and motivated them to become better teachers.”

Over 100 experts and renowned scholars from the UK, India and other countries will speak at the conference, including practicing teacher educators from India and the region. They will discuss

• policy and quality initiatives
• the quality of curriculum, materials and methods in English language teacher education
• and reflect on monitoring and evaluation.

Plenary sessions and debates will be held on the following themes over the three days and will include:

• Learning to read in India: challenges and opportunities for enhancing quality in teacher education by Rukmini ​Banerji of Pratham
• A fine balance – English language teacher education in 21st-century India by Alison Alison Barrett, Director English for Education Systems, British Council South Asia
• Teacher education and quality assurance by Professor Paul Gunashekar, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad
• A debate on whether moving away from traditional methodologies in language education is a good thing
• A panel discussion on the evaluation of quality in teacher education programmes – what works?

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Bangalore, 24 February 2015: Over 1,000 teacher educators, ministerial officials, heads of universities and colleges, representatives of the vocational sector, senior academic staff, directors of NGOs and policymakers from over 30 countries across the globe will be in Hyderabad from 27 February 2015 to 1 March 2015 to attend the fifth International English Language Teacher Educator Conference (TEC 15), one of the world’s largest conferences for English language teacher educators.

Organised by the British Council in association with the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad (EFL-U), the conference will be held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Novotel, near Hi-tech City, Hyderabad.

Other partners and sponsors include Cambridge University Press, Collins India, British Council IELTS, British Council Aptis, Regional English Language Office (RELO), TESS India, Oxford University Press, Brain feed and Education World.

Each year the conference focuses on a certain theme. This year the theme is ‘Ensuring Quality in English Language Teacher Education’ in the belief that quality in teachers’ learning leads to better learning outcomes for learners. The theme will allow a wide-ranging exploration of teacher education in India and beyond, with a focus on quality in both pre-service education and in-service training.

Says Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India:  “We are delighted to partner with EFL-U and other partners and sponsors for the fifth year of the international teacher educator conference (TEC 15). Over 5,000 delegates have been part of the conference over the last five years and there have been over 50,000 online viewers participating virtually at the international teacher educator conference. Through our ongoing English language partnership projects across India we engage with a range of stakeholders to support the improvement of teaching and learning of English and reach out to wider audiences.”

Over 100 experts and renowned scholars from the UK, India and other countries will speak at the conference, including practicing teacher educators from India and the region. They will discuss:

• policy and quality initiatives
• the quality of curriculum, materials and methods in English language teacher education
• monitoring and evaluation of teacher education programmes.

The conference will also see the launch of the Survey of English Language Teaching (ELT) Research in India, developed by EFL University and the University of Warwick and other research initiatives. This survey, the first of its kind for ELT in India, is a free, searchable dynamic online research database of first level information on research items, developed by EFL University and the University of Warwick. The database has over 350 research items from 2005-2014, with inputs from over 50 institutions from all over India. This follows the soft launch of the database last year when the research from EFLU was showcased.

The annual Teacher Educator Conference is co-hosted by the English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U) and British Council India.

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. 

The British Council has been teaching English for more than 75 years. We reach 100 million people in over 100 countries and support teachers and learners with comprehensive and innovative learning resources. As the world’s English experts we work with governments, institutions, teachers and learners to provide English language learning and teaching solutions that create life-changing opportunities for individuals and their future prosperity.

In India we offer a full range of our English Language services by:

• working with policy makers and partners in teacher development projects
• commissioning and promoting research and publications
• organising workshops, seminars, debates and conferences
• using a collaborative approach to Quality Assurance systems
• carrying out consultancy and training for corporate clients
• delivering services to learners through our teaching centres
• delivering services to learners through digital and self-access resources
• delivering examinations and working with partners on assessment

EFLU is one of the 39 central universities in India. Based in Hyderabad, it has over two hundred faculty members across three campuses, all of whom have specialised in different aspects of language study and language education. A primary purpose of EFLU is to train language teachers in methods and approaches appropriate to the Indian context, and it has been at the forefront of teacher education enterprises and research since its founding 56 years ago. It was previously known as the Central Institute of English. A number of eminent scholars from the university will be featured at this year’s Teacher Educator Conference, showcasing the innovative work that the university does in the area of teacher education and language teaching.

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