Connecting Classrooms


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British Council Connecting Classrooms

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Do you want to improve the way you teach by learning from other teachers in Britain, and even teachers from overseas?

In this post I discuss the impact on teachers who are given the opportunity of working overseas. Read on to find out more about what’s on offer and discover more information on the Connecting Classrooms website.

The British Council offers a range of fully funded professional development courses, within a programme called Connecting Classrooms. The courses help you to improve your classroom practice and develop your ideas with like-minded teachers, including international teachers. You can choose from both online and offline formats, available UK wide. The courses are free, with thousands of places available. Following these, you will have the opportunity to form an international partnership with another school and apply for a grant to visit them.

Teaching Core Skills:

How we can teach skills such as creativity and imagination, critical thinking and problem solving, digital literacy and citizenship, to our students? I have argued in the past, that creative thinking and problem solving does not rest solely within certain subjects. That every teacher must take responsibility to develop critical thinking in all of our students, whatever the subject.

Our young people live in an increasingly globalised environment, and we have a duty on our part as teachers – which is becoming more and more essential – to teach students core skills such as digital literacy, critical thinking, and creativity. The Connecting Classrooms funded face to face and online courses are designed to help teachers reflect on how they teach core skills, and provide the chance for them to improve and develop new teaching techniques.

You may be interested in reading more about the British Council’s views on teaching core skills in Unlocking a World of Potential. There is some fascinating research included.

The programme aims to promote ‘how to teach skills like critical thinking and problem solving’, using developing pedagogy and effective classroom practice to enhance the professional development of every teacher who participates. 

British Council Connecting Classrooms

“Critical thinking is a process of reciprocal, fluid and adaptive processes to reach an objective.”

Image: British Council

Developing International Partnerships:

I’ve always wanted to take part in a secondment to see education in action overseas. In the late 1990s, I had the experience of living and teaching in Nigeria, something which gave me a real opportunity to understand education in another context. I’ll never forget the challenges teachers endured, yet the similarities – in terms of learning – all students encounter in the classroom is very much the same: learning to read, write and count; problem solve and work together and so forth.

Our world is complex and within its varied cultures and societies, there are countless individuals working tirelessly to promote high-quality and inclusive education; one that supports young people to develop the knowledge, skills and values to live and work in a globalised world, where our children can contribute responsibly, locally and globally

The British Council believes that educators should be provided with interesting and engaging professional development opportunities that will not only enhance their career development but also broaden their horizons and lead to a better, more well-rounded education for the children that they teach. Therefore, within the Connecting Classrooms programme, they offer the opportunity to establish an international collaborative professional partnership with an overseas school.

Find out more in this video from the British Council:

Connecting Classrooms: Nigeria from British Council Schools Online.

The British Council aims to help young people develop the knowledge, skills and values to live and work in a globalised economy.

For more information, please visit the British Council website and follow them on Twitter at @Schools_On_Line.

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