An interactive professional development model, voluntary and peer-led, and above all, transformative in its effects on teachers and students?
Join an online event by British Council Romania and Romanian-American Foundation designed to explore teachers’ continuous professional development by sharing and building on the experience of "Teacher Activity Group" (TAG) communities of practice established through the “English for the Community” project.
Follow the event livestream on Wednesday, 10 February, from 09.30, on the British Council Romania Facebook page.
Impact of ‘Teacher Activity Groups’ in Romania
The starting point of the discussions will be a presentation of the external impact evaluation of the “English for the Community” project conducted by Simon Borg, international consultant specialized in teacher training, research in education and evaluation. Within “English for the Community”, the TAG continuous professional development model was piloted successfully for over three years in Romania with teachers in 100 state schools across rural and small urban communities.
Simon Borg’s findings, which draw on his extensive contacts with project participants but also on his other international work with Teacher Activity Groups, show this model has proven transformative in its impact on teacher understandings, dispositions, and classroom practices – both for the 150 teachers in the Romanian programme and for the over 20,000 students they work with in their communities.
While the “English for the Community” programme targeted only English teachers, the conclusions, methods and tools evaluated can be applied in shaping the continuous professional development of all teachers, regardless of discipline taught.
Agenda
Introduction:
- HE Andrew Noble, British Ambassador to Romania
- Nigel Bellingham, British Council Romania Director
- Roxana Vitan, Romanian-American Foundation President
- Ligia Deca, Presidential Adviser - Department of Education and Research
Presentations:
- 09.45 – 10.00 The 'English for the Community' Experience (Alina Constantinescu, Project Manager, British Council)
- 10.00 – 10.30 Continuous professional development through 'Teacher Activity Groups' (Simon Borg, Education consultant)
English for the Community
The ‘English for the Community’* programme was piloted by the British Council Romania and the Romanian-American Foundation between 2017-2020. A new stage of the programme will take place between 2021-2023.
Learn more about the programme.
*This Program was funded, in part, through a grant awarded by the Romanian-American Foundation. The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in programme-related reports or works are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Romanian-American Foundation.
