RECRUITING AND DEVELOPING STRONG TEACHERS: A CASE STUDY OF SOUTH ASIA

Globalisation has an ongoing impact on education and learning systems, and so the roles and responsibilities of teachers are constantly in flux. Teachers are not just responsible for students’ intellectual development but also for imparting a broad range of skills to allow students to fully participate in a competitive, information-based global society. In many developing and emerging economies, these changes have created a demand for foreign curriculum and assessment systems. South Asia, in particular, has seen an increase in the number of English medium private schools that offer the British curriculum. The mostly local teachers in these schools are in a unique situation: they have been trained for national education systems but are expected to deliver an international curriculum and prepare local students for foreign qualification exams using English as the medium of instruction, a second or third language for their students. The schools that form British Council’s Partner Schools Global Network (PSGN) are examples of this: the network connects international and English-medium schools globally to form ‘a community of schools’ that offer a British curriculum.

This paper will discuss the results of a study in South Asia which looks at the current situation of teacher training and capacity development in secondary schools within the PSGN in South Asia. The key areas of teacher training and capacity development under consideration will include, but not be limited to induction and preparation, learning and development, rewards and recognition, and occupational motivation. The findings of the research will identify the global best practices and progresses in areas of secondary teacher training and capacity development and also facilitate in understanding the motivations and decision-making practices of school leaders and principals behind opting for certain approaches. In case any significant gaps are identified, interventions and recommendations will be proposed to enhance the capacity of secondary teachers within the PSGN, which may also be replicable for teachers working in similar contexts.