August 02, 2016, New Delhi: British Council organized a professional development programme for educators at Hotel Surya in New Delhi on Friday. Close to 200 educators from private schools across North India participated in the Introduction to Core Skills workshop as part of the British Council’s ‘Connecting Classrooms’ programme. The day long workshop had two parallel sessions; ‘Introduction to Core Skills for Leaders’ addressed for Principals and Schools Management representatives, and ‘Introduction to Core Skills for Teachers’ addressed for teachers, coordinators and teacher trainers.
The Core Skills journey has three modules—Introduction, Advanced, and Reflection; spread over a period of five months. The programme is aimed at preparing teachers to work in a global environment by bringing in cross curricular teaching techniques and embedding the 21st century skills which have been broadly identified as critical thinking & problem solving, communication &collaboration, creativity & imagination, citizenship, digital literacy and student leadership & personal development.
The Core Skills programme is based on the findings of a research conducted by education experts and academicians at British Council, which identified a need for young people to be equipped with core skills that supplements the traditional curriculum and subject-focussed approach of our education systems. British Council consulted a range of stakeholders, drew upon research on the deep pedagogies framework[1] and UNESCO’s transversal skills[2] and then decided to focus on supporting teachers develop their pedagogy in the six core skills and competencies mentioned above.
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 will build the capacity of teachers, head teachers and policy makers to support them in integrating a range of core skills into the curriculum.
Connecting Classrooms 3, launched in July 2015, will reach out to train 45,000 teachers and 12,000 leaders in Core Skills over the next three years across the globe. In India, it will reach out to train 8,000 teachers and 1,000 leaders.
British Council India has already trained more than 3000 leaders and teachers from the private and the government sector, organising workshops in 14 cities across the country.
As part of this programme we are also currently working with the Governments of Maharashtra, Telangana and Chattisgarh.
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. 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. For information on our work in India, please visit www.britishcouncil.in