Pathways to excellence
School leavers in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan who are entering the world of work or higher education show a low level of English language skills. To address this problem, our Future English programme aims to provide research and insight, drive innovation in education systems, and support the continuous professional development of English language teachers in these seven countries.
Through our work, we want to provide young people with opportunities so that they can find employment in the future and/or extend their studies further, helping them on a pathway to excellence.
This is a three-year programme, with our focus in the first year on:
- Research: We will undertake a comprehensive piece of research to analyse the English language skills of 16-year olds (their motivations, aspirations and learning preferences), the classroom practices and attitudes of English teachers and whether this is affected by the English language policy in-country.
- Language Policy Forum: We will then share our research findings and explore possible solutions with a focus on English language policy and teachers’ continuous professional development.
- Teacher Development: We have extensive experience when it comes to working with teachers and designing digital innovations to support their professional development. This is why we will pilot creating a virtual teaching community where teachers can connect with like-minded professionals, access resources and have a personalised online learning experience.