English teachers advocate lifelong learning aimed at building self-confidence, according to the British Council

- In the framework of International Day of Education, the British Council and GfK are sharing the results of a research highlighting the training concerns, needs and interests of those responsible for training and teaching English at all stages of education

- Surveyed teachers report facing four challenges: adapting to the daily requirements of the classroom, keeping up to date, building learner self-confidence, and the need to connect with their learners' interests

- The TeachingEnglish community provides development opportunities and free resources for a community of English language teaching professionals and practitioners

BUCHAREST, Romania, Jan. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The British Council, the UK's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, has conducted a study with leading market research company GfK to analyse the current training needs of English language teachers in Spain, Germany and Poland, representing European trends. 

The report covers the training demands of English language teachers in various environments. It covers teachers in state and private schools, language academies, directors of language schools and centres, and other leaders. For these teachers, continuing professional development is perceived as "very relevant" as a social and moral necessity.

The study reflects other concerns English teachers face, including the need to keep up with developments (in terms of classroom requirements, new teaching methods, digital challenges, etc.). Another aspect they highlight is connecting with learners of different ages.

The research also shows that the barriers to implementing continuous professional development are related to time available (schedules allowing for work-life balance) and economic investment (not all training is free). Furthermore, the proposal needs more clarity, which has become more complex since the exponential growth of online resources. According to the teachers surveyed, the latter brings an additional challenge, as the abundance of information online makes it challenging to choose the right resources.

Headteachers and school principals, key influencers for English teachers

Leaders (headteachers and colleagues) are also identified as a critical element for learner success, as they play an essential role in promoting continuous professional development for English teachers.

This means that these leaders feel responsible for teacher education, with many of them actively looking for possible courses and resources. They are also key recipients of information that they pass on to their teachers and are often seen as sources of influence because of their trust and credibility.

Supporting CPD for teachers worldwide

The British Council provides teachers globally free online resources (including MOOCs, webinars and podcasts) to complete their CPD (continuing professional development) through the TeachingEnglish platform. After registering over 32 million pageviews in 2022, TeachingEnglish is the world's largest online teacher community. In the coming months, the platform will offer new MOOCs on "English in the multilingual classroom" and "Gender in language education," together with the second series of the TeachingEnglish podcast, already available online.

Notes to editors

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education and the English language. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021-22 we reached 650 million people. www.britishcouncil.org.

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