Guntur, 25 September 2017: The Andhra Pradesh Government, APSCHE and British Council are celebrating the achievement of the Master Trainers (MT) who recently completed a 12 day intensive training. The 112 Master Trainers were felicitated today with certificates and British Council Aptis score cards on their successful completion of the training and for their contribution to this project. The project has crossed an important milestone with the Master trainers training 2000 teachers from across 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh. This means the project is now all set to launch into the next and most critical phase when 100,000 learners will receive training on English for employability skills. The event was attended by key dignitaries – Mei-kwei Barker (Director South India, British Council), Prof Aditya Nath Das (AP State Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department), Prof S Vijaya Raju (APSCHE Chairman) and Prof S Varadarajan (APSCHE Secretary). Mei-kwei Barker distributed certificates to the Master Trainers.
These master trainers have been through an intensive selection process from 250 shortlisted and an overall 480 applications. The shortlisted candidates took British Council Aptis (www.britishcouncil.org/exam/aptis/what), a computer-based English proficiency assessment of listening, speaking, reading, writing and core skills. Aptis provides valid and reliable measurements of English language proficiency that are internationally standardised and benchmarked.
The final selected 112 Master Trainers (MT), as part of the project then participated in a 12 day, intensive training designed and delivered by the British Council. MTs embraced learner-centred approaches that can be used in the classroom. The 12-day training programme has helped them improve their professional practice to a large extent.
In June 2017, the MTs further cascaded the teacher training programme to approximately 2000 teachers in AP. A major milestone has been achieved in line with the vision of the project to train 100,000 learners. This is Phase 1 of the project.
The British Council is also helping MTs with their Continuous Professional Development (CPD) by setting up a community on social media. In the recent blog competition, Master Trainers participated enthusiastically and shared their experience of the project, the trainings and their CPD plans.
Michael King, Managing Director, BC English and Examinations Services India (BCEESIPL), Pvt Ltd said, “We are delighted to have completed Phase 1 of this exciting project where we have joined hands with Honourable CM Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh government and APSCHE to roll out this unique project which offers language learning and assessment and aims to create a lasting change. The next phase will start now with online and the face-to-face courses being delivered by the teachers who have been trained by these dedicated Master Trainers.”
Mei-kwei Barker, Director South India, British Council said, “We are delighted by the overwhelming positive feedback received from the Master Trainers on the training conducted by our team. I would like to congratulate the 112 Master Trainers on successfully completing their training and for their contribution to this project. It is inspiring to see them use social media platforms to discuss their CPD plans, share ideas and best practices in teaching and training.”
APSCHE spokesperson said, “This is an important milestone for us. The 112 Master Trainers have successfully trained more than 2000 teachers across 200 institutions. The feedback we have received from the teachers has been positive and we are now focused on training the students. The reception of this pilot program at the ground level has been phenomenal with students and teachers showing equal amount of interest. APSCHE will be monitoring the implementation of the program across all participating institutions and we expect to replicate this success at the ground level.”
Ajayendra Rudraraju, Master Trainer, British Council Blog winner said, “The impact of the Master Trainer Training programme and Teacher Training programme would be huge in the coming months and years. The teachers would facilitate the process of making the students come forward and talk and express their ideas. This would enable the students to express themselves without inhibitions, enhance their communication and employability skills. The course designed by the British Council would be greatly beneficial to the teachers and students in this regard.”
To know more details about the programme, please visit: https://www.britishcouncil.in/programmes/higher-education