Chennai: The British Council hosted Reflection workshop as part of its Connecting Classrooms final phase of Core Skills journey in Chennai today. The workshop marked the completion of five months of training for the first batch of teachers.
Connecting Classrooms is a global education programme designed to build the capacity of teachers worldwide and help young people become globally aware and competitive. Teachers who attended the advanced module workshop of core skills training were present for the final phase.
The programme aims at benefiting the teachers; and will allow them to draw upon a wide range of resources to nurture core skills in their learners. The programme was attended by 90 teachers and principals from all across the south India.
Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India said, “We are delighted to host 90 principals and teachers from across South India here today, on completion of the project in Chennai. The British Council is committed to supporting teachers to improve learning outcomes for young people in India and UK and all over the world. We hope that the training has helped them foster innovation, improve their leadership qualities and create great learning experiences in their schools.”
The day began with a panel discussion on “How can schools contribute to employable skills of its students?” The panel included Dr. Vandana Lulla, Director, Podar International School, Mumbai, Shila Ravindran, Academic Head - Primary Segment, Foster Billabong High International School, Hyderabad, Suman Chawla, Independent Consultant, Manjula Raman, Principal, Army Public School, Bengaluru and Usha Mani, Principal, Nand Vidya Niketan, Essar School, Jamnagar. The panel was chaired by Shefali Kulkarni, Academic Manager, British Council.
The workshop on Core Skills was designed with three modules—Introductory, Advanced, and Reflection and was spread over three sessions over a period of five months. In the introductory module Principals, Head Teachers, School Management representatives were invited to attend along with one nominated teacher. Then in the second stage, Principal or nominated teachers attended the workshop. And finally the Reflection module was attended by the teachers who attended the advanced module workshop.
The British Council conducted in-depth desk research to identify the most pertinent key skills from the literature and research that were critical to meeting the needs of students in the 21st century and a globalised economy and were relevant to the educational context of the countries and regions where the British Council operates. The research resulted with an answer that the immediate need of the hour was to supplement knowledge with core skills.