Context
In 2019, British Council commissioned a series of ten videos of model lessons filmed on location with selected local teachers in some of the participating countries of the English Connects programmes to demonstrate best practice.
This resource can be used directly by teachers for self-access CPD, and by teacher educators for training purposes, and consists of a series of 10 video demonstrations, with accompanying handbooks and trainer notes.
Implementation
The videos were filmed by a local production company in Cameroon, Gabon and Côte d’Ivoire. Associated observation and discussion tasks were developed as additional resources.
The filmed lessons were planned collaboratively with a small group of National Teacher Association (TA) members including the teacher to be filmed and were designed to address a number of the core issues identified in all target countries.
- Lessons were competency-based and designed to achieve specific learning outcomes without the use of textbooks – only teacher- and student-generated materials were used. This addressed the fact that different countries use different textbooks, and in many cases, textbooks are simply unavailable. In this way, this video series demonstrated a ‘low-to-no resource’ approach.
- All lessons had an assessment task built into the lesson plan. This varied according to the particular skills focus and is in line with a competency-based approach.
- Each video was filmed with a large class so that different approaches to classroom management could be observed.
- Some technology-based approaches were used, but only where useful and appropriate, and where the teacher was comfortable doing so.
M&E was embedded throughout the project. Consultants subscribed to a project online platform which collected feedback on the materials and from the project participants. Other monitoring sources included meeting minutes, action plans, status reports and activity reports.
The final videos can be viewed here.
Impact
The use of videos in CPD has several significant and far-reaching impacts:
- Improved Confidence and Competence: Seeing successful methods in action boosts teachers’ confidence to try new approaches in their classrooms, which can lead to better teaching practices.
- Continuous Professional Growth: The process of recording, reviewing, and reflecting fosters a culture of ongoing self-improvement and adaptability among educators.
- Collaborative Learning Culture: Sharing video content encourages constructive peer feedback and the exchange of ideas, strengthening professional learning communities.
- Better Student Outcomes: Ultimately, the adoption of video-based CPD leads to more effective teaching, which translates into improved student engagement and learning results.
- 3,169 video views of the CPD videos
- 97 downloads of the CPD participant handbook
- 76 downloads of the CPD trainer’s notes PPT
- 300 downloads of the English Club resource book v1
(Statistics from December 2024)