Research, Symposia and Think Tanks
Working in association with aid agencies and non-governmental organizations the British Council are conducting research into key areas to support the Monastic and informal education sectors so as to inform planning and policy making.

Research activities include:

			Participatory Action Research (P.A.R) into 47 schools including schools affected by the devastation of Cyclone Nargis. This research has helped inform on issues such as school reconstruction, teaching capacity and methodology.
			Further research is planned into the implementation of Child Centred Approaches (CCA), curriculum modification, and testing and assessment procedures.

Teacher Training
To support administrators, teachers and trainers in Monastic schools, the Access English team is currently advising on the development of a teacher training manual, the establishment of minimum standards, and a CCA (Child Centred Approach) framework.

The British Council in Rangoon and Mandalay also support the English Language Teaching Contact Scheme (ELTeCS) which holds monthly workshops at a different host school, and in addition, an annual two day conference with international guest speakers.

Materials and Resources
Our trainers are working closely with Monastic Sector Master Trainers in the development of child friendly supplementary educational resources, and are currently helping build a SharePoint website for teaching resources. The development of this Virtual Teacher Support Network (VTSN) will provide teachers of English with supplementary teaching materials from British Council web sites which link directly to learner’s English course books. The website will also allow teachers to access the latest ELT articles, discuss issues and share teaching ideas.

Meet Khaing Phyu Htut who manages this work in Burma