Train-the-trainer Course Provider: Online Teacher Development

About the project

The British Council’s work in English for Education Systems (EES) aims for transformational change in English language policy and practice. We believe that better teaching and learning of English increases academic and career opportunities and enables people to participate actively in a global society. 

In South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), we engage directly with hundreds of thousands of teachers and indirectly with millions of learners each year within government basic education systems. Project delivery often involves pools of freelance trainers who are nationals of the country of delivery. To enable the British Council to deliver current and future projects more effectively, we wish to build the capacity of these pools of freelance trainers. 

We would like approximately 45 individuals from our South Asia freelance trainer network to improve their skills in offering teacher development through online platforms. We would like to commission an online training course delivered by a recognised agency which will build these specific skills and knowledge. 

About the role

We require a course which specifically supports these freelance trainers in how to lead and facilitate more effective online / remote delivery of professional development for teachers. As such, the provided course will need to have an emphasis on best practices for working with adults online, but at the same time support them to showcase appropriate tools and approaches which the teachers they work with can then go on to use with their learners. It needs to be practical, rather than heavily theoretical.

We envisage the online course to combine synchronous and asynchronous elements. This could be an existing off-the shelf course, or an adaptation of such a course. It should focus on most or all the areas mentioned below.  

• Facilitating interactive live webinars for teachers, on platforms such as MS Teams, Zoom.
• Moderating asynchronous tasks and forums for teacher development
• How to use collaborative online approaches and tools (synchronous and asynchronous) for teacher development
• How to support teachers with limited digital literacy, and troubleshooting common basic technical issues
• Developing and maintaining digital communities of practice for teachers, hosted on social media.

Where feasible, course inputs should be delivered in an experiential manner; participants experience similar approaches and techniques to those being taught on the course, while doing the course themselves. It would also be beneficial for participants to explore a range of online tools, apps and websites and platforms. The course should provide opportunities for participants to try delivering specific techniques themselves, such as through micro-facilitation or equivalent. Participants should have opportunities to reflect, and to think about how they have achieved outcomes (metacognition). It is anticipated that participants would spend around 30 hours on the course, spread over 6-8 weeks including one live session per week plus asynchronous tasks. 

Qualifications and experience required

• Suppliers must have significant experience of providing teacher development online and ideally train-the-trainer courses related to online teacher development. Suppliers that are able to provide a recognised certification will be preferred.  
• Suppliers are expected to have a track record of providing high quality, recognised online courses for teachers and/or trainers.
• Suppliers must confirm that they are able to deliver the required course within the stipulated time frame.

If interested prospective suppliers should review the full RFP documents provided below for download. 

To apply please submit the four required documents below as described in the RFP (page 11) to Education.SouthAsia@britishcouncil.org with the subject line ‘Freelance training consultant online course RFP’ by 10 December 2021.

1. Technical proposal (complete Annex 2 ‘Supplier Response’ template – word counts provided).
2. A course syllabus table (maximum two pages) 
3. Commercial proposal, detailing total course fees for up to 45 participants divided into four batches, plus fees for any additional participants or batches that the British Council may wish to add (complete Annex 3 ‘Pricing Approach’ template).
4. CVs of team members, including course moderator(s), with details of their previous relevant experience and qualifications.

Responses to all clarification questions raised by interested parties can now be found below under 'Application Pack'

Please note we will respond to successful applicants within 10 working days of the application submission.