Researchers: Status of English in South Asia Basic Education

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. Our research and innovation with UK and international partners provide evidence of current practice and approaches as well as 'what works' in English language teaching and learning. Seeking and disseminating this evidence contributes to the development of English language teaching and learning worldwide. 

In South Asia we engage directly with hundreds of thousands of teachers and indirectly with millions of learners each year within government basic education systems. We work closely with our government partners and national, international and UK organisations and institutions who share our goal to provide all teachers and students with access to high quality English language resources and instruction. 

To facilitate this, we are commissioning a set of five individual country reports to provide an overview of how English language teaching and learning is currently situated within basic education in each context. The countries of focus are Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

About the role

We expect to recruit two consultants for each country report, working together as experts in this topic and geographical area. We are particularly interested in recruiting early career researchers working alongside established academics in the field, who are nationals of the countries we are focusing on based either at UK or national universities. Full details can be found in the Request for Proposals document linked below.

The expected output of this consultancy is a set of five individual country reports which provide an overview of how English language teaching and learning is currently situated within basic education in each context. These reports will be shared externally to provide up to date contextual information on the status of English language teaching and learning in South Asia. They will also be used to identify where there are potential gaps in policy or implementation, leading to discussions on how these might be addressed and possible future collaborations. 

We request that proposals are submitted from pairs of consultants who will work together to complete the report. At least one person in each pair must be from the country which they are choosing to focus on. We will also accept proposals from groups of consultants who are interested in working on more than one country report, providing there are nationals of each country to be focused on within the proposed team.

The group of selected consultants (anticipated to be two per country, so therefore a total of 10 consultants) will agree together their approach to research and the structure of their reports as a preliminary activity, based on a number of guiding questions set by the British Council team. 

Qualifications and experience required

Essential

• Detailed knowledge and understanding of the basic education context in the country / countries of study
• Detailed knowledge and understanding of language policy and implementation of the chosen country / countries
• Detailed knowledge and understanding of issues relating to the high-quality provision of English Language Teaching, Learning and Assessment in basic education
• Experience of working with international organisations undertaking desk research in relation to language education and track record of conducting similar research projects and reports
• Excellent writing skills 
• A proven ability to work constructively as part of a team in a cross-cultural context. 

Desirable

The British Council particularly encourages partnerships between UK and South Asian consultants / institutions in the development of these research teams.

Prospective consultants are required to review the full Request for Proposal (RFP) documentation provided and submit RFP Responses which contain the following three documents to Education.SouthAsia@britishcouncil.org with the subject line ‘Country overviews – English in South Asia’ by 15 October 2021.

• Technical proposal, specifying their understanding of and approach to the brief, proposed methodology and roles of the team members (max three pages using template provided). 
• Commercial proposal, detailing daily fee rates (using template provided). 
• Full CVs of all team members in English, including accounts of previous relevant experience. 

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