If you’re new to international collaboration, a short-term partnership could open the door to a world of opportunities for your school.
To make getting started even easier, you can apply to join a British Council guided partnership, where a dedicated partnership facilitator will guide you through a short-term, collaborative, curriculum-based project with an overseas partner.
Current themes:
We run themed partnerships throughout the school year.
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Reading for pleasure: connect and collaborate with teachers and pupils in a different country to foster a love of reading, celebrate diverse literature and engage reluctant readers. Share and compare your favourite books and stories with your partner school to grow your reading community and develop a shared passion and enthusiasm for reading. Find out more
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Climate: work with a school in a different part of the world to better understand this topic which is a major issue of concern for children globally. Discuss with students in your own school and your partner school how climate change is affecting your communities – what are the shared problems and what are the differences? Work together to identify the challenges and find solutions. To find out more about future rounds, register your interest or sign up to our newsletter.
Register your interest now using the link below and keep up-to-date with upcoming rounds and opportunities.
What is a guided partnership?
Each guided partnership is made up of a cohort of around 25 UK schools and 25 schools in a country overseas. At the start of the guided partnership, we will connect you with a school to work on joint activities over a two or three-month period. Throughout this time, we will support you through a series of activities, as you develop your project and start to work with your partner.
The cohort will meet in a series of up to four webinars facilitated by an expert guide who will help the cohort schools get to know each other and guide you and your partner along the journey of developing your project. Along the way, we’ll help with guidance, professional development and any questions you may have.
Once you’ve completed your guided partnership activities, we’ll provide advice on how to sustain your partnership and recommend projects, tools and resources for you to use in the future.
Watch our video to find out how it worked for these schools in the UK and Jamaica who followed our guided partnership in 2025 based around the them of Reading for pleasure.
On a guided partnership, you can:
- Broaden your students’ horizons and provide exciting new learning opportunities
- Give your learners the opportunity to share work with students in schools in other countries
- Be matched with a suitable partner school who you will work with for three months
- Focus on global learning topics, such as climate change, literacy or gender equality
- Get targeted support from an expert practitioner with first-hand experience of global learning projects
- Exchange ideas with teachers in the UK and around the world while you gain transferable skills and discover new teaching approaches
- Gain accreditation through the International School Award
“Our children interacting with the students in Palestine has given [climate education] a completely different dimension, and it makes it rich and meaningful to the children,” Claire Mackay, EAL, teacher. St Patrick’s Primary School, Glasgow