British Council trains teachers on English language proficiency 

The British Council has stressed the need to strengthen the capacity of teachers in the education sector, as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reaches its second half.

The Council’s Director of Programmes, Chikodi Onyemerela, said it is important the curriculum, pedagogical approaches and assessment are responsive to 21st century demands.

To drive the process, the British Council has partnered with Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), to train selected teachers from the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in English Language proficiency.

The training, which started on Monday in Lagos, is a five-day exercise, themed: “Strengthening Teachers English Proficiency (STEP) capacity-building training.”

Onyemerela said the training would improve participants’ proficiency in the use of English Language, to achieve the new National Language Policy, using the experience of what has worked in many countries.

He said: “It is important that teachers are empowered with the right use of the English language to be able to deliver effectively other subjects in English. We will continue to offer helping hands at all levels of education in Nigeria, and as a result, continue to strengthen the UK-Nigeria relationship in this sector.

“It is our desire to see Nigeria overcome its current economic and security challenges by developing a range of high impact programmes in primary, secondary, higher education, arts and culture, and the effective use of English Language in subject delivery, mainstreaming digital technology in teaching, learning and assessment. We look into the future with optimism and great hope.”

Onyemerela expressed optimism that the participants would mentor and replicate the training to other teachers in their various states. Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, said the training would aid teachers’ performances in the classroom and improve learning outcomes through effective communication skills.

According to him, reports have shown that one of the challenges in the classroom is not being able to effectively communicate the content to learners, but the ability to effectively transmit knowledge is one variable that can ensure learners comprehension and improve learning outcomes.

“In STEP, the capacity of teachers is built through support on the use of self-study materials to develop their proficiency in English, so they can effectively deliver.  STEP also provides the opportunity for teachers to improve their content knowledge as skills for self-study enable them improve. This can be leveraged in addressing the low content knowledge of teachers at the basic education level.

“This programme is a train-the-trainers workshop and its objective is to build a critical mass of trainers who can cascade the training to classroom teachers in states. I, therefore, enjoin you all to be wholeheartedly committed such that the expectation and objectives of the workshop would be eventually achieved.

Speaking on the selection of participants, the Director, Teacher Development, UBEC, Olumayowa Aleshin, said the people present were from Colleges of Education and training institutions.