In light of the impact of Covid-19, updates are available on this page about changes to the Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning programme.
About the Programme
Connecting Classrooms is a global education programme for schools, designed to help young people to develop the knowledge, skills and values to live and work in a globalised economy, and contribute responsibly both locally and globally.
The programme is co-funded by the British Council and UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
The global programme has already reached over 20,000 schools and trained more than 52,000 teachers in 50 countries since 2012. In the Middle East and North Africa, Connecting Classrooms has engaged over 100 policy and decision-makers, provided professional development training to almost 3,500 teachers and 1,800 school leaders, and engaged over 1800 schools, 112 of which have run successful international partnerships with schools in the UK. Lebanon is the country with the largest Connecting Classrooms programme in the region; we have 56 international partnerships with UK schools and over 3,500 teachers and headteachers participating in the wide range of programme activities, including professional development.
The Programme's New Phase
The new phase of the programme (2018 to 2021) provides inclusive opportunities for pupils in the UK and in the developing world to learn about and take action on global issues, as well as to develop their key transferable skills through six main elements:
- grants to support networks of schools and partnership projects between schools in the UK and schools in developing countries
- professional development trainings for teachers and school leaders in the UK and developing countries
- online partnerships plus access to teaching and learning resources
- school and teacher accreditation and awards
- advocacy, awareness-raising and technical support at policy level
- monitoring and evaluation of the above elements
Hanan El Zein, School Principal, Shohour Public High School, Lebanon:
"I believe that the traditional chalk and talk model of content-oriented teaching cannot prepare our young people for the future, thus we needed to shift focus to emphasise on the value-oriented experiential learning, we were able to achieve this through core skills trainings and ISA activities that focus on SDGs".
How We're Connecting Classrooms
Classrooms are connected in a variety of ways, including partnerships, online collaborations, grants for teachers to visit their partner schools, professional development opportunities and the International School Award (ISA).