British Council – Review of English in Basic Education in India (Primary and Secondary)

British Council - Review of English in Basic Education in India (Primary and Secondary)

Asia Pacific

2021 to present

Countries

India

Lead M&E Consultant(s)

Simon Borg

Project Overview

In November 2021 British Council South Asia commissioned a series of five reviews examining the status of English in basic education in, respectively, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Borg is leading a team of three (himself plus two Indian consultants) who are conducting the review for India. The review will provide a contemporary analysis of the following issues: the education system in India; the status of English there and its relation to other languages; key policies that influence English education; the teaching of English in Grades 1-8; pre-service and in-service teacher education; the role of NGOs and the private sector in English education.

Approaches & Outputs

This consultancy involves deskwork and a component of primary data collection (key informant interviews, conducted remotely). The deskwork will examine educational policy documents, recent reports and research into English education and India, and evidence available online, such as official government statistics. The key informant interviews will provide insight into English education practices on the ground and fill in gaps in publicly available documents; for example, little documented information about state-run CPD for teachers of English in elementary schools in India is available, but as a result of an interview with a trainer at an important Regional Institute of English in the country it was possible to obtain a substantial amount of concrete detail about the CPD work they do. A draft report of 30 pages will be delivered in early December 2021, with final reports being published by March 2022.

Impact On

The audience for the report consists of policy makers, researchers, and teacher educators (in India and the UK sector) with an interest in English education in India and in gaps in policy, practice and research that provide suitable targets for interventions.

Challenges

State-run activities related to the teaching of English are often not well-documented, and this M&E aims to mitigate this issue; the timeframe for this review is also very compressed and teams are having to work very quickly.

British Council – Review of English in Basic Education in India (Primary and Secondary)