Connecting Classrooms is a global education programme for schools that aims to help young people develop the knowledge, skills and values they need for life and work in a global economy. The focus on the programme is to enhance the teaching of global citizenship in schools by enriching the curriculum and inspiring improvements in teaching and school leadership, in turn, to improve educational outcomes for young people. Teachers are supported in developing their classroom practice in core skills, schools are given the opportunity to share best practice, and policy makers are supported in their education policy development aspirations. Through these activities and International School Awards given to schools that demonstrate outstanding practice in international learning, Connecting Classrooms helps to enrich and improve teaching and learning in education systems worldwide.
From supporting curriculum reform in Kenya, to improving learning outcomes in Sri Lanka, Connecting Classrooms has enriched teaching and learning in classrooms around the world. In Pakistan, since 2015, the programme has positively impacted more than 5,000 public and private schools – over 2,000 have established professional partnerships with schools overseas. 10,000 teachers have been trained through CPD programmes, and over 15,000 head teachers have benefitted through leadership programmes, affecting more than 300,000 students nationally.
Increasingly, teachers have taken an activity-based approach to teaching with the impact that students are now much more engaged with the core skills, project-based approach to learning. Civic behaviour and attendance rates have improved. Pupils, including marginalized children, have grown in confidence and developed new citizenship, leadership, critical thinking, communication and digital skills, in addition to receiving global exposure and interactions that they did not have before.
Online sessions that started as a temporary response to Covid-19, have also become a huge success as they have provided access to around 2300 leaders and teachers from across Pakistan to training content and support. These sessions have brought positive changes in classrooms by inspiring teachers and leaders to take on more proactive roles in supporting their students and schools in adapting and growing.