British Council’s publication ‘Innovations in Continuing Professional Development of English Language Teachers' was launched on 20 February 2015 at Hotel Himalaya. The book, edited by David Hayes focuses on continuous and lifelong professional development in English language learning and teaching. The book wa launched by Khagaraj Baral, Executive Director, National Centre for Educational Development, an apex body under the Ministry of Education that works for human resource development in the teaching sector.

The publication offers global perspectives of innovations in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of English language teachers. The papers offer examples of innovations that have been tried and tested and illustrate the vibrancy of English language teacher development worldwide.

According to a press release issued by British Council, there is valuable information in the book about how continuing professional development programmes are designed and how they impact on the different stakeholders involved.

The book reflects the nature of teacher development as a lifelong experience extending from initial training to throughout the whole career, and represents the wide range of needs and contexts to which continuing professional development programmes respond. The papers in the book present many ways in which effective continuing professional development can be achieved.

“Continuing professional development is a lifelong experience, which can take place inside or outside the workplace and which often moves beyond the professional and into the realm of a teacher’s personal life too,’ explains editor David Hayes, who is the associate Professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Brock University, Canada has extensive experience of teacher and trainer development programme in South and South East Asia. 

Brendan McSharry OBE, Council Director, British Council Nepal expressed,“The launch of the new collection of papers on English teacher education Innovations in the continuing professional development of English language teachers is timely as the Government pushes through its School Sector Reform Programme here in Nepal, with emphasis on quality both in the teaching and learning of English.

The articles are very thought provoking, and have been expertly edited by Professor David Hayes, the renowned educationalist and ELT authority.  These articles emphasize the importance of school leadership, full teacher involvement in ELT problem solving and peer support/communities of practice in the development of effective English teaching and learning in public schools. 

This collection explores all the critical issues in English teacher education today, be it curriculum reform delivery or the role of action research, self-access/resource center mediated learning, learner centeredness and mobile phone technology in training teachers effectively over the long term. 

The British Council will endeavor to distribute this important book to the cadre of master ELT trainers that the Ministry of Education is developing and deploying in the filed – an excellent initiative.”

During the event, NCED also presented a presentation on the competencies for English language teachers in Nepal.