Aware of the challenge of developing communicative skills in English in a multicultural and plurilingual setting of socio-economic contrasts such as Peru, we promote the Champion Teachers programme to train teachers to become classroom researchers and agents of transformation in their challenging educational realities.
Since 2017, the programme forges the research capacity and develops leading human capital amongst classroom teachers in Peru. This is an annual six-month cycle experience and includes the following phases:
| First phase | Second phase | Third phase |
|
1. Call and applications 2. Selection of participants 3. Initial Exploratory Action Research workshop 4. Preparation, assessment and selection of project proposals |
1. Execution of exploratory action research projects with personalised remote mentoring 2. Preparation for result presentation |
1. Closing workshop 2. Public presentation of results 3. Research report drafting 4. Identification of potential co-facilitators and mentors |
Thanks to the presence of the programme in several Latin American countries, the exchange of experiences in an international network of classroom researchers who share common challenges and seek to develop their students’ communicative skills in English is possible.
As of date, in Peru we have trained 94 Champion Teachers as classroom researchers, selected from over 1800 applicants from all over the country. We have globally published the pedagogical initiatives of more than 20 Champion Teachers. We are also very proud of having trained local mentors and trainers to ensure the sustainability of the programme.
Champion Teachers 2020
In collaboration with the Secondary Direction of the Peruvian Ministry of Education, in 2020 the call for Champion Teachers opened for teachers of the Summer School Immersion English Course. Through their participation in the programme, these teachers become future trainers as well as reflective and knowledgeable teachers and leaders in their regions.
“Thanks to this experience of Exploratory Action Research the way I teach improved a lot. Now I know how important it is not to make assumptions about my teaching. (…) From now on, I will keep an open mind and collect evidence before coming to a conclusion and a possible solution. I will also implement changes and verify if these really work. Finally, I will share the findings with my colleagues in order to engage them in the EAR process.”
Katia Yábar, Mentor for Champion Teachers 2018
