Skills for Prosperity

"The Skills for Prosperity (S4P) programme is implemented with resources from the Department for International Development/Foreign Commonwealth Office’s (FCDO) Prosperity Fund, via a consortium led by the Lemann Foundation, with whom the British Council signed the contract to develop the programme's activites and receive their respective budget. The programme encompasses work in five pilot states and aims to help Brazil reach a higher level of prosperity, through the transformation of English language learning and teaching in the country. Through the programme, the consortium addresses policies and standards for the teaching of English at the national level while carrying out more targeted activities, such as the development of didactic material and teacher training for the last years of Elementary School (6th to 9th grade), High School, Technical and Vocational Education (1st to 3rd grade) and Higher Education (teacher training only). The programme’s activities are divided into 4 outputs: Policy and regulatory reform (Output 1), Design and delivery of ELT curriculum reform (Output 2), Teacher training (Output 3), and a cross-cutting Equity output (Output 4). Each member of the consortium plays a key role in the delivery of these outputs. In regards to Output 1, the British Council is responsible for quality reviewing of all of the technical references produced, supporting high-level engagement with broader educational and relevant industry sectors to disseminate knowledge and promote consensus of ELL and ELT. In addition, the British Council develops the English Language Teaching Observatory, a platform for disseminating programme results, sharing national and international references and teaching-learning practices, as well as sector data in order to support educators, policymakers, decision makers and researchers through information and knowledge. The Observatory is also designed to reinforce and strengthen the advocacy efforts of Output 1. For Output 2, the British Council provides technical advice and quality reviewing tools and methodology of the design and delivery of ELT curriculum reform. The British Council provides references in terms of the science of English learning and other international experiences to assure that the pilot states are on the right path to support students, so they develop the necessary skills for a globalised world. The British Council supports the development of teacher training (Output 3) by providing technical advice and qualitative reviewing tools for each deliverable. It advises the content of the training and seeks references and best practices for its implementation. The cross-cutting equity output (Output 4), coordinated by the British Council, addresses issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) throughout the programme. Given the public school student profile itself (low-income and overrepresented by Afro-Brazilians) and teacher profile (predominantly female and underpaid), the programme’s Output 4 aims the implementation of initiatives that empower minority populations. The British Council’s role in this output is to monitor gender and social inclusion (GSI) across the programme, in order to guarantee that the consortium puts its efforts in reducing inequalities."