Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning programme, what steps her Department is taking to train 60,000 teachers and schools leaders in the UK and developing countries.

The Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning programme (2018-2021) aims to reach 3 million pupils in over 4,000 schools partnerships by 2021. It will train 60,000 teachers and school leaders in both the UK and developing countries on the following:

1. setting up and running equitable partnerships, which will focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

2. teaching and mainstreaming development education and global citizenship content, such as the SDGs;

3. teaching transferable skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving; and

4. ensuring that education is inclusive and of high quality.

This training will be provided in line with best practice, using the model of two days of input, followed by approximately six weeks of putting the learning into practice, and then a follow-up to share the learning. This model worked well in the previous Connecting Classrooms programme (2015-2018), through which over 56,000 teachers were trained in the UK and overseas. Delivery of teacher training will begin in January 2019.