Working with the state sector

TKT adoptions

(Updated July 2007)

Since TKT (the Teaching Knowledge Test) was launched in 2005, it has proved a popular choice for governments and institutions looking for a way to certificate English language teachers. There is a growing understanding that learners of English require knowledgeable teachers, and TKT is rapidly gaining a reputation as the most effective means of ensuring this.

Governments, education authorities, and teacher-training bodies have discovered that they can use TKT to meet diverse requirements:

TKT can be used to benchmark teaching programmes against international standards;
TKT gives institutions the opportunity to offer dual certification (local and international) to graduating teachers;
The TKT exam provides a means of motivating teachers, and a focus for structuring learning programmes;
Success in TKT indicates that teachers have a strong understanding of core classroom skills.

Institutions have also found that TKT can be used to meet the needs of teachers at different stages in their English language teaching careers:

New teachers gain confidence in their understanding of core teaching knowledge;
Existing teachers get the opportunity to refresh their knowledge, and gain an internationally recognised certificate;
English language speakers with no formal teaching qualifications gain vital new knowledge and enhance their job prospects.

TKT is being used in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Below are details of some of the ways in which TKT is being used by national and regional education authorities.

Brazil

The state of Tocantin plans to adopt TKT for municipal and state teachers. The Secretaria Municipal de Educação e Cultura de Palmas plans to pay for 54 municipal teachers to take the course. The course is planned to be held in partnership with Escola Técnica Federal, and successful teachers will get a credit in their career plan and 10% rise in salary. For state teachers, the Secretaria Estadual de Educação e Cultura do Tocantins plans to pay for 33 teachers to take TKT, in partnership with Escola Técnica Federal de Palamas and Aplitins (Associação de Professores de Língua Inglesa do Estado do Tocantins).

TKT has been used by the Secretaria de Educação, Cultura e Esportes (SEDUC) in the state of Pernambuco. The Cultura paid for 25 teachers to take module 1 of TKT, attending sessions in time set aside by SEDUC for professional development for state school teachers.

Chile

The Ministry of Education has introduced educational standards for teachers as a compulsory part of the educational reforms being introduced nationwide. Learners and teachers are being benchmarked, and TKT has been used as an externally-validated control to enable the Ministry to apply standards for teaching content, in addition to language.

The Ministry of Education trialled TKT nationwide in 2004, and sponsored a large group of teachers to take TKT in December 2005.

Colombia

A number of regional educational authorities (Secretarías de Educación) have used TKT for their “bilingual” programmes as a means of introducing minimum standards for state sector teachers of English. Hundreds of teachers have been sponsored to take TKT by the Regional Ministries of Education in Bogotá and Risaralda, with more regions planning to follow. These teachers took TKT after completing government-sponsored courses with local teacher training providers. Currently some 24 universities are delivering TKT courses.

In addition, the Ministerio de Educación Nacional (MEN) has launched a nationwide scheme to re-train state sector teachers. Coursed will be delivered by 24 universities and TKT will be used as the final assessment for this programme.

CzechRepublic

The Ministry of Education in the Czech Republic has accredited TKT and the preparatory course run by AKCENT International House Prague.

Ecuador

In August 2005, one of Cambridge ESOL’s accredited centres, Colegio Balandra Cruz del Sur in Guayaquil, and the Ecuadorian Subsecretary of Education and Culture for Coastal Ecuador, signed an agreement to deliver TKT to all public sector educators. Hundreds of teachers in coastal Ecuador have taken TKT since the project started, after completing an approved training programme, and they have benefited from pay increments as a result.

Egypt

Teachers on government-sponsored teacher training courses have taken TKT in Alexandria.

India

Colleges running Bachelor of Education programmes around the country are to offer TKT as an option model in their teacher training programmes.

Ireland

Uptake has been extremely encouraging, particularly with primary school teachers finding it very helpful in dealing with the practical issues they face with the changing demographics of their classrooms.

Italy

In Italy, the Local Education Authorities and the Ministry of Education (MIUR) have recognised the need for TKT, especially for primary teachers.

TKT modules (up to 1,000 total nationwide) are being offered to the 20 regional educational authorities in Italy as part of collaboration on a 4-year national project (Progetto Pilota) for training of primary teachers to teach English.

The first TKT session in Italy was administered in Bari in Sept 2005. Teachers who enrolled for the test first learned about TKT through a pretesting session organised with the regional authorities in Dec 2004.

Japan

A joint project is planned with the Ministry of Education in Japan to benchmark a cohort of teachers from six universities using TKT.

Mexico

In Mexico, the Ministry of Education (Secretaría de Educación Pública - SEP) has incorporated the TKT syllabus into its new national development programme to retrain state secondary teachers.

A training framework has been set up where the language level of teachers is initially evaluated using the Quick Placement Test. They are then allocated a suitable training programme, according to their level of English, and provided language/examination preparation to raise their level of English. This training should enable them to reach the required language level, which is B1 on the CEFR. Once this has level has been reached, teachers undertake training in methodology based on the TKT syllabus.

Portugal

TKT is recognised by the Portuguese Ministry of Education – a degree plus TKT allows individuals to teach in Portugal.

Romania

British Council has arranged for teachers involved in the Council's Peacekeeping English Project (PEP) to take TKT. The candidates who were teacher trainers for Romanian Police cadets took the exam as part of their course.

Serbia

British Council has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education agreeing that CAE and CPE will be accepted in place of an official diploma in English language teaching (for anyone legally entitled to teach who does not have the diploma). As part of this agreement, the Ministry has accredited TKT as 25 hours of professional development for English language teachers teaching in primary schools (grades 1-4, pupils age 7-11).

Sri Lanka

The British Council is using TKT extensively for professional development for English teachers around the country.

Thailand

The Ministry of Education has adopted TKT as the benchmark standard for a project to improve English teaching throughout the country. More than 8000 teachers will take TKT in an initial trial.

Vietnam

The Department of Education and Training in Ho Chi Minh City is using TKT as a benchmark qualification for teachers of intensive English in the city’s state schools. British Council is using TKT on teacher training courses for state school teachers in Vietnam.