Tajikistan Secondary School English Teachers Professional Development (TSSET) Program

The Tajikistan Secondary School English Teachers Professional Development Program (TSSET), implemented by American Councils in close collaboration with English Without Borders, supports the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe’s efforts to reform and improve English instruction and student development.TSSET aims to strengthen English language teaching practices, improve classroom English of practicing teachers, and maximize student English-learning outcomes so that graduates have enhanced prospects for employability.  

TSSET is based on the successful English Speaking Nation: Secondary Teacher Training (ESN: STT) program, a three-year project to provide professional development to 15,000 English teachers in student-centered pedagogical skills in Uzbekistan. Like ESN: STT, TSSET will follow a cascade model of professional development to provide Tajik teachers with the tools to improve their English instruction through collaborations with ESN Uzbekistan teachers.  

TSSET will begin with a thorough assessment of secondary schools in rural and urban areas of Tajikistan, completed by the Uzbekistan ESN coaches and core trainers. The observations gathered from the evaluation will provide American Councils with context to best design and implement the professional development courses in April of 2023. American Councils will use the Teaching English Through English (TETE) materials developed by George Mason University and adapted by coaches and core teachers of the Uzbekistan ESN program to best fit the capacities of Tajik teachers as the foundation for the teachers’ professional development.  

American Councils, the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe, and English Without Borders will collaborate to select a group of 40 highly qualified Core Trainers (CTs) who will undergo rigorous professional development with the Uzbekistan ESN coaches. After the training, the 40 CTs will cascade their obtained teaching methods to 400 Regional Peer-Teachers (RPMs). Under the mentorship and guidance of Tajik CTs, the RPMs will train and mentor 10-12 in-service teachers with the goal of providing professional development to 4,000 teachers by the end of the program in March 2024.

In total, TSSET will provide professional development to over 4,440 coaches and teachers in Tajikistan with elevated English teaching pedagogical skills that will build teaching capacity, improve student language learning, and foster connections between teachers in the United States, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.