Background
The British Council Thailand has worked in close partnership with the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) to strengthen English teacher professional development through a range of initiatives, including teacher development programmes, the development of Teacher Coaches, and collaboration with Educational Supervisors. These efforts have helped strengthen local capacity and support teachers in applying their professional learning in the classroom.
Building on this foundation, there is an opportunity to further strengthen the Teacher Development Ecosystem by connecting professional development with ongoing coaching, supervision, classroom application, and evidence of changes in teaching practice. Within this ecosystem, Educational Supervisors play an important role in bridging professional development and classroom practice, through coaching, observation, feedback, and ongoing follow-up.
A key element is observing for coaching — using classroom observation as a developmental process to support improvement in specific areas of teaching practice. It is focused, context-specific and sustained, with a clear and agreed focus linked to practices teachers have previously learned. Central to this approach is “Deliberate Practice”, where teachers apply a specific teaching practice previously studied, are observed against clear criteria, receive targeted feedback, and use this feedback to adjust and try again. Professional development therefore becomes an ongoing cycle of learning – practice – observation – feedback – adjustment – reattempt. In this way, coaching goes beyond occasional classroom observation in order to be effective.
This approach also recognises the complementary roles of Educational Supervisors and Teacher Coaches. Educational Supervisors bring expertise in supervision policy and a broader understanding of educational development at sub-national level, while Teacher Coaches can provide much closer support for intact classroom practice. Working together, they can contribute to a more scalable, coherent and sustainable system of ongoing teacher support. This approach also aligns with the 2026 OTEPC Criteria and Procedures (W11/2569), which emphasise continuous professional development through mentoring, constructive feedback, workplace practice and ongoing follow-up, reinforcing a more sustained approach to professional learning.
Against this background, the British Council proposes to collaborate with OBEC to provide a three-day capacity-building programme for Educational Supervisors responsible for English language education, with the following proposed objectives and arrangements.
Objectives
- Enhance Educational Supervisors’ observations for coaching specific English teaching practices in teachers’ intact classroom contexts.
- Develop understanding of Deliberate Practice principles, including prior learning acknowledgement, setting a targeted observation focus, using mutually understood criteria, providing constructive and effective feedback, and supporting teachers to adjust and reattempt improving their practice.
- Develop Educational Supervisors understanding of Teacher Coaches, and how they can jointly contribute to classroom practice improvement.