The British Council is seeking a consultant to lead on producing textbook content (ESP) for a south Indian university in collaboration with a team from the university’s English department.

About the project

Anna University English Department has requested assistance in updating and revising the syllabus, textbook materials and assessment process for its English for engineering and technology course. The consultancy role will lead on the work with the university team and liaise with a commercial publisher for publication. The project will be steered by a core committee from the university, the publisher and the British Council.

Location:       UK based with two visits to Chennai

Start date:      August 2018

End date:        January 2020

About the role

The work will require approximately 70 days including up to three weeks in Chennai, India. The consultant(s) will:

• review the existing materials and conduct focus groups with key stakeholder groups on style and content preferences based on use of previous textbooks.allocate tasks to the writing team according to their strengths/ areas of expertise.
• lead two four-day face-to-face writing workshops with the team and work remotely with them between and after the workshops
•  revise and edit the manuscript produced by the writing team, including audio transcripts and quality controlling the recording of audio content
• create a training programme on how teachers should use the materials in the classroom, including microteaching and feedback. This should take an experiential rather than an instructional approach.
• create notes for trainers of the teachers to use in this training prior to roll-out of the new textbooks.
• produce a report with recommendations on/ learning from the project and activity

Following a pilot the consultant will make revisions based on feedback, develop assessment tools based on the final content and give recommendations on the potential improvements for the department’s assessment procedures, based on evaluation of the current practice.  Timelines and milestones for the project will be agreed between the consultant and these partners. A roll-out plan for the finalised textbooks for all relevant college and department personnel will be agreed with the university.

 The work is expected to start in August and continue for 16 months.

Qualifications and experience required

Essential

• Proven experience of ESP textbook writing for a higher education institute.
• Work connection to a UK higher education institution.
• Diploma level qualification in teaching English to speakers of other languages (Cambridge DELTA, Trinity TESOL or equivalent).
• Experience of leading a team of inexperienced writers to successfully complete a textbook project.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work as part of an international team.

Desirable

• Postgraduate qualification in ELT or education.
• Qualification in materials design.
• Experience of working with a commercial publisher.