English is the medium of instruction from Year 3 in the Philippine Basic Education Curriculum. Even so, recent studies and results of national tests indicate that the quality of English in schools is declining. British Council in the Philippines is pushing for initiatives to address this through its work in English.

Teach English in the Philippines (TEP) Scheme is one of the initiatives that the British Council is promoting to support its work in English. To deliver this, British Council will be working with partners like VSO Bahaginan, the country organization of VSO International, and APEC Schools, a chain of low-cost private secondary schools developed by a joint venture between Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF) and Ayala Corporation, one of the Philippines’ leading conglomerates.

We are looking for UK university partners to support the scheme. For the first year, we intend to invite university students to volunteer and teach English, Math and Science to senior high school students in the Philippines. A volunteer programme will be implemented to ensure the student volunteers are assigned relevant work and are supported while in the school.

There are two possible schemes depending on the choice of the UK university partner.

  1. ​UK Summer Period
    • Students arrive late June and spend their summer in the Philippines under the scheme
    • ​Classes begin first week of July and scheme will be for 6 weeks
       
  2. Regular Term
  • ​Students attend the programme as part of their academic requirement or a form of internship
  •  Timing is flexible as long as they cover at least 8 weeks

The UK university partner will be in-charge of:

  • Promotion
  • Initial selection of volunteers
  • Venue and facility for skype interview and testing

Volunteers should preferably be:

  • In their penultimate year at university
  • In an education or ELT programme

The volunteers endorsed by the UK University Partner will sit a psychological test administered by VSO UK. Successful volunteers will then be interviewed via skype by the administrators of APEC schools.

Each participant will be required to contribute a participation fee for the programme that will cover:

  • Return airfare London to Manila
  • Accommodation arrangements with host families by VSO
  • Visa
  • Insurance
  • Pre-deployment training by VSO, British Council and APEC Schools
  • In-country support by VSO and British Council

 

Please send expression of interest to participate via email to mike.cabigon@britishcouncil.org.ph by 13 February 2015.