ASTANA — The British Council in Kazakhstan and Orleu National Center for Professional Development have signed a cooperation agreement to implement the second phase of the Accelerating English Language Learning in Central Asia (AELLCA) program.
Photo credit: Fatima Kemelova/ The Astana Times
Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, AELLCA aims to enhance the quality of English language teaching in schools and establish sustainable mechanisms for continuous professional development (CPD) of educators. The second phase of the program will run from August this year to March 2026, reported the council’s press service on Aug. 6.
Under the agreement, the British Council and Orleu will organize a range of initiatives, including online and in-person training sessions for CPD program designers and trainers, a one-day forum focused on in-school CPD systems, and a multilingual cascade training program in English, Russian, and Kazakh.
This training will involve two expert trainers, 16 master trainers, and 64 trainers, all of whom will be trained using British methodologies and Orleu’s course materials across multiple school subjects.
The longstanding collaboration between Orleu and the British Council in Kazakhstan supports the professional development of English language teachers and the integration of modern teaching approaches adapted to the local school context.
During the first phase of AELLCA, five CPD courses were developed in partnership with the Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE), accredited by the Ministry of Education of Kazakhstan, and included in the national course registry. A methodological guide for Orleu’s CPD program developers was also produced.
The AELLCA program is implemented in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, with NILE serving as the academic lead.
