Case Study: Radley College

How our students have used their TEFL Certificate

Radley College have been using their UK-TEFL certification to support pupils’ learning in an East African school. Their innovative venture to partner with the Gehandu Secondary School in Tanzania helps the Gehandu students to learn English. One of the greatest challenges for rural Tanzanian schools like Gehandu is the battle for its pupils to pass GCSE equivalents in the English medium. In 2010, according to a UWEZO Report, 50% of Tanzanian primary school leavers could not read English. So the school decided it was crucial to work with Gehandu to help raise the standards of teaching and learning in English Language. 

The Radley College boys showcase a more varied and interactive style of teaching, taught to them during their UK-TEFL course. They teach Gehandu students how to work in groups, role play and project work, to help aid the learning of classes with up to 50 students. In return, Radley students learn how to plan effective lessons and gain social and communicational skills through adapting their lesson plans to classes more used to a traditional ‘chalk and talk’ teaching style. 

As part of the project, Gehandu teachers also visit Radley College to observe lessons. They spend half a day on an intensive UK-TEFL course, tailored to their needs. The tips and lessons they learn are then shared with Gehandu teachers in Tanzania on their return! Thoroughly impressed by the work of the Radleians, Gehandu’s Headmistress has been keen to embed the shift in teaching style across the school. 

The benefits to Gehandu have been tremendous, including teachers becoming more motivated to get the best results, pupils are motivated to work harder and their teachers now realise that English education is no longer underpinned by physical threats (so corporal punishment has now been discontinued in Gehandu). Consequently, there is an impressive upward trend in Gehandu students’ results, with Form 4 O Level pass rates increasing from 52% to 72% and Form 2 pass rate rising from 68% to 100%. Gehandu has even been approved for teaching at A Level for Geography, Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Economics.