TeachingEnglish Communities of Practice Manager, English and School Education

Role purpose

To coordinate delivery of the Teaching English Communities of Practice element of the English Connects global programme. To support online teacher development through operational management of established global communities to achieve reach and impact targets for English Connects and demonstrate British Council leadership in education technology in English language teaching.

To be an active member and contribute to the global English Connects team, sharing developments and learning, contributing to strategy, planning and innovation and supporting global programming.

Role context

Cultural Engagement (CE) is one of two global strategic departments within the British Council. It brings together our work in Arts, Education, English & School Education and research. With a workforce of approximately 1000 globally and an income in 2024/25 of £200 million CE delivers impact through research and insight, sector engagement, policy dialogue and a mixed portfolio of commercial and Grant and Partnership Funded (GPF) work globally. CE delivers much of its work through a suite of global programmes/ programmatic frameworks aligned to the British Council’s strategic outcomes.

The aim of the English and School Education portfolio of work is to support the improvement of teaching and learning in formal and non-formal basic education systems. English and School Education’s work is organised into three globally-operating programmes, each of which has a range of projects all working towards common objectives and outcomes:

• English Connects – open and online professional development opportunities, communities, events and resources for school leaders, teacher educators, teachers and other education professionals
• School Systems – support to international basic education systems and governments, with particular focus on language policy and practice, foundational learning, professional development, equitable access to and utilisation of education technology, and supporting women and girls to access quality education
• Empowerment – building English language, digital and core skills where it empowers disadvantaged girls and young women, displaced people, economically and ethnically marginalised youth and disabled people.

The English and School Education team delivers these programmes in country through policy advice, research and insight, and the delivery of grant, co-funded and full cost recovery contracts and programmes in more than 50 countries in collaboration with UK and international partners, ministries of education, education and donor agencies.

English Connects provides more equitable access to English language teacher education and supports millions of individual teachers and teacher educators from diverse backgrounds to develop their skills and knowledge and improve classroom practices in English language teaching. This is done through our global online TeachingEnglish platforms and communities.

English Connects works with individual practitioners: teachers, teacher educators (trainers), school leaders, researchers, teaching associations and sector experts worldwide.

Main accountabilities

Leadership and management

• Support the delivery of the global English Connects programme through operational management of established global communities, contributing to targets for reach and engagement. Including (but not limited to) community moderation systems, content planning and scheduling, live event coordination and contracting, audience insight and reporting, community onboarding and support resources, moderator training and guidance, social media quality assurance, data collection and reporting, operational management of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and X, and community safeguarding procedures.
• Manage delivery teams and/or external suppliers and consultants.
• Manage all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) processes and ensure comprehensive use of internal tools in content design, production and delivery. Maintain an oversight of the action plan developed through the use of internal EDI tools.

Strategy and planning

• Contribute to business planning process (aligned to the corporate planning annual timetable). This includes providing inputs for quarterly business reviews, reviewing of progress against global financial and non-financial targets and driving continual improvement to successfully deliver the plan for English Connects, as part of the global business plan.
• Contribute to developing effective impact narratives related to English Connects within our English and School Education portfolio, aligned to the strategic vision and corporate strategic evidence map.
• Support content strategy and user engagement improvements.

Sector/subject expertise

• Work with the global English Connects team to support the development and management of programming, ensuring quality, cost effectiveness and alignment.
• Support colleagues globally on all aspects of online communities of practice.
• Act as a source of up-to-date knowledge of digital teacher development/engagement and its impact on English Connects. Actively feed these insights into the global programme to ensure the dissemination of good practice and innovation globally.
• Understand the digital education market and its players and feed this into the country and global teams for potential sources of innovation, partnerships and collaborations.

Programme management

• Ensure that English Connects activity is compliant with all internal policies and processes (for example safeguarding, EDI, supply change management, social value and conflict sensitivity).
• Identify risks and put together mitigation strategies with line manager and global English Connects Lead / SRO.
• Responsible for data management including timely data entry, quality assurance of data, undertaking basic analysis of monitoring data, and developing progress reports.
• Undertake programme-specific data collection as needed and work with colleagues to identify indicators and tools for data collection, quality assure all data and undertake basic analysis.
• Contribute to lessons learned and action-reporting and share learning for future design.
• Support management of finance, procurement, compliance and reporting.

Relationship and stakeholder management

• Manage relationships with digital delivery partners, providers and potential funders/ sponsors.
• Manage relationships with the wider digital and teacher training eco-systems, using them to maximise audiences and impact and to ensure that British Council products reflect current developments.
• Build strong internal relationships and networks.

Brand and market positioning

• Ensure effective marketing where appropriate, for example, to grow participation in communities of practice.

Line management

• Line management as required.
• Ensure British Council performance management, mandatory training, HR and equality, diversity and inclusion standards and procedures are adhered to and applied consistently.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

• Consistently create an inclusive and anti-racist organisational culture, being aware of your own biases and taking action to mitigate against these. Ensuring people feel valued and are treated equitably, with support for people’s well-being and mental health particularly through periods of significant change.
• Have a deep understanding of and take accountability for putting the British Council’s approach to equality, diversity and inclusion and anti-racism into practice. To make time for and visibly engage with learning and development related to EDI and anti-racism.

Person specification

British Council core competencies (sometimes referred to as Core Skills)

Managing projects (Level 2)

Analyses project data Examines project data and performance, reporting on progress and recommending corrective action as needed.

Communicating and influencing (Level 2)

Relates communications to circumstances Displays good listening, writing and speaking skills, setting out logical arguments clearly and adapting language and form of communication to meet the needs of different people/audiences.

Managing risk (Level 2)

Supports a risk management culture

Has track record of identifying and highlighting risks and suggesting mitigating actions.

Managing accounts and partnerships (Level 2)

Works with stakeholders and partners

Communicates regularly with diverse stakeholders, customers and/or partners to build mutual understanding and trust.

Planning and organising (Level 2)

Plans ahead

Organises own work over weeks and months, or plans ahead for others, taking account of priorities and the impact on other people.

Analysing data and problems (Level 2)

Uses data

Reviews available data and identifies cause and effect, and then chooses the best solution from a range of known alternatives.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

• Recognises and acts to reduce bias, including unconscious bias
• Works inter-culturally, includes and values diverse perspectives and experiences
• Takes actions and/or makes decisions based on an evidenced understanding of the experiences and barriers for people from diverse equality backgrounds
• Actively listens and communicates with empathy and openness

Role specific skills

• Online English language teacher training and development
• ELT learning materials development
• Project management

Role specific knowledge and experience

Minimum/essential

• Experience of online English language teaching
• Experience of using technology in project or course delivery

Desirable

• Experience of online English language teacher training and development
• Experience of moderation, presenting or streaming of online live events
• ELT experience in a variety of contexts
• Experience of managing projects

Knowledge & Experience

Education

Essential:

• First degree

Desirable:

• First degree in a subject relevant to the programme of work

Professional Qualification and Certification

Essential:

• An English language teaching qualification

Desirable:

• A diploma-level qualification in English language teaching
• Foundation-level project management qualification

Experience

Essential:

• Experience of online English language teaching
• Experience of using technology in project or course delivery

Desirable:

• Experience of online English language teacher training and development
• Experience of moderating, presenting or streaming online live events
• ELT experience in a variety of contexts
• Experience of managing projects

Important Information

• Location: UK, Poland, Serbia, Malaysia
• Contract Type: Indefinite
• Pay band: 6
• Department: Cultural Engagement
• Right to Work Requirements: You must have the legal right to work in the location in which the role is based
• Languages: Written and verbal proficiency in English is required

Closing date for applications:

11.59 PM India (IST), Friday 27th November 2026

7:29 PM UK time (BST, British Summer Time) on Friday, 27th November 2026