The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Teacher Development for Effective English Teaching in Bangladesh: A Gap that Needs Bridging

This article takes up the opportunity offered by the United Nations’ Strategic Development Goals to examine provisions for the selection, recruitment, training and professional development of secondary English teachers in Bangladesh. Qualified and trained teachers are considered as essential to effect the changes in English teaching and learning planned in national education policy. Since the adoption of a communicative approach to language teaching, initiatives have been taken to train teachers to teach English in this approach, and particularly to use multimedia equipment in their teaching; however the adequacy of these provisions is questioned in existing research and in media debates. This article starts with a brief description of the education context, highlighting the global Strategic Development Goals and local secondary English teaching. A review of existing recruitment and professional development provisions for secondary English teachers follows. Then project-based training programmes, which are funded and managed by external donors and aid agencies, are critically examined. Finally emerging issues and recommended changes are discussed.