Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) - Eurasia/South Asia

Program Overview

The Eurasia/South Asia Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA), a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State, provides secondary-school teachers from Eurasia and South Asia with unique opportunities to develop expertise in their subject areas, enhance their teaching skills, and increase their knowledge about the United States. The schoolteachers travel to the United States to participate in a six-week professional development program at a US university. This is followed by a reciprocal visit by US teachers to work on joined teacher-training projects in TEA alumni schools overseas. TEA also provides follow-on grants to the Eurasian/South Asian teachers to purchase essential materials for their schools, offer follow-on training for other teachers, and conduct activities that will build on the exchange visits.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

• Teacher Training: TEA participants from Eurasia and South Asia attend a six-week professional development program at a US university that includes coursework and intensive training in teaching methodologies, curriculum development, teaching strategies, and the use of technology for education. The program builds educational leadership skills and provides experience that can be shaped for the participants’ home teaching environments. A three-week internship at a US secondary school allows the TEA overseas participants to actively immerse into the American classroom environment. The program concludes with the End of Program Workshop focusing on best practices in educational leadership.

• US Teachers Reciprocal Visits: The program provides US teachers with opportunities to conduct ten-day to two-week visits to participating countries following the overseas teachers professional development programs in the United States. Each US teacher is hosted by a TEA alumni school in the participating country where they team-teach, and discuss best teaching practices, curriculum, and educational issues in the host country. The trip includes visits to local schools and parents’ committees, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and speaking to local government officials and meeting with Ministry of Education representatives. Prior to traveling overseas, US teachers participate in the End of Program Workshop hosted by a US TEA university where they meet with the international teachers.

• International Partnerships for Professional Development and Education: In addition to the US-based training component of TEA, the program provides grants to TEA international alumni to conduct activities that build on the exchange visits. The grants provide opportunities for collaboration between program alumni and US colleagues or host schools and for conducting teacher training events and training-of-trainers cycles in TEA alumni’s home countries.

• IREX School Enhancement Programs: IREX has been working to improve the quality of primary and secondary education around the world for nearly ten years. IREX has also been managing international academic, research, and professional exchange programs since 1968.

To date, IREX’s primary school development programs have reached nearly 50,000 students in more than 500 urban and rural schools.  Since 1998, IREX programs have trained 10,000 teachers, school administrators, and pre-service education faculty, developed numerous teacher curriculum and methodological manuals, and established a Teacher Trainer Corps.

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