Teacher Professional Development
Teachers are the cornerstone of education. Research from around the world consistently shows that teacher quality is the single most important driver of student outcomes. But teachers in underresourced schools face daunting challenges. Most are under-trained and inadequately equipped to manage large classrooms with diverse student needs.
What sets Beaj apart is our commitment to meeting teachers where they are. Our approach is two-pronged, focusing both on essential skills and personal growth. To create lasting impact, we begin by understanding teachers’ specific contexts and constraints, then work with them to cultivate growth mindsets, build confidence and enhance agency in addition to building the knowledge, tools, and skills needed to elevate their teaching practice.
Unique Delivery Tool: WhatsApp Bots + AI + Humans
We use easily accessible technology to empower teachers with high-quality professional development at extremely affordable prices. We have built AI-powered WhatsApp bots to deliver content and personalize learning, and we combine these with human instructors in live WhatsApp groups to build community, provide support and keep learners engaged.
Our solution is built for low-income users with low digital literacy, old Android phones and limited internet connectivity. Responding to demand, we began with English language proficiency in addition to self-growth.
Our courses are designed by world-class instructors, use research-backed teaching methods, locally relevant content and are taught through Urdu. Each course is 4 weeks long and requires 20 minutes of practice everyday, which learners can conveniently do from home.
We use speech recognition technology and AI to power bilingual, voice-enabled chatbots that act as personalized tutors, provide real-time feedback and allow learners to practice speaking and build confidence in a safe space without fear of judgment.
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Content
English Language Proficiency
Responding to demand, we began with English language proficiency and self-growth.
For English, we use the Central European Framework for Languages (CEFR) and begin with the ‘A1’ or ‘Beginner’ band, which spans 3 month-long Beaj courses: Levels 1, 2, and 3. Each level comprises 4 modules. Each module covers specific communication objectives and grammar concepts. We build multiple skills including listening, reading, vocabulary, grammar, and speaking, with a special focus on pronunciation and fluency.
We collect data on learner progress throughout the program and do a final assessment via an internationally benchmarked English language test.
Self Growth: Building Agency
We have worked extensively with teachers to identify 1) their most pressing challenges in the classroom, which include classroom management and dealing with diverse learning paces, and 2) their inner constraints, which include limiting beliefs and mindsets developed over a lifetime of conditioning. We have worked with expert coaches to develop content specifically tailored to address both sets of issues.
In a system where teachers are under-paid, under-trained, and under-respected, we recognize that in order to develop skills and change behaviour, we first need to help teachers understand their inner working models, develop a growth mindset, identify goals, build confidence and recognize their own agency.
We believe in rigorously evaluating our programs to learn the extent to which we are achieving the goals we have set for ourselves. Our leadership team and staff includes research experts who are working to ensure that we learn about our impact, and how to further improve our products and the ways in which we engage with participants.
Partnering with the Agency Fund, we are currently undertaking a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of our teacher professional development course with a sample of almost 3,000 teachers. This will allow us to learn—and demonstrate—the extent to which our products improve learning and professional development among teachers. This evaluation will result in an academic paper that will be publicly available.
In addition to this formal evaluation, we are working hard to introduce a culture of continuous learning in our organization. On a weekly basis, we pore over our key analytics and brainstorm how we can further improve based on what we are learning.