Bangladesh Ministry of Education officials took part in the educational leadership devleopment program at Queen's in February and March. They are pictured here with Ben Kutsyuruba, one of the nine professors who taught in the program.

International programs offered by the Faculty of Education are improving the quality of teaching in Bangladesh.

“We are playing a role in guiding the Bangladesh Ministry of Education away from a system that considers learning as a passive process of memorizing facts to one that sees students as active learners who should be engaged by their teachers,” says Cal Bowry, manager of Continuing Teacher Education and Professional Learning Services.

The Faculty of Education has been collaborating with Bangladesh on its Teaching Quality Improvement in Secondary Education Project (TQI-SEP) since 2009. Groups of math teacher educators and Ministry of Education officials, totaling 65 people, will be coming to Queen’s for professional development programs starting in May, the fourth large delegation to participate in the faculty’s programs.

Nazrul Islam, the project director of TQI-SEP, has observed an improvement in the quality of secondary school math instruction as a result of educational leaders coming to Queen’s. Teachers are using different methods and resources in the classroom to get students more interested in the material. Teachers are also more confident and willing to take questions from students.

“Participants are doing well with the program, especially the mathematics stream, and we are interested in sending more people to Queen’s,” says Mr. Islam, who recently visited campus.

Queen’s also benefits from having Bangladeshi education leaders on site.

“Hosting groups from other countries for professional development programs increases the diversity of our campus and advances the level of international engagement at Queen’s, both of which are institutional goals,” says Mr. Bowry.

Bangladeshi officials and Queen’s are exploring the possibility of expanding their partnership. During his visit, Mr. Islam expressed interest in distance education courses and the possibility of Bangladeshi educational leaders attending Queen’s to complete master’s or doctoral degrees.