Teach2030

Teach2030 is an online professional development platform for classroom teachers, run by the Commonwealth Education Trust, a registered charity (number 1119647) that holds the site's copyright. Its home page headline is "Improve your teaching skills", followed by "Professional development courses and digital skills for teachers. Teach2030 is accredited by The Commonwealth Education Trust." The site's own description calls it "Teach2030, For all Commonwealth Teachers".

The reader is an individual teacher, new or experienced, who wants to sharpen core classroom skills. The courses page says so directly: "Our professional development courses are for individual teachers." The courses are built for low bandwidth, described as "low data courses, designed for all teaching environments and aligned with the Cambridge Teaching Standards."

The courses

The popular courses on the home page cover the foundations of classroom teaching:

• Fresh Thinking for Your Classroom: Part 1. "Whether you are experienced or new to teaching, this course will help you reflect on your classroom practice."
• Growth Mindsets for Teachers and Learners: Part 1. "Get to grips with growth mindsets to create a positive and productive approach to learning in your classroom."
• Practical Active Learning for Your Classroom: Part 1. "Learn the clear definition of active learning and what it means for your classroom."
• Planning Lessons to Reach All Learners: Part 1. "Good planning ensures ALL your learners benefit."
• Being a Professional Teacher: Part 1, which helps teachers become more organized in how they present themselves "as a teacher with high standards".
• Become a Digital Learner: Using Your Smartphone (Beginner), a free digital skills course for anyone who has a smartphone but is not sure how to use it effectively, showing "what a powerful learning tool your smartphone actually is".

The course carousel runs to a second page, so these are not the whole catalog. The menu also names a "Foundations of Teaching for Learning" section next to the main courses.

The courses page sums up what teachers learn across the catalog: reflecting on classroom practice to find strengths and areas to improve, strategies to engage students actively, formative and summative assessment, designing lesson plans that work for all learners, and a growth mindset toward professional development.

Inside a course

The Fresh Thinking for Your Classroom: Part 1 page shows how a course is built. Its objectives are to:

• define what being a teacher means to you;
• discover the value of learning partners and how to keep a teacher portfolio;
• compare examples of good and poor teaching;
• examine your own experiences as a learner and how they have shaped you as a teacher;
• reflect on your own teaching practice.

The course content runs from a welcome and registration section and an explanation of how Teach2030 courses are structured, through a topic on defining reflection and how to reflect, to lessons on the role of a teacher. It mixes videos ("Being a Teacher", "Effective Teaching / Ineffective Teaching"), written reflections on the teacher's own views, a lesson introducing teaching versus learning and a task comparing an effective and an ineffective teacher. It closes with a feedback step, a "Continue Your Learning" section and a Part 1 assessment. A progress tracker shows each lesson's completion as a percentage and a count of steps.

Price and certificate

Part 1 of Fresh Thinking is listed at "Price Free", and the free smartphone course is free too. The certificate sits behind the second part. The course page is explicit: "Please note, you will need to purchase Part 2 to participate in further activities, and successfully complete the assessment to gain your Teach2030 certificate." The site has a shopping basket, and the sign-up form takes an optional promo code. The Part 2 price is not shown on these pages.

So the model is a free first part that lets a teacher try the course, followed by a paid second part, an assessment and a Teach2030 certificate. The home page says the platform is accredited by The Commonwealth Education Trust, which is also the charity that runs it; no outside body is named.

To enroll, a teacher registers an account (username, email, first and last name, password), then clicks "Login to Enroll" or, once logged in, "Take this course".

What teachers say

The Fresh Thinking page shows five-star reviews. Ajay_Singh wrote that the course "provided a clear and practical understanding of effective teaching and essential classroom skills" and "encouraged me to reflect on what teaching truly means". Tuh Walter Chiambah wrote: "The Teaching Vs Learning concept really help clarify allot to me, some "Why" questions I often ask concerning my students response towards my lessons." MoniqueC called it "straightforward" and said it "prompts self reflection", and Ufuoma227 found it "engaging and informative". Reviews can only be posted by learners who have started the course.

Partner courses

A partner section adds courses and resources from other organizations, and the buttons leave Teach2030 for the partner's own site. Generation Global's Introduction to Dialogue is "an online course to equip educators with an understanding of dialogue and the basic resources needed to implement intercultural dialogue practices into a learning community", with objectives on creating a safe and brave space for dialogue, identity, teaching dialogue skills, the Ultimate Dialogue Adventure and live dialogue over a video conference platform. World History Encyclopedia, described as "A non-profit organization publishing the world's most read history encyclopedia", offers teaching materials, quizzes, classroom posters, articles, a podcast and a YouTube channel.

Community and extras

Beyond courses, the menu lists workshops (with sign-up and an archive), a blog, an ambassadors program and a competition for teachers. The home page gives "4 reasons teachers should upskill": developing new skills, deepening existing knowledge, connecting with others learning the same topics, and staying up to date with current trends. Help is available through a "Help & Contact" page.

Who it suits

Teach2030 suits a classroom teacher who wants short, practical courses on the basics of the job (reflection, active learning, lesson planning, growth mindset, professionalism) and works with a slow or expensive internet connection, since the courses are built for low data. Teachers can start every popular course with a free Part 1 and decide later whether to buy Part 2 for the certificate. Teachers who are new to using a smartphone for learning have a free beginner course made for them.

It suits less well a teacher who needs credit recognized by a ministry, university or licensing body, because the only accreditation the site names is from the charity that runs it. It is a course catalog for individual teachers, not a platform for schools to build their own training.