In the 1990s the Romanian Ministry wished to introduce new textbooks for English throughout the school system, and invited the British Council to collaborate in designing and implementing a project.

Client, stakeholders, partners

• Government of Romania, Ministry of Education
• College of St Mark and St John, UK

Focus
English Language Textbook reform

The project
In the 1990s the Romanian Ministry wished to introduce new textbooks for English throughout the school system, and invited the British Council to collaborate in designing and implementing a project. The project had these components:

• the writing of a new eight-level textbook series (student’s books, teacher’s book, activity book and audio class cassette) for secondary levels, grades 5 -12
• syllabus design and materials writing capacity-building for a group of 13 Romanian teachers, working with a British consultant

This project developed a high quality series of EFL textbook materials, Pathway to English, mainly published by Oxford University Press. The project is an excellent example of good practice in text-book writing, of good balance between tradition and innovation in Romanian and international ELT, and good British-Romanian partnership: Romanian authors, Romanian project manager, UK consultants and a UK publisher. All of the textbook components are currently being used by large percentages of teachers and students all over Romania.

A major impact study was carried out following the completion of this project. It identified a positive impact of the new materials on English language teaching in Romania. The Romanian textbook project was the first to be successfully completed in Central and Eastern Europe. Its success led to interest from other ministries of education; it functioned as a model for British Council textbook and materials writing projects in Russia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Mongolia and Azerbaijan.

What the stakeholders say

• 'The Pathway series gives participants confidence both in the new methodology and in their teaching abilities. I noticed that when I observe teachers using these textbooks they use them as if it is second nature to them. It’s obviously excellent chemistry between the books and the teachers.'
  CR, Inspector of English
• 'These textbooks made us more aware of teachers and learners’ needs. It was useful for us to evaluate them. We learned a lot. They are real agents of change.’
  MT, member of the Textbook Approval Board