COMPANY PROFILE

CfBT Education Trust is an international not-for-profit education resource management organisation, founded in the UK in 1965 as the Centre for British Teachers, and with a permanent office established in Oman in 1985 where we are incorporated as The Centre for British Teachers Education Services & Partners LLC or more simply, CfBT Oman LLC.

We work across a wide variety of learning and skills settings, managing projects and developing products and services to client specifications. CfBT employs over 2,400 peopleworldwide and our annual turnover of over £120 million (in 2008) is secured by undertaking operations in the education sector, on a commercial basis, for both public and private sector clients. 

CfBT is a registered charity, and surpluses made on operational activities are placed in trust to fund educational research and development work. Each year the CfBT Trustees distribute over £1.5 million in this way. The results of our research are placed in the public domain, thus demonstrating CfBT’s commitment to international development and our thought-leadership in the education sector.

CfBT’s Head Office is in England and we have other offices within the Middle East in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Libya.

Key role in major education reform programmes in United Kingdom
We manage substantial contracts for the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCFS), the National College for School Leadership (NCSL), the Training and Development Agency (TDA), the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA), and a number of Local Authorities (LAs). These include:

• National College for School Leadership (NCSL) Programmes:

• “Fast Track” accelerated leadership for prospective headteachers
• Authoring of materials for the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH)
• Design and delivery of two workstreams of the London Leadership Strategy

• DCSF Curriculum-based programmes:

• National Primary and Secondary Strategies (formerly known as the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies)
• Implementation of the new Secondary National Curriculum

• DCSF General and Leadership programmes:

• Young Gifted and Talented
• Performance Management and Threshold Assessment
• Subject Learning Coaches

•    School Inspections (Northern Region) for Ofsted  
•    Management of School Improvement Services for over 700 schools within Lincolnshire and East Sussex Local Authorities
•   Building Schools for the Future
•   ‘Out and About’ national extracurricular school programme
•   Education for Young Offenders and Prisoners
•   ‘Skills for Life’ adult basic skills and technical vocational programmes
•   ‘Connexions’ Careers Advice and Guidance services

CfBT’s activities thus encompass some of the most significant school reform measures implemented in the United Kingdom. CfBT has been involved in the policy development and strategic planning behind these initiatives and importantly in the practical reality of implementation, with invaluable knowledge of the kinds of issues that emerge during national roll-out and how these can be successfully dealt with.

Significant role in education reform programmes internationally
CfBT manages contracts worldwide for Ministries of Education and development partners. They include:

• Establishing a National Inspectorate in Dubai for the KHRDA.

• Headteacher training and mentoring in Jordan for the World Bank.

• Enhancing English language competence in 30 top Singapore government secondary schools.

• Development and implementation of Curriculum Standards for Arabic, English, Maths and Science for the Supreme Education Council in Qatar.

• Management and support of 27 public schools for Abu Dhabi Education Council.

• Support to curriculum reform, teacher training, examinations, inspections, textbook development and budgetary reform to the Ministry of Education under the DFID Rwanda Education Sector Support Programme.

• Management of ‘quality funds’ for school reform at grassroots level in separate World Bank programmes in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia and Macedonia.

• Support to curriculum reform, teacher training, tertiary and school education for the Ministry of Education in Bosnia-Herzegovina under the European Union Education Sector Support Programme.

• Management of education reform programmes in Cambodia from 1993 to the present day under a series of contracts, currently the Basic Education Reform Programme funded by the European Union.

• Capacity building for the Ministry of Education in Ethiopia under the Ethiopia Education Sector Reform Programme funded by the European Union.

• Capacity building for the Ministry of Education in Somaliland under the DANIDA Support to Improved Education programme.

• Strengthening English language teaching in government schools in Malaysia.

• Support to the dual-language system and improving pedagogy in government schools in Brunei.

Research & Development
CfBT uses research to keep at the forefront of educational development, and over recent years has built up a significant portfolio of research into education reform issues. The CfBT Research & Development Committee provides funding in response to submissions for development or research projects that match the education themes selected each year by the Trustees. Current areas of interest include provision of schooling; focus on the disadvantaged; effective teaching and learning; and language, literacy and multilingualism.