The Commonwealth’s 56 member countries have a combined population of 2.5 billion people, of which more than 60% are under 30 years of age.

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2022, leaders declared 2023 as a year dedicated to youth-led action for sustainable and inclusive development.

Year of Youth was officially launched in January and an invitation was extended to young changemakers, civil society and governments to work together towards a renewed vision for the Commonwealth: one that is secure, fair, and sustainable.

We are incredibly excited to be participating as an activity in the Commonwealth’s Year of the Youth .

All around the world, in classrooms, teachers can sometimes lead too much from the front. As teachers, we know exactly what knowledge we want our learners to have. This can sometimes make us guilty of talking at them, instead of letting them explore learning.

So, our focus this year to make our learners more independent. But, how can we use our skills as teachers to help them learn for themselves? Often we think of independent learning as homework, but it is much more than this! Think about group work, peer assessment and self assessment! The list is endless…

Yet, how do you achieve this?

Your first step is to sign up to register your interest. Here, there are some downloadable resources that will give you more information.

After that, you will need to take a FREE, short course on independent learning. This will be available from the end of September (we’ll let you know exactly when via email!). From this, you will gain a personalised certificate on completion. The course focuses on how to make your learners less dependent on you, the teacher. This is really important for helping them to problem solve, gain confidence, work together and become life-long learners. All this enables them to succeed throughout their lives in other situations, like for example, in the workplace.

Now to the competition itself…

The aim of the competition is for your learners to teach others from around the world about something they think is important.

In groups or up to 4, your learners can present their entry in whatever form they choose. Examples could include, but are not limited to: a science experiment, a sculpture, reciting or writing a poem, writing an article, designing a model, a short piece of drama or dance, performing a song or piece of music. The time limit for each entry is 5 minutes. We know it might be hard to find time to complete the competition during curriculum hours, so it can also be done in extra-curricular time.

You’ll have about 6 weeks to submit your entry onto the Teach2030 website. The deadline will be Friday 17th November.

We will announce the winner of the competition in December in a celebratory get-together on Zoom.

During the next few months, we will post lots of blogs and additional information that supports your students as they complete the competition, so keep your eyes open for them!

Good luck! Any questions, feel free to write them in the comments box below!

Click here to download a promotional poster.