CfBT Education Services

We lead the world's largest, longest-running and most successful English-speaking teacher scheme, recruiting high-quality teachers to teach in Brunei's schools, and supporting its Ministry of Education in delivering effective English language teaching. 

 The challenge: a bilingual education policy 

Education Development Trust has been working with the Ministry of Education in Brunei Darussalam since 1984, operating at CfBT Education Services. We have been working with the Bruneian government since the early days of its bilingual education policy, which combines the official language of Standard Malay with English as a medium instruction. From the first year of primary school, teaching in English – seen as the principal language of business – is mandatory for the key subject areas of mathematics, history, science and geography, as well as English.  

Over the past three decades, we have strengthened our relationship with the government and broadened the scope of our work in Brunei – from a key recruiter of high-quality teachers, to developing a range of English-language-related education, assessment and professional development projects across the country. We now have a Centre of Excellence for English Language Teaching in Brunei, highlighting our high standards and best practice. 

Our approach 

We recruit, orient and manage around 200 qualified, experienced, expatriate teachers of English each year and provide ongoing quality assurance and support to the Bruneian Ministry of Education. Our teachers work with more than 20,000 students across Brunei in more than 80 per cent of Brunei government schools. 

 Our work in Brunei has four main priorities: 

• to increase the English proficiency and attainment levels of Bruneian students 
• to improve the delivery of high-impact teaching which promotes student involvement 
• to build the capacity of Bruneian English teachers 
• to support Brunei's Ministry of Education in delivering effecting English language teaching. 

Our focus is to support and extend the quality of education by placing qualified, expert teachers in government schools to deliver innovative, state-of-the-art teaching – engaging students to become proficient English language speakers and dynamic learners. We use data to design and deliver tailored intervention and support programmes for students and we build teachers' capacity through professional development opportunities, ranging from national workshops to school-based, structured professional learning communities. 

We also support a range of English-related projects to improve language learning both within and beyond the curriculum, Including the development of the Ministry of Education's English language course books. We also develop pedagogical materials for a range of age groups which are made available through our own publication channels or through English language teaching software.  

To find out more, visit CfBT’s website